Belay Begashaw

Belay Begashaw is the Director of the Columbia Global Centers | Africa since January 2012. He joined the Earth Institute at Columbia University in January 2009 as Senior Agriculture Policy Specialist for Eastern and Southern Africa, and was appointed director of The MDG Centre in August 2009.

Begashaw serves as Associate Director of the Earth Institute’s Tropical Agriculture and Rural Development Program, and has over 20 years of experience in agriculture extension and rural development, ranging from a grass-roots development agent to the Minister of Agriculture for Ethiopia. Over the past three years, he has done extensive consulting work for several international organizations in the area of food security, poverty reduction and investment.

Begashaw earned his MPA degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, M.Sc. from University of Reading and a B.Sc. from Addis Ababa University, Almay College of Agriculture. He holds a Ph.D. in agricultural policy from Texas A&M University where he is a Borlaug Fellow. Begashaw has served as a member and chair of several boards of trustees with national and international mandates, including International Live Stock Research (ILRI), Alamaya University, Ethiopian Agriculture Research System, Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute, the National Drug Administration the National Standard Organization, the National Food Reserve Agency and Ethiopian Radiation Agency.

Source: University Programs and Events Planning Resources, September 2013