Ms. Alexious Butler is a career foreign service officer with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Prior to her current detail as Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, Ms. Butler served as one of USAID’s Development Diplomats in Residence (DDIR) at Morehouse College from June 2020 through September 2021.  In this role, she designed and managed the Agency’s Minority Serving Institutions Partnership and also the Agency’s inaugural Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) International Development Conference. In 2019, she completed a four-year assignment in the Haiti Mission where she served initially as the Democracy, Rights and Governance (DRG) Office Chief and then moved into the front office to serve as Deputy Mission Director (DMD). Her DMD portfolio included the Offices of Foreign Disaster Assistance, Economic Growth and Agriculture, Food for Peace, and DRG. Prior to her Haiti assignments, Ms. Butler served as a DRG Officer in South Sudan, Bangladesh, Iraq and Afghanistan as well as in Washington DC in the Africa Bureau's Conflict, Peacebuilding and Governance section. 

Before joining USAID in 2006, Ms. Butler was the Resident Representative for the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Uganda where she managed women's political participation, “Parties in Parliament” and electoral observation programs as well as voter education and outreach in northern Uganda. She also worked with NDI in Kenya and Tanzania on political party development. Upon completing her Master's studies at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Institute of Technology in 2002, Ms. Butler began working with the Africa Section of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). At NED, she managed civil society programs in East and southern Africa as well as Nigeria. While in graduate school, she worked at The Carter Center as a graduate assistant and helped to set up the Center's office in Albania to support the development of that country's national development plan. She also worked for the Center on conflict resolution in northern Uganda. 

A native of Atlanta, GA, Ms. Butler worked in the private sector for almost 10 years as a public relations specialist for a variety of clients including Bayer Pharmaceuticals, McDonald's, Nestle, Coca-Cola, and the World Bank. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Political Science from Duke University in 1994. Ms. Butler also holds a Master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the US Army War College.

James F. Oehmke is a Senior Food Security and Nutrition Policy Adviser at the U.S. Agency for International Development and an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University.  He conducts research on and designs policy systems programming for constructing and implementing complex, multi-stakeholder solutions to development problems.  His current research focuses on the economic effects of marginalization, inclusion, cooperation and accountability in development processes.  Previously James served as CEO of the George Morris Centre in Guelph, Ontario, Canada; and as a Professor of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics at Michigan State University.   He has a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from Yale University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Godfrey Bahiigwa is the Director of the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Development (AUC-DARBE). In this role, he leads the efforts to develop and promote continental policies, frameworks, and programs that contribute to agricultural transformation and rural development in line with the African Union’s Agenda 2063. Over the last 20 years, he has worked with national and international research organizations and has been actively involved in food and agricultural policy both as a researcher and a practitioner. Bahiigwa holds a PhD in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a Master’s degree in agricultural and applied economics from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Wambo Yamdjeu is the Director of Knowledge Systems at AKADEMIYA2063. He is an international Agricultural Economist and rural development specialist with over 20 years of experience. Until December 28, 2021 and prior to joining A2063 in his current capacity, Augustin spent 8 years at the AUDA-NEPAD working on various aspects of state capabilities development, strategic policy reforms, facilitation of private sector engagement in the food systems, program design and implementation in the context of translating the political visioning of agriculture transformation encapsulated in the Malabo Declaration, into a set of tangible actions. As such, he has made extensive contributions into knowledge management, monitoring and evaluation, multi-stakeholder engagement platform facilitation, and tailored coaching across different governance levels of the CAADP process.

Before joining the AUDA-NEPAD in September 2013 for the second time, Dr. Wambo Yamdjeu had served at the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development as their Task Leader (Advisor) on CAADP and ARD in Africa. This tenure was an eye opener that made him familiar with the political economy, the aid/development effectiveness agenda and discourse. As a versatile thinker, who pays attention to details, Dr. Wambo Yamdjeu has increasingly gained interest in the nexus between climate change and the transition towards our changing food systems as the continent seeks to ensure resilience and sustainability.

Always keen on making valuable contributions in both scholar debate and practical field endeavors to problem solving in Africa, Augustin holds a Ph.D. (with distinctions) in Agricultural Economics from the University of Paris-Sud 11, an M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics from the National Advanced School of Agronomy (ENSA) of Montpellier, France, and an M.Sc. in Agric Engineering from the University of Dschang, Cameroon. Augustin demonstrates fluency in professional French and English.

Sam is a graduate of University of Ghana, Legon (BS, 1988), University of Massachusetts, Amherst (MS, 1993) and University of California, Davis (PhD, 1998), with specialty in econometrics, natural resource economics and development economics. Sam joined IFPRI with the Development Strategy and Governance Division as a Research Fellow in February 2004 and was out-posted to Kampala, Uganda to lead its country program to support the design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of key agricultural and rural development strategies. In February 2006, Sam relocated to the Washington DC office to lead the research on monitoring and evaluation, particularly assessing the impact of public investments, policies and programs on poverty reduction, growth and other human development indicators in Africa. From September 2010 to August 2012, Sam managed the inter-Center Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) to support the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), and then the Statistics on Public Expenditures for Economic Development (SPEED) from March 2015. Sam became a Senior Research Fellow in April 2017 and, in September 2017, joined the Africa Regional Office as Deputy Division Director, assisting the director in managing the division’s research portfolio and providing overall intellectual leadership and guidance for the strategic research areas of the division and capacity building related activities.

