Mohamed Beavogui

Mr Beavogui is from Guinea Conakry and has 27 years of project and programme management (design, implementation and supervision) and experience with different donors, development partners, Government and civil society at varying levels. He hold a Master degree in Engineering, major in Food Processing Machine Design. Mr Beavogui was Director of the National Centre to promote Food Processing Industries and Special Adviser of the Ministry for Industry in Guinea. In 1982, he started work in on Africa Wide Regional Programme headquartered in Nigeria financed by UNDP/ECA/UNIDO to promote Food processing Industries. In 1986, he joined FAO in Burundi as Chief Technical Adviser of a major food-processing project that was geared toward the promotion of private small scale food processing and established the National Centre for Food Technology. In 1993, he joined FAO headquarters in Rome as Country Project Officer responsible for FAO operations in 10 West and Central African countries and 1995 the United Nation Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in NYC as a Senior Project Management Officer responsible for the supervision of Investment projects in southern and Western Africa. In 1998, he was entrusted as Director for West and Central Africa, to establish in Abidjan the first full-fledged regional Office of UNOPS in Africa. He joined IFAD in 2001 and took over the post of Director for West and Central Africa division.

Martin Bwalya

Mr. Bwalya actually works as Lead Specialist on Sustainable Land Management in NEPAD/CAADP. This also involves mainstreaming and integrating the development partners’ initiatives on sustainable land management (SLM) into the CAADP country and regional framework with focus on CAADP Pillar 1. Mr. Bwalya has worked many years in development work at regional and continental level within the field of sustainable land and water management, in general and conservation agriculture, in particular. Main training and experience fields include sustainable development, tillage/non-tillage practices for sustainable farming and mechanisation management and farm machinery for conservation agriculture.

Angel Elias Daka

Dr. Ir. Angel Elias Daka worked in the Ministry of Agriculture Food and Fisheries as a researcher in Irrigation and water management for fourteen years before proceeding to the private sector/NGO setup where he worked with the International Development Enterprises (IDE), Cooperative League of the USA (CLUSA) in capacities as Deputy Director. His practice has included work with Agri-business in Sustainable Natural Africa Plant Products (ASNAPP) where he has served as Country Director from Jan 2005 – Dec 2006 before joining the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) where he is currently serving as Coordinator for CAADP Pillar 3 - Food and Nutrition Security Advisor.

Ides R.J. van der Does de Willebois

Ides R.J. van der Does de Willebois is Dutch and graduated from the Agricultural University Wageningen (MSc) on Development Economics, Monetary theory and international finance, International relationship and Quantitative economic analysis from the University of Rotterdam. His expertise includes Management and administration, supervision and loan administration, poverty alleviation and rural development issues. From 1992 to 2002, he was co-ordinator of UNOPS Nairobi Outpost and (Senior) Project Management Officer, after being in Tanzania Co-ordinator of the Dutch Cotton Assistance Programme. He served in may African and Asian countries as Co-ordinator of the Drought and Famine Relief Programme, supported by The Netherlands, USAID, EEC, FAO, WFP, Canada, Australia, Italy and Kenya. He joined IFAD in 2002 as Country Portfolio Manager and is Director for East and Southern Africa since June 2006.

H. E. Mrs. Maria Manuela Dos Santos Lucas

Her Excellency Mrs. Maria Manuela Dos Santos Lucas holds a M.A. in International Relations and Diplomacy, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, and Honours Degree in Public Administration, Western Cape University, Cape Town, South Africa.

After having been a diplomat in South Africa, Ethiopia and Brasil for many years, she currently is Ambassador of the Republic of Mozambique to the Netherlands and Luxembourg. She also has a development experience through her work as Director for International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

Sir John Kaputin

Sir John Kaputin studied in his own home province area but then extended to Australia between 1947 and 1959. He was trained as a teacher and then a bureaucrat in the early 1960s including a four-year stint in University of Hawaii. Sir John’s political career began with his election to the House of Assembly in 1972 where he helped shape the PNG Constitution as member of the Constitutional Planning Committee. He subsequently served five terms (30 years) in the National Parliament holding ministerial positions overseeing Justice, National Planning and Development, Finance, Minerals and Energy, Foreign Affairs, and Mining and Petroleum. In September 1995, Sir John was elected president of the ACP Group of States and co-president of the ACP-EU Joint Assembly. For his services to the PNG government, Sir John received Queen’s awards as Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1983 and as Knight Bachelor of the British Empire in 1997. He is since the 1st of March 2005 the Secretary General of the of the ACP Secretariat based in Brussels.

Philip Kiriro

Mr. Philip Kiriro has a long experience in rural agriculture. He was previously appointed as an extension specialist in Agriculture by the Government of Kenya from 1973 to 1975. He later became a lecturer at Egerton University in Kenya. Mr. Kiriro was also the Chairman Livestock Committee Agricultural Society of Kenya (ASK- NAKURU BRANCH), a Council Member Agricultural Society of Kenya (ASK-NATIONAL), and the Chairman Kenya National Farmers Union (KNFU). He is former Vice Patron Kenya National Federation of Agricultural Producers (KENFAP). Mr. Kiriro was a consultant on NEPAD/CAADP initiative to empower and ensure participation of farmers for Southern and Eastern Africa. He has undertaken evaluation assignments for donor agencies with projects in Africa within the farming communities. He has an M. Sc. Degree from Texas A & M University as well as a wide range of post University training in Agriculture policy, Biochemical Genetics Advocacy and Participatory Development. He is a farmer in Nakuru District of Kenya.

