A national of Mali, Safia has a wealth of experience in the public and private sectors with wide ranging responsibilities in decentralized operations and programmes. She began her career in 1997 in the private sector as the Head of the Finance Department for a drilling company in Mali, managing financial plans and performance for drilling projects. She further enriched her skills in this field by joining the World Bank Group and later the International Finance Corporation in Washington, D.C as a Consultant in Accounting and Finance.
In 2002 she began a rich career in the oversight and management of field operations at the United Nations which lasted over sixteen years. She first joined the Office of the United Nations Controller in New York where she worked on financial management and internal controls for UN field missions. As her experience in the oversight of field operations grows, she joined the UN Regional Service Centre in Entebbe, Uganda in 2012 and led the transformation of the shared service centre to provide efficient and effective support to UN Field Operations. In 2017 she left the Centre for the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo to lead the logistics support to the electoral process and the UN’s response to the 9th Ebola Crisis in the Country.
In 2018 she joined the Government of Mali as the Minister in charge of the Reform of the Administration and of the Transparency of Public Life. This is followed by a second position as the Minister for Promoting Investment, Small and Medium Enterprises and National Entrepreneurship. In this position, she led national programs for the promotion of SME and Microfinance in support of the Agriculture Sector.
Ms. Boly holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration of Mali and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Florida State University.
Bashir has more than 20 years’ experience in technical cooperation and Programme management. He joins AATI from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in Vienna, Austria. At UNIDO he worked as Project Manager in the Agribusiness Development Department as well as a Country Programme Manager in the Africa Programme. Prior to this role, Bashir worked as an Economic Affairs Programme Officer in the Trade, Economic Development and Regional Integration Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
Prof. Paxie is a Malawian national currently at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He has worked for over 30 years in Agriculture Research and Development and Forest and Policy Analysis. In the past, he worked for the Forest Research Institute of Malawi (FRIM) and was later seconded as Senior Scientist to the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). He also worked at Stellenbosch University and is currently the Research Chair and Director of the Forest Science Postgraduate Programme at the University of Pretoria. He is currently on sabbatical leave at AGRA Policy Sector and State Capability Unit and is a consultant supporting AATI initiatives.
Brahim joins us from Mercy Corps where he worked as Emergency Program MEL Manager. He was located at the Mercy Corps country office in Goma, DR Congo. Previously, Brahim held several positions related to planning, monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning within Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Agence de la Coopération Technique et du Développement (ACTED), Oxfam, and Save the Children in Chad, Haiti, and Mauritania. Brahim is a graduate of Adam Barka University of Abeche (Bachelor of Geography) in Chad and University of Toulouse (Master of Research and Development) in France. He is a specialist in Territorial Management and Local Development, Rural Territories.