On Thursday, October 21 at noon CDT (7pm CAT), we will be joined by Dr. Teshale Mamo and Jean Claude Rubyogo of the Pan African Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) (https://www.pabra-africa.org). The Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA-Africa) has a strong partnership with Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB). This partnership between PABRA and RAB has resulted in great impacts on the livelihoods of people in Rwanda.

Their full biographies are below. Please use this form to register for the event. Thank you!

Jean Claude Rubyogo is the Global Bean Programme Leader and Director of PABRA. For more than 30 years, he has focused on impactful and inclusive seed systems research for development, technology delivery systems and research product commercialization and wider utilization. He has contributed to and led various research for development projects in agricultural research areas, including participatory crop research in partnership with value chain actors and building partnerships to commercialize and scale up proven technologies including farmer & consumer demanded and climate resilient varieties. For the last 20 years, he has been the Seed Systems Specialist at PABRA and has led multi- country public private partnership initiatives and multi-disciplinary teams developing and deploying sustainable and impact-oriented bean seed systems and complementary management to reach more than 35 million smallholder farmers (58.5% being women) across PABRA member countries. Jean Claude has led several demand led seed systems initiatives across other legumes (cowpea, groundnut, chickpea, soybean and pigeon pea). He is also contributing to the ongoing professional development of the current 300 plant breeders in the Demand Led Breeding (DLB) Community of Practice. Jean Claude has extensively published several articles, books and book chapters on bean/legume seed systems and technology delivery systems models.

Teshale Mamo is a senior bean breeder working at the Alliance of Bioversity-CIAT in Arusha, Tanzania. He is also the East and Central Africa Bean Research Coordinator for PABRA and has more than 12 years’ experience in breeding and genetics of both common bean and soybean. Previously, he worked at the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR), as the national bean research coordinator and as a bean breeder. He has released Ethiopian bean varieties for drought tolerance and disease and insect resistance. He also has international bean breeding experience from the USA at USDA-ARS, Iowa State University, and received his PhD in 2014 from South Dakota State University.