Growing Talents: Youth in Agriculture

Youth in Agriculture
40 years on, the CGIAR looks at agriculture through the eyes of the under 40s

Foreword
The voices in this collection of stories tell us that many young people first embark on a career in
agriculture because they feel personally driven to make a difference in addressing the current and
future challenges facing mankind. Young people today are far more aware and keen to make a
lasting impact to meet these challenges, not just in their own generation but also for the future.
Such young professionals often bring with them new ideas, boundless energy and a desire to make a
difference that will leave a mark well into the future.

Unfortunately, many young people don’t have a voice.

We feel strongly that there has to be a place at the table for youth. While there is no substitute for
the experience, knowledge and wisdom that comes with age, young people can add a different
perspective and offer fresh ideas. It is vital that we listen to their voices, realize their ability to
contribute to agriculture research for development (AR4D), and involve them in activities that will
help determine their future. We can do this by actively engaging them in efforts to reduce rural
poverty, increase food security, improve nutrition and health, and sustainably manage natural
resources.

With the launch of the United Nations’ International Year of Youth on 12th August 2010, the ICT-KM
Program of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) began recognizing
the achievements of some of the youth they encountered through their work by giving them a space
to talk on the Program’s blog.

As the CGIAR began celebrating its 40th anniversary, we felt it was timely to repackage this series of
diverse interviews featuring young people under the age of 40. This booklet highlights the work of
13 highly talented individuals; people who are already making a difference in the AR4D arena. Each
interview gives a unique insight into their roles, perspectives, experiences and aspirations …

We can see ourselves, our experiences, and our struggles in many of these young inspiring
individuals, and hope that younger generations will also be inspired by their stories and perhaps be
encouraged to make similar contributions. We also hope that these young professionals will
stimulate others professionals and also young farmers to make a lasting difference in the lab,
classroom, greenhouse, trial-plot, field, water basin or forest.

Our thanks go to all our interviewees for giving up their valuable time to talk to us, Nadia Manning-
Thomas for facilitating the interviews, and Mary Schneider for the text.

Lloyd Le Page Enrica Porcari
CEO Senior Information and Knowledge Officer
Consortium of International Agricultural Research Consortium of International Agricultural Research
Centers Centers

Youth in Agriculture ‐ July 2011 Page 2

Table of Contents

Foreword ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………2

The good, the bad and the ugly: a closer look at opportunities, challenges and issues
Courtney Paisley ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..4

Youth making agricultural knowledge travel
#1 – Nadia Manning-Thomas ……………………………………………………………………………………6
#2 – Evelyn Katingi ……………………………………………………………………………………………………8

Mapping for the future: youth and spatial information for ARD
# 1 – Stephen Kibet ……………………………………………………………………………………………..…10
#2 – Silvia Renn ………………………………………………………………………………………………………12

Learning together: youth involved in training and capacity building
Grace Mwaura ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….14

Youth and innovation
Eva Schiffer …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….16

Concerned with climate change
#1 – Lieven Claessens …………………………………………………………………………………………….18
#2 – Andy Jarvis ………………………………………………………………………………………………….....20

Carrying on the fight for gender equality
#1– Jemimah Njuki …………………………………………………………………………………………………22
#2– Alessandra Galié ………………………………………………………………………………………………24

Behind the scenes: Youth in laboratories
#1 - Teddy Amuge.......................................................................................................26
#2 - Soroush Parsa ………………………………………………………………………………………………….28


The good, the bad and the ugly – a closer look at opportunities,
challenges and issues – Courtney Paisley

Giving a voice to young people
Sometimes, all it takes to change the course of our lives is a little whisper
that stirs something within us, or an image flashing for a moment across a
television screen, or, in the case of Courtney Paisley, a few well-placed
words uttered during a coffee break. For it was during a short break from
her work that this Canadian national heard the words that would
ultimately lead her to cross continents to take up her present position as
the Coordinator of the Young Professionals’ Platform for Agricultural
Research for Development (YPARD).

Filling a need
When Courtney first began her work with the ICT-KM Program’s Online Learning Resources (OLR)
project, she had never even heard of YPARD. But all of that changed when she attended a coffee
break presentation four years ago at the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) in Nairobi, Kenya. “The
YPARD Coordinator at that time was visiting my Center,” Courtney recalls, “and he really grabbed my
attention when he took the floor and said, ‘I want to speak to everyone under forty in the room.’ As
a young professional, I was curious to find out more. That’s when I learned that there is an
organization that gives a voice to young people involved in agricultural research for development
(AR4D) by giving them an opportunity to air their views.”

YPARD especially appealed to Courtney because, like many other young people embarking on a
career in AR4D, she felt she was being passed over by senior staff members during the more
important discussions relevant to her work. Of course, she also admits that a lack of confidence had
a role to play in her silence too. “I didn’t have much experience back then, and I wasn’t confident
that my opinions and views were all that well-informed or even relevant to certain discussions,” she
says. “Still, I was rarely asked for my input. I think it’s important to encourage youth and make them
feel that their views are useful and helpful. YPARD can help build up their confidence by allowing
them to tentatively present their ideas online for feedback from their peers before sharing their
thoughts with their superiors.”

Making a detour
Shortly after joining YPARD, Courtney, who has a Master of Science from the University of
Manchester (UK) in Environmental Governance, left the CGIAR to focus on environmental education
programs on the ground, working with organizations like Oxfam and SolarAid. Her busy schedule
gave her little time to even think about YPARD. Until, that is to say, the position of Coordinator was
advertised in early 2010.

“When I saw the advertisement, something just clicked,” says Courtney. “I immediately saw what
was needed and felt that the requirements matched my background extremely well. At the time, I
really didn’t want to leave Kenya, but I was drawn to the position. I thought I could help connect the
voice of youth with larger debates and discussions, something that still appears to be lacking four
years after my initial involvement with YPARD. Although there’s a lot of understanding in the AR4D
community that young people are important and that they should be more involved, it’s just a lot of
talk with not much coming from young people themselves.”

So, a few months after applying for the Coordinator’s position, this versatile young woman packed
her bags and headed for Rome, where she is hosted by GFAR at FAO headquarters.

Knowledge sharing and ICTs
YPARD focuses heavily on knowledge sharing, and Courtney’s skills in this area will be an asset to her
new position – through her earlier work with the ICT-KM Program, she familiarized herself with
various knowledge sharing methodologies and tools that can now be used to best effect. “When I
was working on the OLR project, I studied ways of sharing resources,” she says. “As a result, I try to
avoid the replication of activities. For example, within YPARD we are looking to increase links with
other networks, taking advantage of resources that have already been created by others; and
conversely, sharing our resources with others. My work with the project also helped me facilitate
online sessions. Sharing knowledge, information, ideas, opinions and funding news online will also
help us build a solid network.”

Courtney also acknowledges the importance of ICT and social media in expanding YPARD’s
networking. As she says, “They are both very important because YPARD is global, with members all
over the world. It’s definitely the key way to link people together – and not just to create our own
network, but to also use existing networks and the ways that people already communicate with each
other. We also plan to change our method of dissemination of the funding news from a newsletter
to a blog.”

