Paul Thangata joined the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in 2008, and is currently a research fellow based at the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Presently, Paul’s work focuses on research and capacity development in organization & management for strengthening agricultural research to improve the organizational efficiency and effectiveness of agricultural research for development systems in developing countries. This includes the design of results based Monitoring and Evaluation, strategic grain reserves, climate change policies, and impact of HIV/AIDs on agriculture productivity.

Prior to joining IFPRI, Paul worked for the SADC Secretariat (Botswana) where, under the CAADP framework, he was involved in the development of the Southern African Multi-country Agricultural Productivity Program, a 15 year multi-donor funded program involving the 16 SADC countries. This work involved the design of the new SADC SRO, the Centre for Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CARDESA). Before joining the SADC Secretariat (Botswana), Paul worked for the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) based in Harare, Zimbabwe. He was responsible for its regional programs focusing on the economics of adoption of agroforestry technologies, with an emphasis of gender and HIV/AIDs. Paul has consulted for several organizations, including the World Bank, DFID, FAO, UNDP and others. Earlier in his career, Paul was a research technician working on rice and sorghum breeding programs with the department of agricultural research, for the Malawi government. He later joined ICRISAT where he worked on groundnut breeding, agronomy and as an on-farm specialist. Paul received a Ph.D. in Ecology with a concentration in Food and Resource Economics from the University of Florida, Gainesville in 2002, and an M.Sc. in Rural development from the Edinburgh University, Scotland in 1996. Paul is a Malawi national.