Mr. Michael Hailu took office as the new Director of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) on 25 May 2010, replacing Dr Hansjörg Neun.
An Ethiopian national, Mr Hailu, who becomes the fifth CTA Director, has over 25 years of professional experience in Africa and Asia, in agriculture and environmental communications and knowledge management.
“It is indeed a great pleasure and privilege for me to head an organization that has done so much to support agricultural professionals in Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific in so many ways over the last 25 years,” said Mr. Hailu.
“I will build on CTA’s excellent reputation and rich network of partners to ensure that agricultural knowledge and innovation reach smallholder farmers so that they can improve their livelihoods and incomes,” he added.
Prior to joining CTA, Mr. Hailu was Director of Communications and member of the Senior Leadership Team of the World Agro-forestry Centre, also known as ICRAF, based in Nairobi, Kenya. As Director of Communications, he was responsible for devising and implementing communications and outreach strategies, and oversaw capacity building, information and communication technology services and served as Secretary of the Governing Board.
From 1999-2007, Mr. Hailu lived and worked in Indonesia as Director of Information at the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), where he developed and implemented a communications strategy that has been instrumental in raising the media presence and profile of the institute significantly.
Mr. Hailu has played a key role in organizing high-profile conferences to promote awareness about forestry and agroforestry. He was one of the main organizers of the first Forest Day event during the 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia. Forest Day has now become a regular and highly popular event of the climate COP featuring Nobel laureates, and former heads of states.
He also led the organization of the 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry in Nairobi in 2009, which attracted over 1200 participants from 97 countries.
Mr. Hailu has degrees in Information Sciences and Economics from the University of Pittsburgh in the United States and Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. He has also been trained in strategic leadership at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
At CTA, our goal is to improve rural livelihoods and advance agricultural knowledge and skills in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP). With the help of our extensive network of partners, we reach out to all those in agriculture and rural development. Together we produce, distribute and exchange essential knowledge and information.
Whether it is books, magazines and multimedia resources, or the opportunity to come together to share know-how and experiences through workshops, seminars and training, CTA provides tools for a more sustainable future.
Source: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA)
