Seife Ayele is a development economist with over 20 years’ experience in research, teaching, and development practice, mainly in Africa and Asia. His work focuses on agricultural innovations and development, technology access and adoption, youth employment, and enterprise development. He is currently a Fellow in the Business, Markets and the State Cluster at IDS. Prior to joining IDS, he directed programmes in Ethiopia promoting access to and adoption of improved agricultural technologies by smallholder farmers. He was a Research Scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, and a Research Fellow at the Open University, UK.
Tarila Marclint Ebiede is currently a Technical Expert with Conflict Management Consulting, Brussels and Research Fellow at the Centre for Research on Peace and Development, KU Leuven, Belgium. Tarila has previously worked as a researcher at the European Centre for Development Policy Management, Maastricht and the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa, Abuja. Tarila’s current research is focused on the reintegration of ex-combatants, youth employment programmes, and security and governance in communities affected by armed conflicts. Tarila holds a PhD in Social Sciences (KU Leuven, Belgium). He has received a Marie Curie Fellowship from the European Union.
Dominic Glover is an IDS Fellow at the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK and a member of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Social, Technological, and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability (STEPS) Centre. He is an interdisciplinary social scientist working in international development studies, using conceptual frameworks and methodological approaches drawn from science, technology, and society studies; geography; sociology; and anthropology. Dominic has over 18 years’ experience in research, teaching, and communication, with a focus on technology and agrarian change in small-scale farming systems in low- and middle-income countries including India, the Philippines, Madagascar, Nepal, Kenya, and Ethiopia.
Simbarashe Gukurume is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Humanities in Africa (HUMA), University of Cape Town and a Matasa Fellow. Simbarashe is finalising his PhD in Sociology. His thesis explores the complex entanglements between young people’s futures, politics, and religiosity within university spaces, examining how young people’s political, religious, and aspirational subjectivities are reconfigured in contexts of socioeconomic and political crisis and uncertainties. Simbarashe also holds an MSc in Sociology and Social Anthropology and a BSc in Sociology from the University of Zimbabwe. His research interests focus more broadly on the politics of young people’s everyday lives and livelihoods in various spaces.
Rita Makumbi is the Director of the Quality Assurance directorate at Ndejje University. She is also the Chairperson of the Uganda Universities Quality Assurance Forum and the President of the East African Quality Assurance Network. Previously, she was the Director of the Graduate School at Ndejje University. Rita graduated with a PhD in Management at Nkumba University, Uganda. Her research interests are economic growth and development, education value and youth enhancement, and policy management. The focus of her PhD project was to find the extent to which the National Youth Policy was able to create jobs for the youth in Uganda.
John Muchira is a PhD candidate in Sociocultural and International Development Education Studies, Florida State University, completing his dissertation on Kenyan entrepreneurship education. Currently, he is working in the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice-President of Academic Affairs in the Critical Thinking Initiative. John is a recipient of several scholarships and awards, including the Fulbright scholarship. He is also a Business Model competition finalist at the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship, and won a scholarship to participate in the European Entrepreneurship Summer School, the Netherlands. His research interests are in entrepreneurship development, innovation, youth livelihoods, policy experimentation, and curriculum reforms.
Marjoke Oosterom (PhD) is a Research Fellow at IDS, and has a background in comparative politics and development studies. Her research concentrates on the effects of experiences of conflict, violence, and displacement on citizenship and agency, with a specific focus on youth. Within the IDS Youth Employment and Politics theme, her research has focused on the politics of the informal economy and youth employment interventions, in east and southern Africa. Marjoke is involved in advisory services for policymakers and international NGOs working on governance and citizen participation, youth politics and security, and civic space.
Gertrude Dzifa Torvikey is a year four PhD student at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana where she is pursuing Development Studies. She holds an MPhil in Migration Studies and a BA in French. She previously worked as a teaching assistant at the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy at the University of Ghana and as a research assistant on projects such as Land and Agricultural Commercialisation in Africa (LACA), Agriculture Policy Research in Africa (APRA), DEMETER, and Migrating out of Poverty (MoP) amongst others. Her research interests include agrarian livelihoods, migration, gender, and youth-related issues.
Tesfamicheal Wossen is an economist at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nairobi, Kenya. His research interests cover development economics issues including adoption and impact of agricultural technologies, analysis of climate change impacts, impact evaluation with applied econometrics, and the development of entrepreneurship. Tesfamicheal has a BA in Economics (Mekelle University, Ethiopia, 2006). He received his MSc in 2010 and PhD in 2015 (University of Hohenheim, Germany). Prior to joining IITA in 2015, he was a postdoctoral Fellow with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and consultant with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Jerusalem Yibeltal Yizengaw is a PhD graduate from Addis Ababa University in the field of International and Comparative Education (ICE). Jerusalem is an alumna of the World Bank’s McNamara Scholarship programme, and formerly Head of the college Gender Office, Addis Ababa University. She now works full-time as an Assistant Professor of ICE and is co-founding a PhD programme in Bahir Dar University. She holds an MA in Curriculum and Instruction, and has received an award from the Research Institute of the Federal Supreme Court, Addis Ababa. Her areas of research interest include the graduate labour market, youth employment, globalisation, aid, gender, and educational policies.