Exchange to Change June 2018 E2C-may18-web | Page 17
Alumni panel
Wilberforce Tumwesigye
GOV 2010-2011 | Uganda
Where do you work? I am working as a Planning,
Monitoring and Evaluation Officer in Rwebitaba Zonal
Agricultural Research Development Institute (ZARDI).
ZARDI sets out to identify demand from partners
(extension workers, farmer organisations and other
development partners) and pull technical knowledge of
Nati onal Agricultural Research Institutes (NARIs) and
other researchers to develop appropriate technologies,
information and methods. I am responsible for designing
tools for data collection, storage, analysis and report
writing.
How did the IOB experience affect your life/ career? I
appreciate the hands-on training in research methods I
and II from IOB. I cannot forget the many policy reports
I authored while at IOB that enhanced my writing and
presentation skills. These skills are key in my current job
at NARO. While at IOB, I learnt to interact with people
from different cultures and NARO being a national
organization is equally composed of people with diverse
ideologies. I find this very exciting to work with a lot of
diversity to achieve national targets that are sometimes
prone to both political influence and interference. On a
personal note, I am multi-skilled with the ability
to interpret people’s problems and provide
practical options fitting the existing
conditions anywhere in the world.
If you were the director of a research
fund, what is a research question
that you would agree to finance?
I would largely fund research to
generate innovations for mitigating
the effects of climate change which is a
reality in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). Given
that agriculture constitutes the largest share
of the livelihoods of the majority yet most of it is still at
subsistence level only depending on rain. This means that
the population in SSA is vulnerable with minimal chances
of recovery from any slight cause of interference.
a l umni
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Rehnuma Ferdous
DEM 2012-2013| Bangladesh
Where do you work? I am an Associate Professor in the
Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Science at the
Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University in Bangladesh.
How did IOB experience affect your life/ career?
My Master degree in Development Evaluation and
Management advanced my theoretical knowledge,
increased my research capacbilities. Additionally, studying
at IOB also provided excellent networking opportunities
and made me confident to be globally connected and to
contribute in the current debate in the development arena.
If you were the director of a research
fund, what is a research question that
you would agree to finance? My
key research area is environmental
governance and from my experience
I think human-human interactions
and its impact on governability
need to be thoroughly researched.
Additionally, thorough research on
social energy for the self-organization
of sustainable human-nature relations
is undoubtedly important for ensuring
environmental sustainability.
Which country are you supporting during the Football
World Cup? Who do you think will win? I am going to
support Germany and hope it will win.
Which country are you supporting during the Football
World Cup? I support Germany but Spain could also win
the Football World Cup. Anyway, soccer is soccer!
E xchange to change J une 2018