ECIAfrica

Technical Experts

Senior Specialist

Enterprise, Finance and Agribusiness Development

Juliana Rwelemira is an agricultural economist with 25 years of experience in agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa. After having been a close associate of ECIAfrica for many years, she joined the company in 2003. She is highly experienced in economic development, with a specific focus on rural development, gender issues and community development. Before joining ECIAfrica, she spent four years at the University of Pretoria as an Associate Director of the Post Graduate School of Agriculture and Rural Development. Her responsibilities involved not only lecturing and research, but also the University Outreach Programme. The programme involved mobilising community participation to identify challenges to agricultural development in a collaborative and participatory manner, ensuring buy-in from all of the stakeholders involved. This included liaison, not only with nongovernmental organisations and community-based organisations, but also with research institutions such as the universities, the Agricultural Research Council, and the Centre for Scientific Research. She has lectured in agricultural development, farm and non-farm enterprises, rural livelihoods, food security, land reform and gender.

As a specialist on gender issues affecting rural development, Juliana is currently serving as a consultant to the Food and Agricultural Organisation on gender-related issues for the Animal Traction Network in South Africa, and has trained rural women leaders in Swaziland on gender related issues. For four years, she was a United Nations Children's Fund advisor for the Basotho Rural Women in Development programme, which involved setting up women groups for income-generating economic activities in 10 districts of Lesotho.

Juliana is widely published and has presented well-known reports such as "The Potential of and Obstacles to Agriculture in the Southern African Development Community." Juliana has a master's degree in agricultural economics from the University of Florida, USA and is finalising her PhD in agricultural economics.

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