Maurice EGWETE (BSc. in Agriculture – Measured in Crop Science) Physical Address: Amononeno ‘A’ village, Ajuri County, Alebtong District - Uganda. Residential Address: Padibe Town Council |C/o P.O. Box 1, Lamwo District – Uganda. Marital Status: Married. Email: egwemau@gmail.com | Mobile: +256 782 015599. Formal Education BSc. in Agriculture (Crop Science), Makerere University, Kampala, 2010 UACE (Science Subjects) Certificate, Standard High School Zzana, Entebbe, 2005 UCE Certificate, Kangai Senior Secondary School, Dokolo District. Career Destiny I am a trained agronomy professional, with 5+ years’ work experience in implementing market-oriented agricultural livelihoods, nutrition, financial inclusion and microenterprise development projects across Karamoja, Lango and Acholi sub regions of Uganda. I am looking for a job that is both challenging and rewarding in order to apply the practical project implementation and supervisory knowledge and skills acquired over years in different projects/programmes in the context of transforming small-scale farmers from subsistence to market-oriented farming and improving their food security and nutrition. This is because the future of livelihoods in Africa still lies in agriculture. Notwithstanding, most of our farmers with all the diverse food crops they produce, are NOT knowledgeable enough to cater for their own nutrition. Professional Development ToT training on Climate Smart Agriculture, with Danida in 2019. ToT training on Post-Harvest Handling Techniques, with IRC in 2014 and Danida in 2019; ToT training on Collective Marketing Committee methodology with IRC in 2013 and Danida in 2019; VSLA practitioner Training of Trainers (ToT) organized by International Rescue Committee, 2014 and Danida 2019. Farmer Field School, - Soroti Master Trainers contracted by International Rescue Committee, 2014. Employment Record Areas of Expertise Report writing. Project implementation. Proven ability to build relationship and influence private and public sector stakeholders and networking. Communication, facilitation and presentation skills. Agricultural Extension Supervisor, NURI (Northern Uganda Resilience Initiative (NURI) CSA programme, Resilience Agricultural Unit Created by Danida, Uganda through Coordination Function, January 2019 – December 2020. Managed and coordinated all the NURI CSA programme staff and activities in Lamwo district. Established and maintained cordial and professional relationships with all NURI programme stakeholders to achieve desired results. Built capacity of seven (7) NURI CSA Agricultural Extension Officers in Good Agronomic Practices/Climate Smart Agriculture of sesame, sunflower, soybeans and cassava. Organized and conducted quarterly monitoring of farmer group activities with district executive committee (DEC) and lower local government (LLG). This helped to identify gaps, challenges and come up with improvement strategies. Linked over 1,000 farmers to research institutions (i.e. Ngetta ZARDI, Serere – NaSARRI, NaCRRI) to get foundation/breeders seeds which are of good quality and purity. Also linked farmers to private companies like Mukwano Company based in Lira to supply them with good quality Sunflower seeds. Championed and excelled in building networks and collaborations with Mighty Fire FM Radio through funding of awareness activities like radio talk shows, spot messages to increase production and marketing of the strategic crops. Ensured all the 60 CSA farmer groups were in Village Savings and Loan Associations to boost their social resilience and to build social cohesiveness. Organized and conducted monthly and quarterly reflection meetings with 7 agricultural extension officers to address key issues that emerged from the farmer groups and or community related to the programme. Records documentation and management. Demonstrated experience in malnutrition assessments, mappings and surveys. Developing training materials. High standards of integrity, professionalism and impartiality. Demonstrated ability to plan and execute roles and responsibilities in a fast-paced but detail-oriented manner. Computer Software Packages Microsoft Word MS PowerPoint MS Excel MS Outlook Other skills Trained on Safety and Defensive riding training– AAU contracted by Danida in 2019. I have valid riding permit. Key Achievements Coordinated the integration of agricultural component to the Nutrition Grassroots project successfully while with Global Support Development Initiative. The intervention reduced the malnutrition rate in the project targeted children by 20%. Increased rice production in Agoro rice scheme in Lamwo district from 1.8 metric tons to 3 metric tons over a period of one year Increased production and productivity of maize grains of farmers in Namalo Township in Nakapiripirit district from 3 metric tons to 7 metric tons in a period of three years (2014 – 2016). Linked over 1,000 farmers from 110 farmer groups of Lamwo district to Mukwano Company based in Lira City where they bought PAN 7057 variety of sunflower seed. Demonstrated good skills in report writing. Ensured monthly, quarterly and annual reports are done according to the organisation and donor reporting formats timely with attention to details. Represented the RAU Kitgum/Lamwo in food security and livelihoods coordination and Stakeholders’ meetings at the district level. Organised Farmers’ field day which facilitated and established profitable produce markets for farmers while at the same time brought input services close to smallholder farmers. Built capacity of farmer groups in Post-Harvest Handling, quality assurance, Value addition and processing of cassava, soybeans, groundnuts, sesame, sunflower among others. Implemented the sustainable strategy of cost-sharing with the Smallholder farmer groups. They acquired business projects like grinding mills, simple and big produce stores, cassava chippers, modern beehives, assorted store equipment, tarpaulins and seeds to boost agricultural production and productivity and increased income at the household level. Prepared monthly