Godfrey Bahiigwa
Director of Agriculture and Rural Development, African Union Commission
Dr. Godfrey Bahiigwa is the Director of the Directorate of Agriculture and Rural Development of the African Union Commission based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Directorate works with AU Member States, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and other partners to boost rural economic development and agricultural sector development by supporting the adoption of strategies, policies and programmes on agriculture and rural development.
Before joining the African Union, Dr. Bahiigwa was the Head of IFPRI’s Eastern and Southern Africa Office (ESAO) and ReSAKSS Africawide Coordinator based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Prior to joining IFPRI he was the Director of Uganda’s Plan for Modernization of Agriculture (PMA) Secretariat under the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. He served as the ReSAKSS Coordinator for Eastern and Central Africa based at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya. He also worked with Uganda’s Economic Policy Research Center for eight years as a Senior Research Fellow, focusing on agricultural policy research and linking it to government policy and strategy formulation.
Dr. Bahiigwa holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia (USA); a Master’s degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota (USA); and a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from Makerere University, Uganda.