Executive Director
Acts as Chief Executive of AfricaSeeds with the responsibility, under the overall authority of the Governing Board, of providing leadership in all activities and functions of the organization. Specifically, the Executive Director’s primary responsibilities are as follows.
- Ensure that AfricaSeeds’ organizational structure, operational policies and other business processes are sound and able to effectively deliver on the strategic objectives defined by AfricaSeeds’ Board.
- Exercise authority over personnel and human-resource matters and further strengthen performance management by tracking key performance indicators across the organization.
- Maintain a positive work environment that facilitates collaboration and information sharing and is conducive to attracting, retaining, and motivating diverse talent.
- Effectively manage operational or financial matters to deliver on the mandate of AfricaSeeds.
- Operationalize, lead and monitor the implementation of AfricaSeeds’ strategy, and ensure the effective implementation of new business models and instruments to deliver on the strategic objectives.
- Represent AfricaSeeds at the highest level, ensuring its role within the African agriculture community is well understood, through direct engagement with policymakers and the execution of an effective media strategy.
- Build and maintain effective alliances and operational collaboration with public and private partners, such as governments of African countries, United Nations agencies, bilateral donors, non-governmental organizations, the business sector, farmers’ organizations and civil society actors.
- Interact with governments at the highest political level to advocate for the importance of seeds for agriculture transformation, food and nutrition security, poverty alleviation and the creation of wealth in Africa.
- Maintain effective communications with all stakeholders.
- Ensure the development and dissemination of information among Member States and partners and promote meetings and discussions on technical subjects in collaboration with the Scientific and Technical Committee.
- Promote efforts to obtain funding assistance from donors and financing organizations for strengthening AfricaSeeds’ activities.
- Oversee and advance the development of new and effective funding streams for AfricaSeeds, broadening the donor base and encouraging increased investment in seed sector development programs from African countries themselves.
- Participate in Governing Board meetings and ensure effective and timely preparation and distribution of all materials in accordance with Board-mandated policies and procedures.
- Communicate Board decisions to AfricaSeeds’ staff, and other relevant stakeholders.
Some key interventions by the Executive Director
- November 2023, Abuja: presentation at the SeedConnect 2023 edition
In his presentation during the session " Exploring how Inclusivity in the seed industry can contribute to help Africa meets its food and nutrition needs for today and tomorrow" on November 28, Dr Miezan lamented the fact that seed sector development initiatives in Africa often prioritize high economic value food crops for trade and profit, sidelining traditional and local crops crucial for food security.
AfricaSeeds, he stated, advocates that the objectives of profit and food security are not mutually exclusive; both should be integral to seed sector development initiatives in Africa. He said that AfricaSeeds, the African Seed Sector Development Organization, emphasizes the need to promote food security-driven interventions alongside economic considerations. With a focus on harnessing diverse seed systems effectively, AfricaSeeds strives to create an inclusive seed development sector that contributes to sustainable agriculture transformation, inclusive food security, and poverty alleviation.
November 2022, Dakar: visit of the AfricaSeeds team to the CORAF Headquarters
On his mission to strengthen partnership formation in the seed sector of Africa, a team composed by AfricaSeeds Executive Director Dr. Kouame Miezan, and his Gender Expert, Emilienne Guei visited CORAF Headquarters in Dakar.
In his presentation to the representatives of CORAF, Dr. Miezan stressed the importance of creating an enabling environment for the creation and maintenance of fruitful collaboration among seed sector stakeholders across Africa.
This visit has been an important occasion for the two institutions to get to know each other better and to build on their respective experiences in order to generate actions for a more inclusive and sustainable seed sector on the continent.
Best wishes for the New Year, January 2022
On behalf of the Governing Board, management and staff of AfricaSeeds, I extend warm greetings and best wishes to all the forty-four Member States who, with FAO, formed AfricaSeeds in 1998. I greet also our numerous friends and partners who have assisted to position AfricaSeeds to be able to tackle its important continental mandate. In spite of the numerous challenges in 2021, partners and friends have supported us to conduct critical activities which brought significant relief to critical areas of the seed sector in Africa.
9 August 2019, Abidjan: the validation workshop to initiate the development of the online platform on the seed sector in Africa
The Seed Knowledge Gateway, SKG, a web-based information system, which will be sponsored by donors and AfricaSeeds in the main, is being built to address the huge problem of data and statistics insufficiency in seed sector planning and development in Africa. When fully developed, the SKG will be freely available to all seed sector operators to aid them in their various seed sector development and commercial interventions and launch Africa on a credible path towards continental seed security and, thereby, the cherished goal of continental food and nutrition security.
Thanks to the significant contributions of our closest partners in this project that are the Swiss Development Co-operation, the National Seed Council of Nigeria, and the Ivorian Government, we have delivered a Project Document, which will be used to develop the SKG proper.
We held a workshop in Abidjan on 7-9 of August, 2019, due to gather special expertise in various aspects of the planned SKG, which will help to finalize and validate the document.
We have no doubt that the improved document will contribute to strike a blow for seed security and move the Continent one more step towards fulfilling AU’s goal of food and nutrition security.
25 October 2016: on improving access to information
"At AfricaSeeds, we aim at developing a credible information gateway that will serve the needs of all stakeholders of the seed sector in Africa. We call for partners to help with various resources especially technical and human resources to start this important endeavour. We are conscious it is important to persue the recommendations and continue the effort started at the International Workshop on Measuring Seed Sector Performance."
"I invite stakeholders of the seed sector to consider AfricaSeeds as their "homepage" for the seed sector in Africa!"