Building a network of value
This young woman speaks enthusiastically about her new role and the possibility of helping youth to
equip themselves for the best possible start as they embark on a career in AR4D. “We want every
young professional to know about YPARD; to know there is a place where they can find and share
information, and look for opportunities. By bringing youth to the table at different discussions,
encouraging members to tell their friends and have them stream relevant discussions back to the
community, we will surely become a network of value.”

There’s no doubt that Courtney will be successful in her new role.

If you are interested in finding out more about YPARD, please visit the website at
http://www.ypard.net or send Courtney an email at ypard.coordinationunit@googlemail.com

Photo: Courtney Paisley


Youth making agricultural knowledge travel #1 – Nadia Manning-
Thomas

A very special knowledge sharing specialist
When it comes to knowledge sharing, Nadia Manning-Thomas just
can’t seem to get enough. She first worked with the CGIAR ICT-KM
Program between 2007 and 2009 as the Project Leader of the
Knowledge Sharing in Research project, and came onboard again in
2010 as a Knowledge Sharing in Research Specialist while also
working on the global initiative for Coherence in Information for
Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD). As if juggling these
two positions isn’t enough, this energetic young woman still finds
time to play an active role on the Steering Committee of the Young
Professionals’ Platform for Agricultural Research for Development
(YPARD).

Making agricultural knowledge travel
Nadia likens her present work to that of a travel agent, as she focuses on learning about, promoting
and supporting the implementation of appropriate pathways for making CGIAR agricultural
knowledge travel. In particular, she works on improving knowledge sharing in research by trying to
find out how to motivate researchers to share knowledge more, while also exploring and promoting
ways in which researchers and research projects can effectively share their knowledge.

“The knowledge that exists within various institutions, people and places often stays within the small
spheres in which it is generated and is not widely shared, limiting wider learning and the
enhancement of practices,” she says. “Some say we need better knowledge sharing, others talk
about coherence in information systems, but all we want is for valuable knowledge about agriculture
to travel: to move from one person to another, from one place to another, from one institution to
another …

“This is where not only traditional media but also the growing range of ICTs and social media tools
have a role to play. Such tools offer us new ways of having conversations and collaborating with
others across geographical spreads, while helping to keep travel costs and our carbon foot prints to a
minimum. My heart is always in face-to-face interactions, but if we can get similar benefits from
virtual methods, then we will be able to increase our interactions with a wider and more diverse set
of people.”

YPARD involvement
Nadia’s interest and involvement in youth in AR4D stems from her own experiences. “The voices of
young scientists in the CGIAR, my own included, are not always being heard,” she explains. “I’ve
sometimes felt hesitant about putting up my hand or saying something or being chosen to have a
more direct role in meetings. I’ve worked hard to give myself more confidence to overcome that. In
that regard, YPARD is trying to partner with other groups to give training in leadership and
presentation skills, while exploring other training avenues that can benefit young people.”

The YPARD Steering Committee draws mainly on Nadia’s knowledge sharing in research experience
and her exposure to and involvement with ICTs. When she first joined the organization, she
advocated the development of a more innovative communications strategy, which resulted in a new

website. So when they were looking for a new YPARD Coordinator, she felt strongly that the terms of
reference should mention the need for strong communication and knowledge sharing skills, as most
of the Coordinator’s work involves getting the word out there through multiple avenues, using tools
like social media, and finding innovative ways to reach young people and inform organizations about
the role of young people.

“YPARD is trying to use a number of different channels for sharing and brokering relevant and useful
information for young professionals,” she says. “Although our website offers information on job
opportunities, funding opportunities, student opportunities, etc, we have found that young people
want more than just information pushed from our side. They also want to discuss things with each
other – like what it’s like to be a young person in agriculture, university curricula, what they are
learning (and not learning) and their views on key topics in agriculture. We need to see YPARD
knowledge as a combination of the ideas, perspectives and experiences of all of our members, and
we need to ensure convenient access to this collective resource if it is to be of benefit.

“We’ve been looking at ways of facilitating these kinds of discussions: pulling together ideas from
our young professionals, packaging them and sharing them in proposals, projects and big agricultural
development meetings and conferences, so we can represent the views of the youth on things like
climate change, sustainable agriculture and conservation agriculture. We’ve also fought hard to
secure a certain number of places and funding for young professionals at some of the big
conferences to give them a greater perspective of how their work contributes to the larger picture.”

Changing mindsets
“YPARD needs to focus on reaching out, creating engagement and interactions, and keeping abreast
of those new social media tools that are being taken up to help knowledge travel,” says Nadia.
“Young professionals need to establish a mindset about the value of knowledge sharing and being
innovative with communications, learning, and monitoring and evaluation. All of which can prime
them to take their growth and embed it into future management policies.”

Personal benefits
Nadia feels she has benefited greatly from her work both with the Program and with YPARD.
“Through the Program I’ve had many opportunities to learn new skills, share my ideas, and grow. As
for YPARD, this is the first time I’ve been on a steering committee, so it has been a real learning
curve. I never thought I would have had such an opportunity at my age, so this experience has been
invaluable. I’ve increased my own skills while expanding my professional network. Also, with all my
knowledge sharing work, being part of YPARD gives me another hat and increased credibility as a
result of my work with young professionals and my attempts to get them involved.

“Overall, whatever I do, whether it be for the Program or for YPARD or for my own personal benefit,
it’s all about making knowledge travel.”

And it is that attitude that makes Nadia a very special knowledge sharing specialist.

Photo: Nadia Manning-Thomas


Youth making agricultural knowledge travel #2 – Evelyn Katingi

The woman behind the map
Evelyn Katingi is a woman with Africa at her fingertips. With a
click of her mouse, a map of the continent appears on her
computer screen. At once you can see the breadth of CGIAR
ongoing research in Africa: from Tunisia in the north all the way
down to South Africa at the tip of the continent, and from the
Gambia in the west to Somalia in the east. Her eyes light up
when she talks about the map. “CGIAR Ongoing Research lists
almost 400 projects from the 15 CGIAR Centers, and more are
being added as we speak,” this young Kenyan woman says.
“Also, every day, more and more people are visiting the site.”

A collaborative effort between the ICT-KM Program and CGIAR
Collective Action in Eastern and Southern Africa, the map shows CGIAR projects: who is doing what,
where and with whom. It makes research information accessible to all CGIAR staff and other key
stakeholders, thereby facilitating information sharing, promoting partnership opportunities and
encouraging collective action.

The map’s coverage
“Initially, the map was designed to align research activities in eastern and southern Africa,” says
Evelyn, “but the more we developed it and the more we continued to gather information, the more
it became increasingly difficult not to include projects carried out in other parts of Africa. So the
information grew and exploded, and it’s now a research map of Africa.

“Plans are also afoot to expand the map’s reach beyond Africa to other areas where the CGIAR is
working. One of my personal goals is to have a distributed but linked system with other agriculture
information management systems in the world.”

Maintaining the map
Ask anyone responsible for a map’s content, online or otherwise, and they will tell you about the
challenges they encounter maintaining such a resource. Evelyn is no exception.
“I’m in charge of collecting information about the map, identifying areas of development, getting
users’ feedback about what they think about the map, analyzing it to see if we’re meeting their
needs, assessing how best to address some of the needs, and creating relationships with different
Centers and key people in charge of updating the map,” she says, all in one breath. “Then, of course,
I have to communicate the information on the map, and also maintain the Collective Action blog and
contribute news and circulate the Program’s newsletter, which goes a long way to spread news
about the map and was recently awarded a bronze medal by the Association for Communication
Excellence (ACE) in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences in the newsletters
class of the 2010 Awards.

