Meet the 5 panellists who will contribute to the first Subregional Dissemination Meeting Towards Decision Makers and R&I Funders in Nairobi, Kenya on February 18, 2020.
Luca Alinovi
Luca AlinoviLuca Alinovi has a PhD in Agricultural and Natural Resources Economics and a Laurea in tropical and sub-tropical agriculture, both from the University of Florence.
Previously, he served as the Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Kenya, the Eastern Africa Resilience Hub Director, and the Global Deputy Resilience Coordinator for FAO. In addition to his extensive experience at the FAO, he has held roles at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has published a number of journal articles.
Dr. Alinovi has led and managed programs and led research on food security and agriculture policy analysis in protracted crises for the last 15 years, both in FAO headquarters and Eastern and Western African countries. He has worked as a food security analyst and agricultural economist for FAO, the Italian Development Cooperation, private sector companies and the University of Florence.
Mohamud Isse Farah
Mohamud Isse FarahMohamud Isse Farah holds a Master of Arts in Environment, Peace and Development at the United Nations University for Peace (UPEACE), Mogadishu (Somalia).
He is the Director of Food Security and Early Warning for the Somali Ministry of Agriculture and irrigation (current position); Head of Climate Change and Resilience for the Somali Ministry of Agriculture and irrigation; Head of Environment for the Somali Ministry of Health. He participated in the Global Convening on Transformative Food Assistance for Zero Hunger in Adis Ababa, Ethiopia (4-6 November 2019) and he was one of the Technical Team of the Ministry during the Green Climate Fund and Climate Co-financing Conference held in Ethiopia (03-06 December 2019).
Mary Wairimu Kamau
Mary Wairimu KamauMs. Mary Wairimu Kamau is the former Director of Agriculture Extension in Kenya and currently a farmer. She is also a member and the immediate former Board Chair of The African Forum For Agricultural Services (AFAAS); a Board Member of The Global Forum for Rural Advisory Service (GFRAS) and its Policy Dialogue Team; a member and co-founder of The Kenyan Forum For Agricultural Advisory Service (KeFAAS); a member and the current Board Chair of Access Agriculture, an International Non – Governmental Organization. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture and a Higher Post Graduate Diploma in Tropical Sericulture.
One of her greatest achievements was initiating the development of A National Agricultural Sector Extension Policy (NASEP) which was enacted by H.E. the President in 2012, the first of its kind in Africa. Due to her exemplary work in steering extension in the country, she was awarded the Order of the Grand Warrior of Kenya (OGW) by H. E. the President in 2012. She has also chaired various task forces and committees initiated by The Government of Kenya to tackle various issues on food security and nutrition.
Sintayehu Demissie
Sintayehu DemissieMrs. Sintayehu Demissie has a qualification of BSc in Agricultural Resources Economics and Management and MA in Rural Livelihood and Development from Addis Ababa University.
She has also diploma in General Agriculture from Hawassa University and professional certificate from different institutions to have better skill. She has served at different levels at District, Zonal and Regional level of agriculture offices for 6 years. Starting from April 2009 she is serving in the Ministry of Agriculture in different positions such as Monitoring and Evaluation Expert, Livelihood Implementation Coordination Unit Coordinator and currently she is working as Food Security Coordination Directorate Director and managing specifically the Ethiopian Rural Productive Safety Net Program in the Ministry of Agriculture.
Jean Jacques Mbonigaba Muhinda
Jean Jacques Mbonigaba MuhindaJean Jacques Mbonigaba Muhinda holds a PhD Degree in Agriculture Sciences and Biological Engineering from Gembloux Agriculture University (Belgium), with over 20-years’ experience in agriculture development, research, technology transfer and academia.
During the last decade, he was charged of the following responsibilities: Executive Director of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA, current position); Director General of the Rwanda Agriculture Development Board (RAB- a Government of Rwanda’s apex organization in charge of Agriculture Research, Technology Transfer and Extension/Advisory Services;); Chairman of the Rwanda National Irrigation and Mechanization Task Force; Professor and Vice-Dean for Research and Postgraduate Studies at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Rwanda; Senior Consultant for AGRA, FAO & WFP. He currently sits on the Board of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA).