Richard Mkandawire

Biographical Information
"Prof. Richard Mkandawire is a socio-economist and rural development expert. He is currently the Head of Partnerships, Resource Mobilisation and Communications for the New Partnership for Africa's Development Planning and Coordinating Agency (NEPAD Agency).

"During the past seven years, Prof. Mkandawire has been at the helm of leadership of the African Union's NEPAD programme on Agriculture – that is the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) (www.nepad-caadp.net) which has now been nurtured into an internal rallying point in support of African Agriculture with significant policy shifts and unprecedented commitment from African governments.

"afIn 2009, Prof. Mkandawire was awarded the degree of DSc. Honoris Causa for his leadership in stewarding CAADP to the Regional Economic Communities and the national governments and for rallying global support around CAADP. He has previously taught in the Universities of Malawi, Zambia, and in South Africa. Between 1992 and 1999, he worked with the Commonwealth Secretariat as Commonwealth Youth Programme Regional Director for Africa, where he was responsible for support of national governments in youth policy development and facilitation of microfinancing initiatives, as well as the development of a wide range of livelihood initiatives for young people."


 * Policy Advisory Board, ONE Campaign
 * Vice President, African Fertiliser Agribusiness Partnership