“Some scientists update the map without me having to remind them; but others need a little
nudge,” she says. “This is understandable because there is always competition for users’ time and
attention. So I try to encourage them by maintaining a very simple data entry form and easy-to-
follow procedures for using the map. As a result of keeping things simple and straightforward,


anyone can access the
information on the map
with just a few clicks of
their mouse.”

At the same time, Evelyn
acknowledges the
contribution made by the
Centers. “Without their
participation, the map
can’t survive,” she
explains.

CGIAR Ongoing Research

“I’ve tried to identify focal people in the different Centers who can update their Center’s
information, making the process more participatory.”

The road to the map
Three years ago, when Evelyn knew little about research maps, or blogs or e-newsletters, she began
working for the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya, where she was
employed as an intern for three months. As a fresh graduate with a degree in statistics, she threw
herself into her work developing a database of research activities carried out in eastern and
southern Africa. Six months later, when a permanent position became available, she jumped at the
opportunity. At that time, the Coordinator of the Program was Ravi Prabhu, a man who was
instrumental in shaping this young woman’s career.

“Ravi wasn’t just my supervisor,” she says, “he was also the one behind the map – I only took full
charge of it in 2009. He helped me develop a vision for the map. He had a way of making people feel
appreciated, gave credit where it was deserved, and acknowledged everyone who made a
contribution. I also wouldn’t be where I am today without the support of my current supervisor
Bruce Scott, the Director of Partnership and Communication at ILRI who oversees the Program’s
activities. He’s always available to offer key strategic decisions on the map. I also worked closely
with the ICT-KM Program team, who are always up-to-date with the latest technology and provide
excellent ideas to develop the map and address user needs to achieve greater impact.”

Get your product right so that people are awed by it – Robin Sharma
A fan of motivational speaker Robin Sharma, Evelyn applies his philosophy to the map.
“If it’s something good and it’s useable, then people will use it. You have to be passionate about
your work, challenge yourself to do better, and take advantage of opportunities.”

“Young people should strive and work to upgrade their skills,” says Evelyn, who is pursuing her
Master’s degree in Agriculture Information Communication Management. “It’s also important to
have a vision. My vision is to enhance the efficiency of key information and knowledge resources
among the CGIAR Centers and their partners to increase the impact of agricultural research.”

Looks like she’s already got that road mapped out.

Photo: Evelyn Katingi

Mapping for the future: youth and spatial information for ARD # 1 –
Stephen Kibet

A passion of the heart
Growing up in rural Kenya, Stephen Kibet witnessed first-hand
the effects of soil erosion on the land surrounding his home
village of Iten. Deep trenches mar the once picturesque
landscape and have rendered valuable farming land useless.
Each year, wind and rain ravage the land further, causing
nutrient-rich top soil to be swept down the region’s steep
slopes, straight into the Keiro River.

Soil erosion and landslides not only lead to the destruction of
property and a decrease in agriculture production, they also
claim lives. “Late last year, five people lost their lives in
landslides in the Kerio Valley,” explains Stephen. “This led to the
evacuation of people in lowland areas to the higher areas of Iten. Soil erosion also causes heavy
boulders to roll down the slopes, rendering some roads dangerous and/or impassable, especially
during heavy rain. The Kerio River is also experiencing reduced water levels due to the landslides,
which in turn greatly affects the livelihoods and wildlife that depend on it as a source of water.
According to an article on the causes and consequences of soil erosion in Kenya, nature washes
away some 9.3 billion tons of soil a year. But when man interferes, the rate goes up to around 24
billion tons a year. Kenya’s soil erosion problems stem from its semi-arid climate (in the interior), the
fuel wood crisis and poor land management and agricultural practices.”

Knowledge is power
It was against such a backdrop that Stephen grew up, making him determined to devote his life to
helping his community contain soil erosion. The same sort of determination that he applies to most
aspects of his life also ensured him a place at Kenya’s Moi University. Currently, he is the only person
from his village pursuing tertiary education. “Although families in my district have begun investing in
their children’s education, the number of students who join institutions of higher learning is still very
low compared to other districts,” he says. “Most students finish their studies in form four and then
venture into agricultural farming, with a small number engaging in trading activities.”

When Stephen began studying geography at university, he was exposed to Geographical Information
Systems (GIS) for the first time, enabling him to explore further his idea of applying his knowledge to
help his community. “At last, I was given some insights into reducing soil erosion in my district. And
ever since then, my work with GIS has become a passion in my heart,” says this young man. “With
my zeal for this field, I began looking at ways of revising a soil erosion model that I came across
during a university course on Hydrology and Watershed Management. Such models can provide us
with a sophisticated tool for the selection of appropriate soil conservation practices.”

AAGW as a catalyst
Shortly thereafter, Stephen and his model (The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation -RUSLE)
received the sort of exposure that many of his peers can only dream of. As he recalls: “Fortune
comes to one’s life at a specific time and at a specific place. It came to me when I attended the
Africa Agricultural GIS Week (AAGW) 2010, a conference that brings GIS experts, proponents and
students together to look at ways of improving agriculture through the use of location specific

information. The event,
which took place in June
2010 in Nairobi, Kenya,
adopted a Share Fair format
that called for presenters to
showcase their GIS projects,
ideas and experiences.

I saw this as an opportunity
to introduce my RUSLE
model. As a first-time
presenter at an
international event, I initially
felt inadequate and uneasy.
Soil erosion in Kenya

However, the warm welcome and lively interactions I received from the organizers and other
participants soon put me at ease. Then my spirits were lifted even higher when others began taking
an interest in my idea.”

Response to the RUSLE model
After his presentation, Stephen received a prize for the best first-time presenter, which also helped
motivate other geospatial scholars present. “I have been receiving messages from people from
different backgrounds complimenting the idea and wanting to know how the model can be used to
predict soil erosion on their land,” says Stephen. “Others have shared ideas on how to improve the
model and use it to predict soil loss in a wider area, and yet others want to know more about how
the model works. Some of my classmates have also been inspired to major in GIS after discovering
its usefulness as a decision-making tool. Most of them have developed GIS-related projects aimed at
resolving agricultural problems. The award has also motivated me to become a GIS analyst in the
field of agriculture. My classmates now know all about AGCommons and the other organizations
involved in AAGW 2010.

The road ahead
Stephen hopes to be able to use the RUSLE model to compute soil erosion in his district and share
the results at the next AAGW. He would like to have been able to carry out research using his model
as a fourth year university project, but financial constraints preclude this project from happening.
Instead, he has opted to map the passion fruit woodiness virus in the same area (Kamariny Division)
in the Rift Valley Province. “Given a chance, I would also like to carry out research by computing the
amount of soil deposited in the Keiro River,” says Stephen. “Currently, there are no available
statistics on this, even though it is one of the issues that have been of great concern to me and my
community.”

Even when Stephen returns home during breaks from his university, he finds it difficult to sit still.
Instead, he has initiated a program that encourages school children in his village to study hard so
they can help their families and their community in the future. He also shares ideas and insights with
them so they know what university has to offer them.

We probably haven’t heard the last of Stephen Kibet.

