Africa-Europe Foundation

Sara Mbago-Bhunu has a rich work experience spanning more than 20 years in the agriculture sector across Central, East and Southern Africa. She has worked on agriculture policy and sector reviews, value chain development, access to agricultural finance, social enterprise models and the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises in peri-urban and rural areas. Sara has also led and managed teams in other development organizations in the design of development projects and capacity-building programmes. Prior to joining IFAD, Mbago-Bhunu worked at the World Bank as a Senior Agricultural Economist for the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Congo. She also served as Country Director for SNV-Netherlands Development Organisation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Aline Mosnier is an academic with a particular focus on agriculture economics, land-use change and deforestation. At FABLE, she works with 20 country teams to develop rigorous quantitative national pathways for food and land-use systems, and coordinates the aggregation of national pathways to the global level while ensuring consistent trade. Before joining SDSN, she worked at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), developing the global land-use model GLOBIOM with a focus on international trade and regional model applications (Congo Basin, Brazil, Indonesia, Ethiopia).

Lucy Muchoki is passionate about food security in Africa and the creation of small businesses around the food system. She believes that Africa’s economic transformation will be achieved through dedicated support with a special focus on agricultural small businesses and the youth through partnerships. She founded PanAAC, an organisation created to support African agribusiness through enhanced productivity and competitiveness in the regional and global market. Muchoki is currently a member of the recently-formed African Union Agribusiness Chambers, tasked with driving the Africa free continental trade area (AfCFTA) in Agribusiness and UN Food Security Champion.

Elizabeth Nsimadala is a young Ugandan ‘agriprenuer’, currently heading PAFO and the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF). Nsimadala was also recently appointed on the advisory committee for the UN Food Systems Summit 2021, and serves on the global steering committee for Forest Farm Facility (FFF) and is a governing council member for Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism (AFFM), among others. As a result of her efforts in supporting farmers organisations, she was recognised by the World Farmers’ Organisation as one of the women contributing to sustainable development.

Jehiel Oliver is a social entrepreneur responsible for managing Hello Tractor, an agricultural tech company that connects over 3,000 tractor owners with 500,000 small farmers. His organisation has been praised for unlocking investment in the tractor market. As a result, Oliver has been honoured with numerous awards, including a feature in Foreign Policy Magazine’s Top 100 Global Thinkers. He was also appointed as a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa, where he most recently chaired the technology subcommittee.

With a multidisciplinary profile in the analysis of the agri-food systems, Marta Rivera-Ferre has a particular interest in alternative systems following the food sovereignty paradigm and more recently, applying a feminist framework to her research. She is a member of the editorial board of the Agricultural Systems and the Journal of Sustainable Development journal and was a lead author in the UN-led International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge Science and Technology for Development.

His career is rich of various high responsibilities in the sectors of education and training, research and innovation, agricultural and rural development. Dr.Sadiki has received several awards, recognizing his scientific research, including the FAO Merit Medal for his research on agricultural biodiversity, the Order of Agricultural Merit of the French Ministry of Agriculture, the IPGRI-CGIAR Merit Award, the University of Minnesota Distinction Award, Moroccan National Merit Award. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research, and a member of the Scientific Council of the International Center for Agricultural Research and Development (CIRAD). He is Morocco’s representative on the Board of Governors of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). He is on the board of administration of the newly created Institut Agro, France. He chairs several boards of national institutions as well as member of board of others national and international institutions. In his current role, he leads the implementation of national agricultural development strategy Green Morocco Plan up to 2020 and the launching of the new strategy Green Generation established for the horizon 2030.

Johan Swinnen is the Director-General of IFPRI, which, working in over 50 countries, provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Swinnen is also a member of the Champions 12.3 Leadership Group to Reduce Food Loss and Waste and a Commissioner of the Food Systems Economics Commission. He is a fellow of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association and the European Association of Agricultural Economists and a former president of the International Association of Agricultural Economists.

Rhoda Peace Tumusiime has extensive experience in the field of sustainable agriculture, food security, rural development and governance. She is currently part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), as well as Board Member of the International Potato Centre (CIP) and of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). In addition, she serves as chair for programme committee of the Africa Fertiliser and Agribusiness Partnership, and advises ASARECA on institutional governance.

Jacques Wery is a Professor of Agronomy and Agricultural Systems in Montpellier SupAgro and has led a CIRAD-INRA-CIHEAM research unit on functional analysis and design of Mediterranean and Tropical Cropping Systems. Wery has been a Board Member of the European Union’s Seamless project on integrated modelling of agricultural systems, Executive Secretary of the European Society for Agronomy and is Chair of the Farming Systems Design Network. Until 2018 he chaired the AgroSYS joint venture between SupAgro and five private companies to support the design of sustainable agricultural systems in Europe and Africa.