and quarterly work and procurement plans and submitted to Programme Coordinator timely. Timely wrote accurate and detailed monthly and quarterly reports and submitted to the line manager. Project Coordinator - Agriculture, ISuMaC (Inclusive Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition) Project, Global Support Development Initiative Uganda, November 2017 – December 2018 Mobilized, sensitized, identified and registered the target beneficiaries (Lactating mothers, pregnant mothers and children under two years) in the project areas within the first two months of the project. Mapped out all the existing partners/stakeholders/actors and other physical resources to ensure that project activities were built on existing frameworks for sustainability purposes as well as giving support in the implementation of the planned field activities. Linked Agriculture to Nutrition by developing smallholder farmer training modules that supported group trainings on basic agricultural techniques including skills on Kitchen gardening, crop demo establishment, management, pre- and post-harvest handling. This improved the quality and consistency of knowledge shared with farmers by nutrition and agriculture field-based staff. Ensured that the skills acquired were practically applied at the household level. This enhanced food, nutrition, and economic security of the beneficiaries in a short period and reduced the malnutrition rate among the target beneficiaries by 20%. Took administrative charge of the satellite office in Apac district managing all the assets and supporting the field-based staff therein. Forecast the monthly and quarterly budget spending and ensured that I timely submit the accountabilities for the completed field activities to the finance and administration manager with high standards of integrity, professionalism, and impartiality. Properly kept records of all project activities including project assets, beneficiary list, partner list, inputs distribution list, activity and monitoring reports and list of children benefiting from the project. Linked 180 individual farmers to Serere Research Institute – NaSARRI where they were trained on agronomy of sorghum and green gram. The institution supported them with the seeds which boosted their production and improved on their livelihoods. Interests/Hobbies Emerging trends in Agricultural innovations implementation. Livelihoods in humanitarian and developmental interventions. Empowering the vulnerable persons to be able to realise their potential. Languages Spoken Official – English Local – Luo Professional Referees Charles Ochan | Programme Coordinator, Resilience Agricultural Unit, Plot 44 General Tito Okello Road, Kitgum Municipality. Mail: charles.ochan@nuri.ag Tel: +256 782683815 Hellen Grace Akullu | Project Coordinator-Nutrition, Global Support Development Initiative, Uganda. Mail: akullugrace@gmail.com; hellen.akullu@wfp.org Tel: +256772475469 Paul Nyeko Kawimbo Dickson| Programme Manager, International Rescue committee, Uganda. Mail: kawimbopaul@gmail.com Tel: +256 784841114. Set activity targets together with the field staff and appraised them annually in order to make their performance more effective and for continuous performance improvements. Facilitated effective and efficient monitoring, documentation, and reporting in compliance with the agreed set standards. Supported tracking of project outputs, outcomes, impact or results and changes in close collaboration with M & E Manager. Facilitated use of data and evidence from monitoring and evaluation system to inform decision making to strengthen processes and implementation of the Nutrition project. Timely prepared and submitted to programme coordinator high quality activity, monthly, quarterly and annual narrative and quantitative reports for all project completed activities. Agricultural Officer, Economic Recovery and Development Programme –International Rescue Committee, September 2012 – July, 2017 My technical and facilitation expertise resulted into an exponential increase in production and productivity of rice for farmers of Agoro rice scheme in Lamwo district from 1.8 MT to 3 MT. This brought about purchase of heavy-duty machines for hulling and milling rice at Agoro sub county that year (2013). My technical input resulted into an increase in production and productivity of maize grains for farmers in Namalo Township in Nakapiripirit district from 3 metric tons to 7 metric tons in a period of three years (2014 – 2016). Linked 250 farmers of Namalu sub county to WFP in 2016 who bought their maize grains they had collectively bulked and stored. Linked over 100 rice farmers to Agro-input dealers, produce buyers and Agroprocessors for value additions. These boasted farmers’ income and ensured purchase of quality farm inputs. Linked 180 individual farmers to Serere Research Institute – NaSARRI where they were trained on agronomy of sorghum and green gram. The institution supported them with the seeds and used their gardens as trial plots and thereafter these progressive farmers have grown from smallholders to commercial farmers and have now become the suppliers of sorghum, seso 1 to 3 which are good in brewing industry and also palatable. Directly mobilized, trained and operationalized up to 300 VSLA groups in Karamoja, Lango and Acholi sub-regions. Upon maturity, successfully linked VSLA to financial institutions for saving and credit services. I successfully implemented post-harvest loss reduction campaign and demonstrated post-harvest handling techniques to over 16,000 smallholders. At the end of the campaign, up to 75 demonstration storage facilities were planted in Lamwo, Amudat and Nakapiripirit districts. There were high levels of adoption of the demonstrated technologies; the adopted technologies resulted into great reduction of post-harvest losses. Organized quarterly reflection/review meetings with the key partners to reflect on progress of project activities and come up with sustainability strategies as well, besides, creating spaces and opportunities for action-learning.