Photos: Steven Kibet


Mapping for the future: youth and spatial information for ARD #2 –
Silvia Renn

Using GIS to overcome Malawi’s water woes
Take a short drive from Silvia Renn’s office in Zomba, Malawi,
and you will see the signs of a country under siege. As you travel
across this small landlocked country in southeast Africa, lush
greenery and fields of ripening maize suddenly give way to
barren stretches of land. If you look to the horizon, the thing
that strikes you the most is the lack of trees.

“Much of Malawi has been stripped of trees to provide wood
and charcoal for cooking,” says Silvia, a research analyst and GIS
(geographical information systems) specialist with the CGIAR’s
WorldFish Center. “This plays a huge role in the climate change
that is taking place in the country. Fewer trees mean less water
can be held in the ground; water that is necessary for farming. This is where the Lake Chilwa Project
hopes to have an impact on rural communities around the Lake. In the last 50 years, Lake Chilwa has
dried up completely (twice!) and each time fishermen and farmers have had to adapt. The project,
which also has large farming and forestry components, looks at previous and possible future climate
change adaptation strategies.

Small-scale irrigation
Another Worldfish project in Malawi in which Silvia is involved looks at small scale irrigation in
combination with fishponds. “The project looks at water management issues in the face of climate
change,” says Silvia. “I’m using GIS to model climate change. Presently, we’re setting up stations to
measure temperature, discharge from rivers, evaporation, etc. We’ll also be looking closely at how
the people in this region actually manage water. For example, in Chingale, people irrigate their land
by redirecting rivers. So we’re looking at the best way to manage that water so that the people can
get the best benefits.

"This project finds out what the farmers are doing and not what we think they should be doing. And
then we see what’s actually working; what sort of irrigation schemes they are using and how and
which ones are making their fields and ponds more productive. Using spatial information can really
help to prioritize what type of land is available, what type of soil, and what types of water availability
could influence productive agriculture and aquaculture. We’re providing information, we’re
combining it, and then we’re using this combined information to make suggestions to extension
agents on where to put fish farms that will actually help the farmers to produce more fish.”

Find out more about this project in a video interview with Silvia at Africa Agriculture Geospatial
Week (AAGW10).

Shaping a career
A native of Cologne, Germany, Silvia first became interested in GIS and its applications when she was
studying landscape and urban planning at a university in Germany. Part of her coursework involved
modeling tidal waves in Australia to see how far they could travel and the number of people who
might possibly be affected by them. During this period, the destructive force of the 2004 tsunami in
Asia claimed more than 230,000 lives along the length of the Indian Ocean. Like millions of people

around the globe, Silvia watched the hopeless scenes unfolding on her television screen. As the body
count crept ever higher, she felt devastated. “To think that I’d just been looking at wave data and
modeling it,” she says. “It was hard to see those models being played out in real life. I knew that a lot
of information was already out there about tsunamis, and all it needed was for someone to put it
together…” That’s when Silvia decided it might be a good idea to also focus on information
management and development.

Learning from life’s lessons
After working with
WorldFish for more than
two years, Silvia sees herself
as more of a practitioner
than a researcher. “I would
like to combine research
and practicability,” she says.
“Maybe take other people’s
research and see how it can
fit with what’s actually
happening on the ground in
Africa, because there’s
sometimes a big gap
between the work of
researchers and the reality
facing farmers. Also, I feel
that much of the research
carried out in Africa doesn’t
get back to the farmers,
who are often
underestimated by
researchers. Farmers usually
know what they’re doing
and have a reason for
Silvia gathering data in Malawi

everything they do, even if those reasons aren’t initially apparent. It’s also difficult to expect farmers
to plan long-term (as is often recommended by researchers) if they are engaged in subsistence-level
agriculture. Researchers need to make their research more applicable and then get the results of
their research out there. In that regard, local knowledge can really help make research more
relevant and increase the chances of research outputs being taken up by the farmers.”

Collaboration — the way ahead
This young woman also believes in the power of collaboration; sharing knowledge and working
towards a common goal. “As there are a few CGIAR Centers in Malawi, I feel it would be good if
WorldFish had an opportunity to start collaborating with them to see what they’re working on and
join forces,” she says.

It seems that Silvia might be making some waves of her own in the future.

Photos: Silvia Renn


Learning together: youth involved in training and capacity building –
Grace Mwaura

Teaching the children – shaping a generation
Grace Mwaura is someone who knows all about the power of
education and coaching to transform lives. Her own experiences
tell her that the best way to empower people is to make them
self-sufficient enough to help themselves and society. This
attitude is evident in everything that this young woman does,
especially her work with the Healthy Learning Programme, an
initiative of the Kenyan Ministry of Education, in partnership
with the Flemish Association for Development Cooperation and
Technical Assistance (VVOB), and the World Agroforestry Centre
(ICRAF).

Grace, an intern at ICRAF’s Nairobi campus, works with 30
primary schools in eight districts in the dry lands of Kenya. Many of these schools receive assistance
under the School Meals Programme of the UN World Food Program (WFP). One school meal a day is
often all it takes to ensure that children don’t drop out of school to help their families earn money to
put food on the table, and Grace’s work makes a difference by complementing these WFP efforts.
“The Healthy Learning Program focuses on training young people as early as possible, giving them
the necessary skills to address issues relating to nutrition, food production and environmental
conservation,” explains Grace. “We encourage schools to start up small projects based on the
challenges they are facing. Such projects range from water harvesting, to tree growing (including
fruit trees), to establishing kitchen gardens, to beekeeping. The schools also get technical support
from the relevant ministries and development partners.

“Entire communities and neighbouring schools have learnt from these projects. Parents visit their
children’s schools to see what we are doing and take the lessons learnt home with them. Teachers
are also using the projects to teach all their class subjects. For example, they can teach arithmetic by
looking at the amount of water needed to irrigate a small school garden and asking the children how
much water would be needed for a garden, say, 2.5 times that size. It’s a more exciting and relevant
way of learning for them.”

From university campus to international stage
Before joining ICRAF in February 2010, Grace took a year off after completing her Bachelor’s degree
in Environmental Sciences to focus on an initiative close to her heart. “While I was on campus, I led
an environmental club that spearheaded the establishment of a network of Kenyan-wide university
environmental groups called the Intervarsity Environment Network (IVEN),” says this industrious
young woman. “Shortly after, my African youth colleagues and I decided to build another network
for youth groups across Africa working on climate change. We were further motivated because there
was support for African youth both within national and international climate change policy
processes. Thus, the African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC) was born to empower,
ensure and enhance the participation of African youth in the climate change agenda.

“I spent all of 2009 helping build the movement across more African countries,” says Grace. “The
year ended with more than 50 African youth participating at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP
15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), the biggest number

from Africa to ever attend and play a role in international climate change negotiations. AYICC is now
recognized by the African Union, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the African Ministerial
Conference on Environment (AMCEN) and is also a part of the YOUNGO (youth NGOs ) within the
UNFCCC.”

