70 outstanding African women agricultural scientists

Photo credit: Agro Nigeria

Rising to the Challenge! 2015 AWARD Fellowship Winners Set to Impact Smallholders in the Year of Women’s Empowerment

by Cynthia

EXCERPT

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70 outstanding African women agricultural scientists from 11 countries have been chosen as the winners of the 2015 African Women in Agricultural Research and Development – AWARD fellowship in NAIROBI, Kenya.

Dr. Hawa Abdi – http://www.bet.com/topics/d/dr-hawa-abdi/_jcr_content/topicintro.topicintro.dimg/101112-shows-bgr-timeline-Dr-Hawa-Abdi.jpg

“Agricultural research and development in Mozambique is an important tool for increasing production, and consequently reducing household malnutrition and poverty, particularly in children and women,” says Olivia Narciso Pedro, a lecturer and researcher at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique. “My vision for agriculture-led growth in Mozambique is to design alternatives to mitigate loss of genetic diversity, and ensure conservation of species, while improving household food security.”

2015 AWARD Fellowship Laureates from left: Juliana Mandha (Tanzania), Ifeoluwa Olotu (Nigeria) and Ngozi Edoh (Nigeria), attending the Mentoring Orientation – http://awakeafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/2015-award-fellowship-laureates.jpg

This year’s laureates were selected from among an impressive cadre of 1,109 applicants from 11 African countries. These scientists and researchers, will benefit from AWARD’s two-year career-development program that is focused on accelerating agricultural gains by strengthening their research and leadership skills. AWARD Fellowships are granted on the basis of each scientist’s intellectual merit, leadership capacity, and the potential of her work to improve the livelihoods of African smallholder farmers, most of whom are women.

AWARD Fellows share a common vision: they want to translate their research and knowledge into tangible action, tangible action that will benefit smallholder farmers—especially laudable in 2015, the African Union’s Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063.

Read the full article: Agro Nigeria