Sam's research interests focus on policy, institutional and technology strategies for agricultural and rural development.

Robert Ouma is currently the East Africa-based Regional Director for the USAID Policy LINK program. He is a multi-skilled development economist, researcher, data analyst, and facilitator with more than 15 years’ experience managing and implementing development projects in Africa. Most recently, Robert has spent time supporting national, regional, and continental actors through agricultural policy processes, including close collaboration with the African Union Commission in the design and implementation of CAADP programs.  

Sean Jones assumed leadership of USAID Ethiopia in July of 2019. USAID Ethiopia is one of the largest USAID missions in Africa and is a focus country for presidential initiatives covering HIV and AIDS, malaria, child survival, agricultural growth, food security and nutrition, climate change and energy. The mission’s portfolio also has a robust basic education program and activities that promote good governance and prevent conflicts. The mission supports regional initiatives with African Union whose seat is located in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.

Prior to this, Sean served as the Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator in USAID’s Bureau for Food Security, which leads the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future initiative. In this role, he oversees the strategic direction and implementation of Feed the Future programs in the field and the bureau’s efforts to engage and build partnerships with the private sector. Before joining BFS, he served as the Deputy Coordinator for Power Africa.

As a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Sean has also held various leadership positions throughout USAID. In Mexico, Sean served as Mission Director, where he focused programming on public-private partnerships, justice reform, anti-corruption, and citizen security. In Yemen, he led the Mission’s technical program, designing and initiating a stabilization strategy that integrated health, education, economic reform, governance, and rapid response investments to help strengthen formal and informal governance structures. In Colombia, Sean oversaw the whole-of-government alternative development program that yielded significant gains in control over ungoverned territories and growth and agriculture reconstruction program. In Iraq, he directed the Agency’s economic growth and agriculture reconstruction program. In Jordan, he managed new program designs, economic policy, and youth engagement initiatives. Sean began his USAID career as a Presidential Management Fellow, working on project finance and the creation of the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Before joining USAID, Sean was a strategic consultant, trade analyst, and business operations specialist in the United States and in China. He holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan. He speaks Spanish and is conversational in Arabic and Japanese.

Constance Ogadimma Okeke is the International Project Manager, Public Finance for Agriculture, ActionAid International.  Since the BR process was started,  ActionAid has partnered with other civil society organizations to advocate for greater mutual accountability and policy action based on the results. As one of the key thought leaders, Constance and team helped develop a tool – the VABKIT – to facilitate citizen ground truthing of BR results. More recently, Constance and team have been involved in efforts to amplify the BR report and reflect the perspectives of Non-State Actors and their increasingly important but often under-appreciated role in national and regional agricultural development processes.

Andrew Agyei-Holmes is a native of Akyem Tafo in the Eastern Region of Ghana and has lived and worked in the UK (National Energy Foundation) and in Tanzania (Mzumbe University) as a s Researcher. Between June 2015 and June 2018, he worked at the World Bank, Washington D.C, USA as a Consultant in the Chief Economist’s Office, Africa Region.  Since the beginning of 2018, Andrew has been a Research Fellow at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana. His rich experience doing development research across continents has not only enhanced his ability to work with teams with multi-cultural backgrounds, but also appreciate the need to explain research outcomes within different regional and cultural contexts. He also participates fully in community service. For example, he nurtures younger people in his local church and teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses at the University of Ghana. Andrew received his Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in 2005 and a Master of Philosophy in Agricultural Economics from the University of Ghana in 2008. He also obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in International Development Economics from the Open University, Milton Keynes, England in 2014.

Dr. Simplice Nouala is Head of Agriculture and Food Security at the African Union Commission with excellent professional training and seasoned expertise and experience of over 35 years in agriculture and food security policies, progams development and implementation; He has a solid knowledge and understanding of Agricultural development issues on the continent. He is in charge of the formulation and implementation of AU policies, strategies and programs that promote sustainable agriculture growth and transformation on the continent.

Providence Mavubi is a development practitioner with over 16 years working in agribusiness, trade, investment promotion, industry development, youth & women empowerment. She has worked with different organizations both at regional and national level including government ministries & parastatals, donor organizations, and private sector in the promotion of agribusiness, industry development, trade and investment, mobilization of resources and establishment of networks to support increased private sector engagement in business trade and investment. She has trained, coached, and mentored start-up businesses and facilitate them with financial institutions linkages. 

She is currently working as a director in charge of Industry and Agriculture development at the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) where she works to support COMESA Member State cooperate in industry and agriculture development toward regional integration. Prior to joining COMESA, she was the Local Sourcing Development Manager at Bralirwa Plc a Heineken Subsidiary in Rwanda in charge of sourcing the brewery agriculture raw materials both national and regionally. Other posts held includes: Business Development Service Expert with USAID/Nguriza Nshore Project in Rwanda; Investment Specialist/Embedded Advisor at the Private Sector Driven Agricultural Growth (PSDAG) Project that supported USAID Rwanda Mission and the Government of Rwanda (GoR) Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI); Export Marketing Manager with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and a Senior Agribusiness Officer with the former Rwanda Investment and Export Promotion Agency (RIEPA). 

Providence Mavubi hold a Post Graduate Diploma in Sustainable Management from Maastricht School of Management (Netherlands); Master’s degree in Agribusiness Management and a bachelor’s degree in business administration Major Economics from Central Luzon State University (Philippines).