Mentoring future mentors
While Grace talks
enthusiastically about
her role nurturing
other young people,
she also
acknowledges the
people who have
mentored her. “One
person who has been
instrumental in
shaping my
professional life is my
supervisor at ICRAF,
Tom Vandenbosch,
the Programme
Coordinator of the
Healthy Learning
Programme,” she
says. “He keeps
everyone’s spirits
high and makes you
want to be the best in
Grace giving a talk at one of the Healthy Learning Programme schools

everything you do. He has also helped me grow career-wise by encouraging me to get involved in
activities outside my work. He is truly a champion of youth, and I appreciate everything he has done
for me.”

Oxford and beyond
In October 2011, Grace will begin studying for her Masters in Nature Society & Environmental Policy
at Oxford University, England, on a Rhodes scholarship. She sees this as another opportunity to
improve her leadership skills and work with other young people.

Looking ahead, Grace would like to focus on capacity building in other youth. “I believe in the power
of young people,” she says. “I think it’s important that young people find out what it is that they
really want to do with their lives. Then they need to start small. After all, you don’t just wake up one
day and become the president.”

A few years ago, Grace began her journey by organizing clean-ups on her university campus and
putting up posters informing other students about environmental issues, and now she is ready to
take on the challenges of Oxford. It is not clear what the future holds for her, but there is little doubt
that she will continue to make a difference in the lives of many people.

Photos: Grace Mwaura and Wangari Mathenge (VVOB)


Youth and innovation – Eva Schiffer

Realizing a dream
As a young girl, Eva Schiffer was once asked what she wanted to
be when she grew up. Without hesitation, she said, “I want to be
a writer and I want to feed the children in Africa.” But, as often
happens with childhood aspirations, she soon forgot what it was
that she wanted to be. It was only many years later, as a
successful, award-winning consultant, that she discovered that
she had inadvertently realized those dreams.

When Eva first travelled from her native Germany to Africa, it
was not to fulfil a childhood dream but to carry out research
work as an intern with a nature conservation organization in
Namibia in 1997. This endlessly curious woman was fascinated
by what she saw and returned some years later to carry out field research for her PhD, a stint that
saw her living in a Volkswagen Combi in the Namibia desert for four months.

The woman with the toys
It was while she was in Namibia that Eva came up with an idea that would germinate and grow into
the early version of Net-Map, an interview-based mapping tool that helps stakeholders understand,
visualize, discuss, and improve situations in which different people influence outcomes. “This early
version of Net-Map used influence towers, represented on a map by checkers and toy figurines, to
show visually the level of influence people have within community-based networks,” says Eva.

Later, after finishing her doctorate studies, she took this early model with her to her first job
interview at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). “I was very fortunate that the
panel with whom I spoke that day in 2004 shared my enthusiasm,” says this social scientist and
facilitator. “They appreciated my method and saw that I was a good fit for their work with the CGIAR
Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF). I also think those months spent living in the desert
probably told them that I wouldn’t have a problem living in a small town in Ghana for three years.”

The missing link
So Eva went off to Bolgatanga in Ghana armed with her ‘box of toys’ and tried to use her method to
understand water governance in the country’s Upper East Region. “But something was missing,” she
says. “And I couldn’t work out what it was. Then the Program held a workshop in Accra, where
participants used network mapping. Shortly after that, I woke up one morning and knew that social
networks and the influence towers had to go together.”

Helping hands along the way
Eighteen months after coming up with the network mapping tool, and despite it having application
potential beyond the scope of her work in Ghana (two others had already used it in their work), Eva
was ready to move on to something else. However, a colleague persuaded her otherwise. Then Klaus
von Grebmer, IFPRI’s Head of Communications, suggested that she turn her method into a product.
“He said I would have limited impact if I continued going around with my cookie tin full of toys; he
felt I should give my tool a name and a brand. Through him, I was able to get some seed money to
develop it further. Then a number of people at IFPRI began using Net-Map in their projects, giving it
even more credibility.”


Promising young scientist

The Net-Map Toolbox (above left) developed by Eva Schiffer, and Net-Map showing influence towers and
social networks (above right)

For her efforts, Eva was awarded the CGIAR’s Promising Young Scientist of the Year Award in 2008.
“The external recognition helped give a strong sense of validity to and appreciation of Net-Map,
even though my approach was fundamentally different to the highly quantitative and agronomistic
approaches often used by researchers in my field,” she says.

ARD and Net-Map
Since developing Net-Map, Eva has trained many people to use the tool independently. IFPRI is also
incorporating it into the planning processes of a number of projects, while HarvestPlus is using it in a
project that looks at nutrient-rich crops and how conditions can be developed at the national level
so that these crops are accepted and actually used. Another project, Alive & Thrive, funded by the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is currently being evaluated by IFPRI, using Net-Map as the major
evaluation method. However, Net-Map is not just confined to AR4D. It can be used in any situation
where you have multiple stakeholders with different goals. Its broader applications, outside of
agricultural research for development, have already included strategic positioning analysis within a
research organization, customer relationship development in a large corporate firm in the US, and
network facilitation in the UK health sector.

Spreading the word
“It’s important to talk about your ideas with others,” says Eva, when asked if she had any advice for
other young professionals interested in developing innovative tools. “You never know who can help
you. It’s also important to share your finished product and not be afraid that others will steal your
ideas. I became an independent consultant in 2008, enabling me to try the tool in many different
fields. I believe that if you really want something badly enough, and work towards that goal, it will
happen.”

From a young girl with a dream, to a young woman with a cookie tin of toys, to a much-sought-after
professional in her field, Eva has shown us what can be achieved when you combine a vision with
strong determination.

Photos: Eva Schiffer


Concerned with climate change #1 – Lieven Claessens

A model researcher at work
When the name Lieven Claessens is mentioned in the CGIAR,
everyone’s thoughts immediately turn to the tragic Ugandan
landslides that killed more than 300 people and displaced
thousands of others last year. You see, Lieven, an
environmental scientist with the International Potato Center
(CIP), had accurately predicted that these landslides would
occur.

However, what Lieven was unable to foresee was the
magnitude of human suffering that climate change and
deforestation would bring to several rural Ugandan
communities. Back in March 2010, as the swollen rivers flowing
down Mount Elgon burst their banks, resulting in vast mud slides that wiped out entire villages, he
could only watch the stark images unfolding on his television screen with a sense of sadness and
frustration.

Three years earlier, Lieven had used a soil erosion model (the LAPSUS-LS model), which he had
developed during his PhD studies at Wageningen University in The Netherlands, to assess the
relationship between the landscape, land use and soil conditions on this mountain. However, the
results, which were arrived at using existing data on landslides, were not passed along to policy
makers who could have used the information to save lives – simply because the appropriate
communication channels were not open to Lieven. Nonetheless, he is heartened to see that action is
now being taken. Villagers have begun planting trees on the mountain slopes under a reforestation
program that is helping to reverse soil erosion. (See Lieven’s video interview on these landslides.)

Landscape models in practice
Today, Lieven, who is based at CIP’s regional office in Nairobi, Kenya, devotes much of his time to
developing landscape and agricultural system models, as well as using these same models in his
climate change work. An example of the latter is the Participatory development and testing of
strategies to reduce climate vulnerability of poor farm households in East Africa through innovations
in potato and sweet potato technologies and enabling policies project, which he has been
coordinating for more than two years. “It must be the project with the longest name ever,” says this
jovial man. “We are now looking at ways of building on our past work by collaborating with the
CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), focusing on
Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia.”

