The Board
AWLAE-Net has a Board of 11 members. Of these 10 are women and men drawn from each of the 10 countries and the 11th is an International Friend of AWLAE-Net.
Biographies of Board Members
Dr. Eve Kasirye-Alemu (Uganda) - Board Chairperson
Dr. Eve Kasirye-Alemu is a Food Science Technologist. She founded the Uganda National Bureau of Standards and was its first Executive Director 1989-2001. She has made significant contribution to development of quality regulations and standards in Uganda and beyond. She is a member of six Boards and has been in many task-oriented committees and has a number of relevant publications. She is currently the Managing Director of Quality Assurance, Agro-business and Management Consultants (QAM) and has worked with many international and donor agencies. In her development work, she has collaborated with USAID, FAO, IDRC and the WTO. Eve is one of the founder members and a previous chair of the Association of Uganda Professional Women in Agriculture and Environment (AUPWAE), a member of AWLAE-Net.
Dr. Ousmane Nafolo Coulibaly - IITA (Benin) - Vice Chairperson
Dr. Ousmane Coulibaly is an Agricultural Economist and currently the Regional Coordinator, Cow Pea Project for Africa (PRONAF), IITA, Cotonou, Benin. He has a wide network of collaborators and donors and has in the recent past raised huge sums of money from IFAD, the World Bank, DFID, the Millennium Challenge Account (MCC). He has published widely (28 papers) and has received a number of Awards and Honors. Some of the Awards have included the Kellog Foundation Fellowship for International Agricultural Economics and the IDRC Small Grant for research and cowpea varieties.
Ndeye Mama Toure (Senegal) - Board Secretary
Ndeye Mama Toure holds a Masters Degree in Agricultural Education. Between 2001-2004, she held the position of Director in the Directorate of Agriculture and is currently a Technical Advisor in Horticulture, with specific responsibilities on production, quality control and marketing of horticultural. She is a member of various alumni organizations, including the Association for the promotion of Women Leaders in Agriculture and Environment (AWLAE/ASELFAE). She is currently the Chair of ASELFAE.
Ms. Charity Kabutha (Kenya) - Board Treasurer
Charity Kabutha is a development consultant in areas of Participation, Gender and overall Social Change, with over 25 years of experience in rural development. She holds a masters degree from the London School of Economics, London. Since 1994, Charity has been associated with the African Women Leaders in Agriculture and Environment (AWLAE) program, first (1994-2000) as a Regional Program Director for Eastern Africa and in the last one year, a Winrock Senior Advisor to AWLAE-Net. Prior to joining Winrock International, she had worked as a senior officer in the Kenya Ministries of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF). She has consulted widely for American and European development and donor agencies. She has undertaken assignments in a large number of African countries, in West, South and Eastern Africa. She brings to the Board a strong conviction in the cause for which AWLAE stands, strong knowledge of AWLAE-Net, networks and expertise in program development and oversight.
Dr. Francis Ofori (Ghana)
Dr. Francis Ofori is the Director of the Institute of Agricultural Research, College of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana. He was the National Director of the Department of Crops Services, Ministry of Food and Agriculture Ghana, from 1990 to 2004. His functions in this position included the general administration and coordination of all activities as well as formulation of relevant policies. In his work in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Ofori has collaborated with a large number of local and international organizations including IITA, WARDA, ICRAF and IFDC as well as several donors - World Bank, FAO, UNDP, DANIDA, IFAD, European Union, African Development Bank, CIDA and Agence Francaise de Development. He has chaired six Boards and was a member of many more. He has an impressive list of publications (34) and two special awards. The awards include (1) a plaque awarded by the Government of Ghana in recognition of his outstanding contribution towards his outstanding contribution towards the National Agriculture Program at the National Farmers’ Day Celebrations (1991) and (2) a Distinguished Service Award presented by the International Society for Tropical Root Crops (198).
Bogalech Alemu Retta Bishu (Ethiopia)
Bogalech Alemu holds a Masters Degree in Curriculum Development and Instruction and was Head, Women’s Affairs Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Ethiopia (1993-2003). She has developed guidelines for many sectors-Agriculture, Water Resources, Self-Help and Family Planning and Reproductive Health. In the late 1990s, Bogalech played a very major role in establishment of the AWLAE-Program in Ethiopia. She is currently a Teamleader of a Family Planning/Reproductive Heath Pathfinder International (Ethiopia). She is currently the President of the National Committee for the eradication of Harmful Traditional Practices in Ethiopia and a member of a number of Boards.
Dr. Josephine N. Egwonwu - Winrock International (Nigeria)
Dr. Josephine Egwonwu has 15 years experience in rural development and gender issues in the area of capacity building, organizational development of local organizations and new business development (i.e. proposal writing and fund raising). She is currently the Deputy Chief of Party, AIDS Impact Mitigation (AIM) Project being managed by Winrock International. She is currently the National Coordinator of AWLAE-Net Nigeria.
Baba Kongo (Mali)
She holds a Masters Degree in Rural Sociology and is currently Projects and Programs Coordinator at “Office de la Haute Vallee du Niger” - Ministry of Agriculture. One of her current responsibilities is fundraising from donors (UNDP, Canadian Cooperation, Belgium Technical Cooperation, French Development Agency etc). She has extensive experience in working with and building the capacity of rural organizations. She is currently a very active member of AWLAE-Net Mali Chapter.
Catherine Ebah Bomoh (Cote d’Ivoire)
Catherine, a Food Science Technologist, is a Researcher at the Agronomic National Research Centre (CNRA). She was a founder member of AWLAE Cote d’Ivoire and is the current Chairperson. As part of her work, she has worked with women farmers in a wide range of areas, including food processing. She has had success in the past raising funds to support activities of the association and other national organizations. She is a member of many professional networks, including Women Engineers Network, National Committee of Global Funds for HIV/AIDS.
Sophia E. Kaduma (Tanzania)
Sophia holds a Masters of Science in National Development Project Planning and is currently the Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Cooperatives. She has helped design and implement projects, such as the Agricultural Sectoral Management Project, the Food Security Policy and the Agricultural Sector Development Strategy (ASDS). She has held senior advisory positions within the Government, such as being the chairperson of the Ministerial Procurement Committee and the Ministerial Integrity Committees. She has membership in many organizations, such as the Tanzania Tea Board, Tanzania Meteorological Agency, the Institute Resources Assessment, the Tanzania Association of Women in Agriculture and Environment (TAWLAE) among others.
Dr. Hendrik Knipscheer (United States)
Dr. Knispscheer, an international development specialist, has more than 30 years’ experience managing agricultural and rural development programs and projects. He had both long and frequent short-term field assignments throughout Africa. Since 1996, Dr. Knipscheer has been a senior advisor to the Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education (SAFE) Program, an innovative training program for mid-Career agricultural extension field agents which collaborates with 12 Universities in nine African countries. Presently, his work focuses on nurturing of Public Private Sector Partnerships (PPPs). He designed collaborative project with a number of multilateral agribusinesses. These include the Cargill (smallholder cotton in Tanzania), Unilever/Lipton (smallholder tea in Indonesia) and Heineken (developing local sorghum supply chains in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Burundi). In Nigeria he recently co-authored the Cassava Sector Master Plan. Earlier in his career, he was a Village Cooperative Extension Officer in Ivory Coast and Agricultural Economist at the IITA. His publication list amounts to over 60 articles, books and scientific papers. These include studies on the role of women agricultural processing, marketing and livestock rearing. Many of his co-authors have been female scientists.
