WSCSE-2025

Rachel Zozo is a Development Economist by training, and a Monitoring and Evaluation expert by professsion, working for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the award-winning, research for development organization providing solutions to hunger, poverty and the degradation of natural resources in Africa. Her expertise is in agricultural transformation and development using modern bundled technologies and innovative solutions to enhance agrifood systems in climate crisis and demonstrate the contribution of the Technologies for African Agriculture Transformation Programme (TAAT) funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to the broader transformation agenda in Africa. With M&E lens, she uses real-time data to support informed decision-making for large scale investment programs in agriculture. Her research work focuses more on (i) Deployment of research outputs and innovative solutions for agricultural transformation in climate crisis (ii) Leveraging science knowledge to build sustainable agrifood systems. Over the past 7 years, Rachel played a crucial role the TAAT Program that provides technical support to the National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES) and private sector to scale up modern agricultural technologies and accelerate the production of quality seeds to reach millions of farmers. Rachel’s contribution to the large-scale adoption of sustainable farming technologies and the knowledge infrastructure across the continent provides a case for enhancing food security and building resilient agrifood systems. Rachel holds a BA degree in Environmental management at Makerere University (Uganda), and an MSc in Development Economics (Catholique University of Kinshasa). She is currently finalising her MPhil degree in Monitoring and Evaluation Methods at the University of Stellenbosch (South-Africa). Her research work is evidenced in publications, blogs, working documents, and technical reports.