Lessons learned
As a result of the Ugandan landslides, Lieven and his colleagues now emphasize the importance of
communicating the results of their work to all stakeholders. “A participatory component has been
built into my current project from beginning,” he says. “We’ve been talking to the various
stakeholders to try to identify the problems they’re facing, what they’re already doing to cope with
ongoing climate change and variability, and what they see as potential future adaptation strategies.
We’re testing these possible strategies with computer models to see if they might be able to
overcome the negative effects of climate change.”


Lieven and a colleague at work in the field

Lieven, who is also involved in the Tradeoff Analysis Project, which provides tools to assess the
tradeoffs and synergies associated with changes in complex agricultural systems, talks
enthusiastically about his early involvement with spatial analysis. “I’ve always been fascinated by
agriculture and how it can vary globally in terms of soil, water, climate and landscape,” he says. “This
fascination began while I was growing up in rural Belgium and eventually led me to study soil science
in university, pursue my PhD in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and carry out research in
this area. I’ve been working for CIP for six years now and I still use these spatial models and spatial
analysis in my work.”

Adapting and sharing
Although Lieven seems to have slipped effortlessly into his chosen career, he’s the first to admit that
it hasn’t been without its challenges. “Since arriving in Africa more than five years ago,” he says,
“I’ve had to learn to work across different cultural backgrounds. Initially, I was also challenged to
find people working in the same area of research. Fortunately, this has improved and I’ve also found
mentors and collaborators in the CGIAR’s Consortium for Spatial Information (CSI).”

The future of spatial analysis
Lieven plans to keep improving his climate change and agricultural system models. “There’s much to
be done to make them more accurate,” he explains. “But I see the importance and the role of spatial
analysis in research and also in targeting developmental research efforts. I also see the demand for
spatial analysis growing as more and more spatially explicit data becomes available.”

Lieven has already made a significant contribution to the development of climate change adaptation
strategies, and it seems there is much more to come.

Photos: Lieven Claessens


Concerned with climate change #2 – Andy Jarvis

Mapping: a lifelong passion
Andy Jarvis has always been fascinated by maps. Indeed, his
earliest memory is of his mother opening an atlas to show him
where his father was staying during one of his many business
trips overseas. That initial spark ignited a passion that would
eventually take Andy to King’s College London to study
geography, and then half way round the globe, with nothing
more than a small backpack, to take up a research fellowship at
the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Cali,
Colombia.

“When a geography professor showed me slides of Colombia’s
beautiful forests and ecosystems, I was so inspired that I just had
to see the country for myself,” Andy explains. “So when a job opening at the Center coincided with
the end of my undergraduate studies, I jumped at the opportunity.”

More than 11 years after this affable young man departed his native England, his passion for his
work developing spatial modeling techniques to map biodiversity and climate change garnered him a
prestigious international award, saw him rise rapidly to the position of senior scientist at CIAT, and
catapulted him to the forefront of the climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts at the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). While juggling his responsibilities
as the leader of CIAT’s Decision and Policy Analysis Program with a staff of about 75, Andy also co-
leads the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change and Agriculture Food Security (CCAFS), which
involves all 15 CGIAR Centers and is more of a System-wide leadership and management role.

A constant juggling act
Andy, who has the distinction of being the youngest person to spearhead a CGIAR Research
Program, talks openly about getting started with CCAFS. “Although I was interested in working with
CCAFS, I didn’t want to give up all my work with CIAT,” he says. “So Andy Challinor, a renowned
climate scientist at the University of Leeds, and I made a successful joint application to co-lead the
Program. I’m used to juggling more than one set of responsibilities at a time. When I first arrived at
CIAT, it was to take up a joint position with Bioversity International. During my early years at the
Center, I also obtained my Doctorate on the spatial distribution of plant diversity in forests, while
working with CIAT focusing on agricultural biodiversity – two fields that are largely unrelated.”

CCAFS – short and long term plans
Andy’s enthusiasm is palpable when he talks about CCAFS and the five-year plan that aims to get all
15 CGIAR Centers talking to each other. “I hope to get the Centers and scientists working on climate
change thinking in terms of the CGIAR as a system and not as individual Centers,” he says. “Once we
have all the Centers working together for a number of years, we should be producing technologies
and more knowledge about how agriculture can stand up to the challenges of climate change. At the
same time, research on the ground should be showing that we have the agricultural knowhow to get
the right solutions to smallholder farmers. Our responsibility as scientists right now is tremendous.”


"Zen avocado": Andy showing his playful side

Two Degrees Up
Two Degrees Up, a CCAFS video series on climate change narrated by Andy, highlights the possible
impact of rising temperatures on smallholder agriculture in Colombia, Ghana and Kenya. Learn more
with the Two Degrees Up introductory video, followed by Part One, which focuses on Colombia, Part
Two (Ghana) and Part Three (Kenya).

Sharing international recognition
Andy’s passion for biodiversity conservation work was recognized when he received the prestigious
Ebbe Nielsen Prize for 2009 for ‘combining biosystematics and biodiversity informatics research in an
exciting and novel way’. “I have to credit my CIAT team for this award,” he says. “Their hard work
made it possible.” He acknowledges the people who helped him earlier in his career. “One of my
principal mentors has been Simon Cook, the Program leader before me,” he says. “When I first
joined CIAT, he would drive me to work every morning, and I’d ask him non-stop questions and learn
from his experiences. Another CIAT mentor, James Cock, now works for the Decision and Policy
Analysis Program.”

Collaboration and communication: the way forward
Andy believes that the way forward for scientists is in communicating their research. “Climate
change adaptation and mitigation is moving at an incredibly fast pace,” he says. “Scientists working
in this area need to communicate their work better for greater impact. Collaboration is also vital. No
one person has all the knowledge to do what they want to do.”

And if there’s one person who knows about the power of collaboration and communication, it’s
Andy Jarvis.

Photos: Neil Palmer (CIAT)


Carrying on the fight for gender equality #1– Jemimah Njuki

Gender in rural Africa: women on the brink of change
Jemimah Njuki didn’t set out to make gender issues the focus of
her life’s work. She came across her passion in life quite by
accident. While working as a livestock scientist in her native
Kenya, she witnessed firsthand the inequalities that leave many
African women marginalized and voiceless. And she knew in an
instant what she had to do.

“After graduating with a degree in Dairy, Food Science and
Technology, I began working for the Kenyan Ministry of Regional
Development as a project officer coordinating activities on the
ground,” Jemimah says. “Although women did most of the work,
men controlled the assets and made all the major decisions;
women just didn’t seem to have the capacity to change anything.”

The Ministry did begin a participatory program with women as the central focus, but Jemimah didn’t
have a clear understanding of how she could really impact them. That’s when she decided to pursue
a Master’s degree in Rural Development, specializing in gender and development.

Speeding along the gender fast track
When Jemimah talks about her work, there is a sense of urgency in her voice. It’s as if she can’t wait
to do what needs to be done. While she was at university that same sense of urgency, coupled with
her drive and passion, must have shown through in her work, because one year into her Master’s
degree at Tanzania’s Sokoine University of Agriculture, she was fast-tracked into what became the
second year of a PhD program, a first at the university.