Denis T. Kyetere

Dr. Denis T. Kyetere is the Director General of the National Agricultural Research organization (NARO) of Uganda, and currently the Chairperson of the Forum for the Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). He holds a PhD from The Ohio State University, Ohio, USA; an MSc from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth College, UK – all in Genetics and Plant Breeding and a BSc in Botany and Zoology from Makerere University, Uganda. He also holds several Diplomas, among which is in Project Planning and Management. In his successful scientific career, he, with the team he was working with, identified and mapped the first gene, maize streak virus gene 1 (MSV1), that confers tolerance in maize to maize streak virus disease, and also developed the several maize varieties that are grown in Uganda and surrounding countries. He has been a Chairperson of several National and Sub-regional Networks and Committees, including that of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA). On the community service side, Denis is a Rotarian of the Rotary Club of Ntinda, Uganda, where he is a Paul Harris Fellow and a Past President.

Hansjörg Neun

Since May 2005, German-born Dr. Hansjörg Neun, became Director of CTA. He holds a PhD. in social and economic sciences. He is the author of a thesis on “transfers of technical cooperation development projects to developing countries”. With considerable field experience in Africa (especially in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Egypt), Dr Neun has managed projects and major programmes for German and European technical development agencies. He is also skilled in negotiating with governments, donors and international institutions. In addition, he has a wide-ranging knowledge of rural development, food security and natural resource management issues. He also has hands-on experience of agriculture - while still very young he worked on his family’s flower and vegetable market garden in Germany. Before taking the helm at CTA, Dr Neun was employed as Advisor at Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

John Alphonse Okidi

John Okidi is a Research Fellow with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). He is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, working with IFPRI’s Ethiopia Strategy Support Program. Prior to joining IFPRI in May 2007 John was the Executive Director of the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) in Kampala, Uganda. He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Applied Economics obtained in 1997 from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Prior to joining the EPRC in 1999 as a Senior Research Fellow, John served a one-year post-doctoral period as a consultant in the Development Economics Research Group of the World Bank in Washington, D.C. He has extensive experience in microeconomic policy analysis, especially with application to time series of large cross-sectional and panel survey data. Accordingly, John has written and published on growth and welfare issues.

Lluis Riera Figueras

Lluis Riera Figueras is Director of the Development Policy, Thematic issues directorate, at the European Commission DG Development, from January 2007. He joined the European Commission in 1987, after a ten-years experience as Professor of European Economy and International Trade. He has been Head of Unit for the Relations with the Institutions and Coastal and Western Africa at EC DG Development form 1991 to 1996, then Director for European Social Fund operations at EC DG Employment and Social Affairs from 1996 to 2002 and Director for Instruments for Structural policies for pre-accession at DG Regional Policy from 2002 to 2006.

Gerhard Schmalbruch

Dr. Gerhard Schmalbruch, Secretary General of EuronAid since 2001, has been involved in humanitarian and development aid activities throughout his academic and professional career. Formerly with the German NGO Welthungerhilfe (1984-2001), he served initially as Country Representative and later as Director of the Food and Emergency Aid Department, the Projects Dept., and External Relations and Policy Dept. as well as Deputy Secretary General. Dr. Schmalbruch was one of the co-founders of VOICE, the first President of Alliance 2015, a Board member and Speaker for Humanitarian Affairs of VENRO, the German NGO-association; a member of the Founding Committee for the new European NGO confederation Concord; the Convener of the European Food Security Group (EFSG) and a co-initiator of the informal ‘Trans-Atlantic Food Aid Dialogue (TAFAD).

James Tefft

James Tefft is an Economist in the Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, based in Rome, Italy. He worked previously in the FAO’s Regional Office for Africa in Accra, Ghana. ESA is the focal point for FAO’s economic research and policy analysis for food security and sustainable development. Mr. Tefft works primarily on issues related to early warning systems and economic and food security analysis in sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining FAO, he worked on Michigan State University’s Food Security Project, principally in the Sahel.

Steve Wiggins

Steve Wiggins (ODI) has almost three decades worth of experience working, researching and teaching economic and management aspects of agricultural and rural development. He also has experience in rural livelihoods rural economies and household economies; governance, including management, of rural development; change in farming systems, with particular interest in dairying; credit and rural banking; environmental change. He combines this with an extensive knowledge of Latin America and Africa. He has lived in Paraguay, Bolivia, El Salvador and Kenya; and worked widely, on shorter term studies, in Africa and Latin America. During the last five years his work has included studies of livelihoods and small-scale dairying in rural Mexico, environmental policy in Ghana, food security in Bangladesh and Southern Africa - including the impact of HIV/AIDS, the rural non-farm economy, and the future of small farms.