Mrs Estherine Lisinge-Fotabong is the Director of Agriculture, Food Security and Environmental Sustainability at the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD). She received award of recognition from the Government of Egypt in February 2020, for her support to Africa’s development and women empowerment. 

In May 2014 and July 2016, Mrs Fotabong received Honorary Awards from the Governments of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Republic of Cameroon respectively, for her passion, dedication and leadership towards advancing equality and empowerment of African women. She also received special recognition in 2015 by Top Women in Business & Government (a leading corporate publication in Africa); acknowledging her work as one of the Top women in Agriculture Policy on the continent.

Before her appointment as Director at the AUDA-NEPAD, Mrs Fotabong was the UNEP Country Liaison Officer for South Africa and the Senior Environment and Tourism Adviser to the NEPAD Secretariat. 

She has a Master’s Degree in Law and another Master’s Degree in International Affairs, specialising in International Policy and Practice. Mrs Fotabong has co-authored several publications relating to Climate Change Adaptation, Environmental Law and Development Policies. 

Dr. Godfrey Bahiigwa is the Director of the Directorate of Agriculture and Rural Development of the African Union Commission based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Directorate works with AU Member States, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and other partners to boost rural economic development and agricultural sector development by supporting the adoption of strategies, policies and programmes on agriculture and rural development.

Before joining the African Union, Dr. Bahiigwa was the Head of IFPRI’s Eastern and Southern Africa Office (ESAO) and ReSAKSS Africawide Coordinator based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Prior to joining IFPRI he was the Director of Uganda’s Plan for Modernization of Agriculture (PMA) Secretariat under the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. He served as the ReSAKSS Coordinator for Eastern and Central Africa based at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya. He also worked with Uganda’s Economic Policy Research Center for eight years as a Senior Research Fellow, focusing on agricultural policy research and linking it to government policy and strategy formulation.

Dr. Bahiigwa holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia (USA); a Master’s degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota (USA); and a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from Makerere University, Uganda.

Robert is the Regional Director for the USAID Policy LINK project based in East Africa. He is a multi-skilled development economist, researcher, data analyst and facilitator with more than 16 years’ experience designing and implementing development projects in Africa. Most recently, Robert has been supporting National, Regional, and Continental Actors through agricultural policy processes, including close collaboration with the African Union Commission in the design and implementation of the 

At Policy LINK, Robert manages collaborative development programs aimed at strengthening inclusive policy systems, building leadership and sustaining adaptive learning. 

Mia Beers serves as Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Resilience, Environment, and Food Security and is also the USAID Resilience Coordinator. She oversees the strategic direction and implementation of the Bureau’s work around policy and analysis, resilience, country support, strategic engagement and communications, in support of the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future, along with other key REFS lines of effort.  

Ms. Beers has a 30-year career in the international humanitarian and development sector and is a member of the Senior Executive Service. She previously helped build USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, where she established the Office of Global Policy, Partnership, Programs and Communications and coordinated key strategies around humanitarian policy; emergency classification levels; early recovery, risk reduction and resilience; and localization. Over the last decade at USAID, she headed a division of 150 staff in six locations around the world, focused on global policy, multilateral engagement, system leadership, local capacity strengthening, interagency coordination and training, public-private engagement, and strategic communications. She managed an extensive global program portfolio; designed new international initiatives to empower senior field leaders as well as the next generation of humanitarian leaders; created strategic partnerships with various think tanks and multilateral organizations; created mentoring programs and spearheaded new foreign service national and DEIA initiatives.

Ms. Beers was posted overseas for over fourteen years working on humanitarian crises across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. While with USAID, Ms. Beers led multiple large interagency Disaster Assistance Response Teams responding to complex crises and natural disasters around the world, as well as Response Management Teams for Libya and Burma. Ms. Beers worked for USAID’s regional office in East Africa managing development and humanitarian programs and for a NGO based in Somalia, coordinating capacity strengthening and multi-sectoral programs for local organizations. She has also worked for several non-profits on democracy and citizenship initiatives.

Ms. Beers has previously served on the Board of Directors and Advisory Groups of numerous overseas organizations in her personal capacity. Ms. Beers holds a BA in International Affairs from George Washington University and a MPA from American University’s Key Executive Leadership Program. She is a graduate of the MIT Seminar XXI Program and the Foreign Service Institute’s National Security Executive Leadership Seminar. Ms. Beers has won numerous honor awards for her work overseas, including the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America group medal for her work on the U.S. Ebola Disaster Assistance Response Team. She often serves as guest lecturer at various universities on leadership and policy issues.

Edwin Odhiambo is a Development expert with over 20 years of experience in value chain development, institutional capacity strengthening and policy systems strengthening. He has long term experience in project planning & management in community development, livelihood improvement, poverty reduction, relief and emergency, food security, market systems, value chain, trade and economic development projects with focus on agricultural production and marketing, business development, organization development, strategic management, environmental management (agroforestry), building resilience, micro financing and HIV & AIDS and gender mainstreaming, institutional strengthening, trade and policy facilitation.

Edwin is currently the CAADP Program Lead in USAID Policy LINK, a program that supports policy systems strengthening, where he coordinates Policy LINK's support to implement the CAADP Agenda. Previously Edwin worked as East Africa Program Lead and Technical Program Director for USAID Africa Lead and Policy LINK respectively. Before joining DAI Edwin Worked with Technoserve as a Business Advisor, and Country Program Manager for a Dairy Program in Kenya and Tanzania.

Edwin has Masters of Philosophy in Development Studies, Masters in Organization Development and BSc in Agriculture and Human Ecology Extension.