Mr Matoko holds a degree in economics from La Sapienza University in Rome, and in political science and international relations from the University Cesare Alfieri in Florence and the Diplomatic and the Strategic Study Centre in Paris and is currently the assistant director-general of the Priority Africa and External Relations Sector of UNESCO. In this role, he is responsible for the political and strategic coordination of UNESCO actions in Africa.

Mr Matoko has been director of the UNESCO Liaison Office with the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) as well as the UNESCO representative in Ethiopia. He was also the UNESCO director of the multi-country offices in Quito (Ecuador) and in Bamako (Mali). Mr Matoko has extensive experience in conflict prevention in Africa, having been the head of the education sector for peace, human rights and democracy and manager of peace culture programmes at UNESCO in Paris.

He is the author of a study called Les fondements endogènes d’une culture de la paix en Afrique. Mécanismes traditionnels de prévention et résolution des conflits en Afrique (The Endogenous Foundations of a Culture of Peace in Africa. Traditional Mechanisms for Preventing and Resolving Conflicts in Africa, UNESCO publication, 1999) and several reports on the culture of peace in Africa, Asia and Latin America, regions where he undertook many missions.

Winner of the International Literature Prize (Category: political essay) awarded by ADELF (Association of French Authors) for the publication L’Afrique par les Africains. Utopie ou révolution (Africa by Africans. Utopia or Revolution, Ed. L’Harmattan, Paris, 1996”), translated into Italian: L’Africa Degli Africani, Utopia o Rivoluzione, Casa Edit. Mazziana, Verona, 2002)