Several years later, in 2003, she joined the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and
worked with smallholder women farmers in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya to
improve food security, increase access to markets and achieve gender equality. She then moved to
the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2009. “I joined ILRI because I
wanted to come home and also because it’s one of the CGIAR Centers with a critical mass of social
scientists working with development interventions that might have some impact addressing gender
issues on the ground,” she says. “I lead the Poverty, Gender and Impact team. My work focuses
mainly on empowering women. We’ve taken the ILRI theme of livestock as a pathway out of poverty
and applied it to help women farmers. I work with some of ILRI’s projects to ensure that their
strategies involve and impact women, that project staff have the capacity to address gender issues,
and that their impact assessments have specific gender outcomes and targets.”

ILRI the gender champion
Jemimah talks enthusiastically about the support she and her team receive from both ILRI’s Director
General and Deputy Director General (DDG) of Research. “In February 2011, I co-organized
AgriGender 2011, a workshop that brought together researchers, development practitioners, donors
and policymakers working in Africa and Asia to discuss ways of enabling women to participate in and
benefit from agricultural markets, and the DDG of Research was at the forefront,” she says. “This
kind of commitment is necessary if we are to mainstream gender into agriculture research and
development. Participants exchanged knowledge, ideas and experiences: what worked and what


didn’t. There was also a strong
government presence at the
workshop, which is needed if we
are to scale up our efforts. The
Ethiopian Minister for Agriculture
attended and said that his
government also needed to
address gender issues. We still
have a long way to go, but it was
gratifying to bring all these people
together who are behind the same
cause. ILRI has projects that are
reaching a thousand women, but
we need to reach millions. And I
think the people in that room
actually have the capacity to do
that.”

Watch Jemimah’s TED talk for
more insights into her work.

Jemimah Njuki speaking at the AgriGender 2011 workshop

Further down the track
This dynamic woman also plans to increase the reach of her work. “I’m reaching out to partners and
global networks carrying out similar work,” she says. “I often link with the International Food Policy
Research Institute (IFPRI) team carrying out gender research, and with some teams from donor
organizations that are either funding or are interested in seeing change in the way research and
development is done. I’m also linking with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, trying to assess the
impact they are having on women with some of their projects. I hope to have a critical mass of
organizations involved in these networks within the next five years. I’d also like to see gender
research recognized as an area of research in its own right. It’s not just something that you add on to
existing projects, like an afterthought. Even when we mainstream gender, it has to be an integral
part of what we do.”

Encouraging the next generation
“Working with gender is very fulfilling, especially when you see women who previously wouldn’t
speak up leading their community and doing things like conducting participatory research in their
gardens and marketing their produce in high value markets,” says Jemimah. “I’m also mentoring
young women scientists interested in working with African women farmers. We have to start
building a generation of young people who have that commitment. Currently, there’s so much
momentum for agriculture development and gender equality and we need to take this opportunity
to change things.”

Knowing Jemimah she probably wants to seize the opportunity right now.

Photos: Jemimah Njuki


Carrying on the fight for gender equality #2– Alessandra Galié

Empowering women to get to where they want to go
When Alessandra Galié began working with the Participatory
Plant Breeding Program at the International Center for
Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) as a research
fellow in 2007, she wasn’t aware that she was embarking on a
journey that would leave her forever changed. Through her
work, she met many Syrian women who worked the land; wives
and mothers who toiled without recognition or a voice. As she
talked to them and listened to their stories, she began to
question her own perceptions. As she witnessed them slowly
becoming empowered, she became more empowered herself.

The invisible work force
When this native Italian first arrived at the Center’s headquarters in Aleppo, Syria, she was surprised
to find that women played a key role in agriculture. “Although statistics showed that the women
didn’t work in the fields,” she explains, “a subsequent study showed that they were actually working
alongside the men. They just weren’t participating in the Program.

“Previously, Program scientists would cross the best varieties of crop seeds based on the needs and
preferences of the male farmers, who would then grow them in their own fields, after which they
would select the varieties they wanted to adopt. No women were involved in the process, so we
adopted a pro-active approach that now sees both men and woman deciding together those
varieties that best meet their needs as a family.”

Assessing the social impact
This young social scientist’s work with the Program fed into her PhD studies, and she is now
compiling the results of a four-year action-oriented social impact assessment, which will form part of
her thesis, Participatory Plant Breeding in Syria: Women, Governance and Rights. “Other than getting
the woman involved in decision making about seed development, the Program also gave visibility to
them at conferences,” say Alessandra, as she talks about her findings. “As as a result, they became
more self-confident. One such conference, the International Farmers’ Conference that took place at
the Center in 2008, brought together more than 50 farmers and researchers from nine countries,
and was one of six pilot projects of the ICT-KM Program’s Knowledge Sharing in Research initiative. I
helped organize the conference because the gender approach to knowledge sharing is important to
my research in terms of appreciating gender-differentiated knowledge in agronomic management,
informing women, sharing knowledge with them and understanding their needs.

“The women and men farmers helped set the agenda for the event. However, the women felt
embarrassed about making a formal speech in official Arabic. So we organized the conference
around storytelling, a traditional knowledge sharing approach in rural Syria. The stories gave rise to
even more stories, and all the participants felt involved.”


Alessandra (third right) with four of the Syrian women farmers and their children

Assessing the personal impact
As Alessandra conducted exercises with the women to assess changes in their empowerment, she
became more aware of her own limitations. “The exercises revealed that despite my efforts at
challenging my own understanding of empowerment, I still had some preconceived ideas when I
started my fieldwork,” she says. “Although I was working to facilitate women’s access to
empowering opportunities, I realized that many of them just wanted to be good mothers and wives.
Initially, this was not what I had in mind, but I now know that empowerment is not about where
you’re supposed to go, it’s about having the means to get to wherever you want to go. It’s not for
me to determine their goals. Playing the traditional role is not a lesser goal, as long as it’s based on
an informed decision. This helped me develop strategies to conduct my personal life and my career.”

Supportive mentors
In 2011, Alessandra received the Storm-van der Chijs award from Wageningen University in The
Netherlands. The award recognizes promising female PhD students while stimulating their
participation in science. She credits her supervisors as being key to the success of her research and
her work. “Social gender and analysis expert Janice Jiggins, and crop physiology expert Paul Struik,
both from the University, guide me, while two Program leaders at ICARDA, Salvatore Ceccarelli and
Stefania Grando, support my work. It’s important to have someone to guide you through the theory,
practice and politics of research. Respected supervisors also make my work more credible.”

The importance of finding balance
Alessandra recently completed her research fellowship at ICARDA and is now employed by the
Center as a consultant specializing in social and gender analysis. “I would like to continue carrying
out applied research as a social scientist with a specific focus on gender research,” she says. “At
some point, I would also like to be able to split my work: carry out research, say, in the morning, and
work the land in the afternoon. My family has a small organic farm near my home town of Ascoli in
central Italy, and also a bed and breakfast establishment. Working the land is extremely gratifying.”

Looks as if Syria’s women farmers have made quite an impact on Alessandra.

Photos: Alessandra Galié


Behind the scenes: youth in laboratories #1 - Teddy Amuge

Strength through adversity
When Teddy Amuge was 11 years old her father passed away,
leaving behind a widow and 10 young children. Teddy’s mother
did what she could to feed and educate her family, mainly by
selling vegetables grown on their own land in northern Uganda,
but there often wasn’t enough money to make ends meet.
Whenever the household’s meagre income couldn’t be stretched
to cover school fees, Teddy helped her mother work the land
and compensated for her long absences from school by studying
especially hard during the few months a year she was able to
attend.

