Tackling rural poverty, together

Chairs

The Platform is headed by the Platform Chairman, acting as Chairman of the Board, and the Platform Vice-Chairman who is acting as Chairman of the Steering Committee.

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Christoph Kohlmeyer

Chairman of the Board

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

Brian Baldwin

Chairman of the Steering Committee

Board

Our central decision-making body is the Board – headed by the Platform Chairman and consisting of the Focal Points of all Full Members. The Board meets at least once a year to consider the long-term strategy of the Platform and to approve its annual budget, the annual work programme and the proposed activities to be financed from the Platform Trust Fund which holds the financial contributions of the Platform Full Members. Currently these are:

Current Members of our Board

Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)

Mushtaq Ahmed

Policy Advisor – Agriculture; Economic Policies Division/ Policy Branch

Focal Point

Contact through Secretariat

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

Brian Baldwin

Senior Operations Management Adviser

Focal Point

Contact through Secretariat

Department for International Development (DFID)

John Barrett

Head of Livelihoods Policy Division

Focal Point

Contact through Secretariat

European Commission – Directorate-General for Development (EC DG DEV)

Marc Debois

Head of Sector - Agriculture, Food Security and Rural Development; DG Development

Focal Point

Contact through Secretariat

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

Willi Graf

Senior Advisor - Natural Resources and Environment, A1456

Focal Point

Contact through Secretariat

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Christoph Kohlmeyer

Head of Division for Rural Development & Global Food Security

Focal Point

Contact through Secretariat

Ministry of Foreign Affairs - France (MFA - F )

Florence Lasbennes

Advisor – Dept. of Economic and agricultural development policies (DPDév-PEA); DGCID - MAE

Focal Point

Contact through Secretariat

Global Mechanism of UNCCD (UNCCD GM)

Christian Mersmann

Managing Director

Focal Point

Contact through Secretariat

World Bank (WB)

Nwanze Okidegbe

Senior Advisor – Agriculture and Rural Development

Focal Point

Contact through Secretariat

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Susan Thompson

Senior Policy Advisor – Bureau of Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade

Focal Point

Contact through Secretariat

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee consists of the Platform Vice-Chairman — acting as Chairman of the Steering Committee — and five Board members who are designated ad personam by the Board for a three-year period.

The Steering Committee’s main responsibility is to guide and supervise the day-to-day activities of the Platform Secretariat. It currently consists of the Focal Points of:

• CIDA,
• DFID,
• EC-DG DEV,
• IFAD (Chairman),
• MFA-F and
• the World Bank.

The Steering Committee and the Secretariat meet virtually every six weeks via video conference and every two weeks via telephone conference to take fast and informed decisions and react quickly to upcoming challenges and opportunities.