ILRI staff appointments and moves: October- December 2020

ILRI Kenya

Livestock Genetics

David Barasa was appointed assistant to the program manager in the Livestock Genetics Program effective October 2020. He has previously served ILRI in several capacities: as a program assistant and assistant to the project manager in the Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA)-ILRI Hub, and food and beverage supervisor in the Catering Unit. Prior to joining ILRI, he was food and beverage supervisor at the Windsor Golf Hotel in Nairobi. Barasa has over seven years’ experience in office administration and project management. He holds a BSc degree in hotel and institution management from Maseno University and an MBA in strategic management from the University of Nairobi. He is a member of the Project management Institute (PMI).

Gertrude Wekesa was appointed research associate in Biosciences–Livestock Genetics Department in November 2020. She will be responsible for preparing and validating tick-borne diseases using recombinant antigens as well as performing serological and molecular diagnostic analyses of tick-borne diseases. Her area of expertise includes molecular biology, serology, sequencing, DNA barcoding and method validation. Previously, she was working as laboratory technician at Syngenta Flowers-Kenya Cuttings where she pioneered and participated in the establishment and accreditation of advanced testing technology for the phytosanitary molecular laboratory and participated in the 1st international laboratory proficiency test organized by Naktuinbouw and the development and implementation of a quality management system. She holds a BSc in molecular biology and biochemistry from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya.

Policies, Institutions and Livelihoods (PIL)

Esther Njuguna-Mungai joined the gender team as senior scientist in October 2020. She has been working as a scientist, gender research, at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), East and Southern Africa Program for the last seven years. Prior to that she worked with the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization as social scientist in different and progressive capacities. Her research interests include gender dynamics in agricultural livelihoods, women participation in agricultural value chains and youth engagement. She has been working with male and female smallholder farmers since 1996 and has extensive experience in capacity development for women in agri-food systems. She holds a PhD, Agricultural Economics from University of Nairobi, Kenya, MSc, Agricultural Economics and Development Group, Wageningen University, The Netherlands and BSc in Agriculture and Home Economics, Department of Agricultural and Home Economics, Egerton University, Kenya.

ILRI Ethiopia

Feed and Forage Development

Bayissa Hatew joined ILRI in October 2020 as research project coordinator in the Feed and Forage Development program. Before joining ILRI, he was working as research coordinator in Agricultural Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (ACDI/VOCA). He holds PhD in animal nutrition, an MSc degree in agriculture, and a BSc degree in animal production and rangeland management.

ILRI Vietnam

Loan Pham joined ILRI’s gender team as research associate in November 2020. She holds a joint master’s degree in human rights policy and practice from the University of Gothenburg, University of Deusto and University of Roehampton in Sweden, Spain and the UK. Pham obtained her bachelor’s degree at the National Economics University, Vietnam.

She has six years’ experience in gender equality, women economic empowerment, sustainable development and other human rights issues. She has worked with various organizations on women’s access to loans and women’s economic empowerment in Vietnam. She has also been involved in social impacts assessment of development projects and sex-disaggregated data collection. Her main areas of interest are women’s rights and a human right-approach in development.

ILRI SENEGAL

Diagne Fatma Gaye was appointed administrative and finance assistant in ILRI’s Dakar office in November 2020. Prior to this appointment, she was principal administrative and financial assistant at AfricaRice/ILRI and also worked at the West African Health Organization, Burkina Faso.

Gaye holds an MSc in finance and international management from the University of Sherbrooke, Canada, École supérieure de commerce et management (ESCEM) Poitiers, France, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting. She has more than five years’ experience in administration, and finance and logistics in the banking sector, international organizations and non-governmental organizations in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger, Morocco, France and Canada.

Summary of January–December 2020 staff appointments