Such adversity has helped mould Teddy into the determined
young woman she is today. Her hard work and self belief earned her several scholarships that
eventually enabled her to graduate with a Masters degree in Crop Science from Kampala’s Makerere
University.

Getting to the root of cassava diseases
“I’m a product of a farm,” says Teddy. “Even when my father was alive, we ate the food we grew on
our own land. We grew and ate cassava. Cassava provides about 50% of the dietary needs of
Uganda’s population, so when the country was badly hit by the Cassava Mosaic Disease (CMD) in the
early 1990s, the disease became vividly known to me. I knew I had to do something to help find a
solution. I joined NaCRRI in 2006 on a Masters fellowship and was part of the team using molecular
tools to produce cassava lines resistant to CMD. Towards the end of my studies, we had identified
some markers that could be used to create such lines. At the same time, another virus began to
attack the cassava, and sadly all our lines succumbed. We had to start looking for plants to begin the
breeding process all over again.”

Then in 2010, this dedicated scientist became only one of 180 African woman scientists to have won
an AWARD Fellowship. AWARD is a professional development program that strengthens the
research and leadership skills of African women in agricultural science, empowering them to
contribute more effectively to poverty alleviation and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Under the AWARD fellowship, Teddy now carries out her PhD research at the International Institute
of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nairobi, Kenya, where she works on finding a solution to both the
CMD and the emerging Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD) pandemics.

“Unfortunately, many of the farmers can’t recognize this new aggressive disease,” explains Teddy.
“It’s only at harvest time that they usually discover that the roots are completely rotten. We’re
trying to educate them so they can identify the aerial symptoms of the CBSD, but it’s proving very
difficult to detect. It’s a struggle for the farmers, because cassava is both a food and cash crop and
some crops have been totally wiped out. My project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
seeks to combat CBSD using biotechnology applications.”


Teddy Amuge at work in the lab

The mother of all mentors
The AWARD Fellowship also provides Teddy with free training on proposal writing and development,
scientific writing, and leadership skills, and has assigned a mentor, Dr. Lilian Waiboci-Muhia, a senior
scientist and lecturer at the University of Nairobi, to guide her for one year.

“Teachers and lecturers aside, my greatest mentor is my mother,” she says. “I’m so proud of her.
She always puts her family ahead of everything else.”

Influencing policy makers
Teddy hopes one day to influence policy makers in her country, so that poor farmers can get the
help they deserve in a timely manner. “It seems that certain government policies in my country are
so held back by bureaucracy that it limits some processes,” she says. “This means that we are losing
valuable time; time that can be used to make a difference in agriculture. In the future, if I could be
involved in implementing such policies, I would focus on handling crises as quickly as possible and
incorporating more rural people in policy networks.”

From Uganda to New York and home again
During the 55th Meeting of the Commission of the Status of Women (CSW) held at the UN
headquarters in New York in February 2011, Teddy was given an opportunity to speak about cassava
production and highlighted the lack of institutional and social support for women farmers in the
industry.

“It was a great experience,” she says. “When I got home, I couldn’t wait to tell my mother all about
it.”

Her mother’s response? “She reminded me that they need good cassava, which is exactly what she
tells me every day.”

Photos: Teddy Amuge

Behind the scenes: youth in laboratories #2 - Soroush Parsa

Finding a home and a calling
In 1978, Soroush Parsa’s parents were forced to flee their native
Iran shortly after their son’s birth. With the Shah of Iran
struggling to stay in power as the rumblings of revolution grew
ever louder, the young Baha’i parents envisaged a life of
persecution for their religious beliefs should the ruler fall. So
they abandoned their homeland and eventually found refuge in
Peru.

Today Soroush dreams of visiting Iran someday to find the
relatives they left behind and to see some of the places his
parents often describe to him. But he has another bigger dream;
a dream that came about as a result of the poverty he witnessed
in his adopted country. “I want to be of service to others,” says this entomologist. “I want to get to a
point in my work where I can feel I’ve done something meaningful, even if it’s only for a small
number of people.”

Soroush points out that his education has done more than just help him work towards achieving that
goal. “Obtaining my PhD in Ecology in 2009 was a big deal for me because my parents weren’t able
to finish their undergrad education,” he says. “But earning a Fulbright fellowship in 2006 was one of
the most validating things I’ve ever experienced. I cried when I received it. It came 10 years after I’d
moved from Peru to the United States to pursue a career in development and it enabled me return
to Peru to spend a year with poor Andean farmers and learn about their agricultural challenges. At
the time, I’d only been a naturalized American citizen for a few years, so I finally felt ‘adopted’ by the
USA and began to believe in the so-called American dream.”

The accidental entomologist
Shortly after receiving his doctorate, Soroush took up his present position at the International
Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Colombia. As the Center’s chief entomologist, he is in charge
of developing integrated pest management programs for tropical crops and forages.

“I almost didn’t become an entomologist,” says Soroush, when asked why he chose his particular
career path. “Initially, I began studying for a degree in Economics and Finance and International
Relations but changed my mind after watching a documentary about a missionary woman who
traveled around the Amazon Basin visiting native communities. Along with a physician who
accompanied her, she brought in some basic medicine and treatments for these people. This really
moved me and I gave up my business studies and eventually graduated with a degree in Biology and
Pre-medicine. Then I realized that if I studied medicine in the USA, it would take about 12 years
before I would be able to help people in the field. So I decided to take a year off.”

An ancient cradle of agriculture
For the next year, Soroush focused on volunteer work in the Andes. “During this time, I became very
interested in the development of Andean agricultural communities,” he says. “It’s fascinating to
think that this is one of the few areas in the world where agriculture emerged independently. When
I returned to the USA, the McKnight Foundation took me on board to help with an agricultural
development project in the Central Andes. Then, in 2005, I got an internship with the International


Potato Center (CIP) in Lima, Peru, to investigate the influence of certain potato pest outbreaks
among peasant farmers. This work made me realize that I’d finally found my calling and I ended up
doing my Masters thesis at the Center.”

Soroush at work in the field

Today, Soroush spends much of his time at CIAT leading a team of 19 people while thinking about
systems and technologies that can potentially enable multiple crops to inherently fight pests
themselves. I’m excited because, from the perspective of the farmers, one solution that tackles
many problems will be cheap, easy to apply and multi-functional.”

Crediting mentors
“I’m here really because of my mentors,” Soroush claims, “especially Harry Kaya from UC Davis, my
mentor when I was studying for my Masters. He supported me, encouraged me and allowed me to
explore. Jay Rosenheim, my Ph.D advisor from the same university, taught me about the human
dimension of research: the fundamental importance of collaboration, working in groups and
establishing teams – things I’m trying to incorporate into my work today.”

Likewise, Soroush currently has three thesis students on his team. “I think it’s important for students
who want to pursue a career in entomology to consider the complexity of both the agriculture
systems and the farmers involved,” he offers by way of advice. “We often come up with
technologies that are effective in the lab but which can’t be adopted by the farmers.”

Now that this dynamic young man has finally found his true calling, there’s no telling the impact that
he will have on poor farmers in his region.

Photos: Soroush Parsa


Growing Talents: Youth in Agriculture

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