Early life and education Matoko completed primary and secondary education in Brazzaville and earned his high school diploma in 1974. He holds a Bachelor's in
Economics and
Commerce (1981) from
Sapienza University of Rome, a specialisation diploma in
International political studies from the Cesare Alfieri Institute in
Florence (1983), and a specialisation diploma in international relations and affairs from the Center for Diplomatic and Strategic Studies in Paris (1996). He also pursued further training in
political science,
diplomacy,
management, and education policy. Matoko is multilingual: he speaks fluent
French,
Italian,
English, and
Spanish; has intermediate proficiency in
Portuguese; and is learning
Lingala and
Swahili.
Career at UNESCO Matoko began working with UNESCO in 1985 as an education expert at the BREDA office in Dakar, Senegal. He later served as an international education consultant in Paris (1987–1990), and became program specialist and head of national programs for a culture of peace (1994–2000). He was promoted to Division Chief for Quality Education Promotion (2000–2003). He then held various representative positions: UNESCO Representative in
Mali,
Burkina Faso, and
Niger (2003–2007), Head of the Quito office and Representative in
Ecuador,
Colombia,
Bolivia, and
Venezuela (2007–2011) then Head of the Addis Ababa office, Representative to
Ethiopia, the
African Union, and the
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (2011–2015). He became Director of the Africa Department (2014–2015), Assistant Director-General of that department (2016–2017), and finally, Assistant Director-General for Priority Africa and External Relations (2017–2025). == Candidacy for Director-General of UNESCO ==