BIOGRAPHIES OF PANELISTS AND MODERATORS

PANEL 1 : Enhancing resilience of economies in this era of socio- economic shocks

Thursday 26th June 2025 Before noon

MODERATOR :

Anne-Lyse Bizindavyi is a seasoned Economist & Development Expert with more than ten years of experience in M&E within the fields of Programme/Project Design, Development and Management applied in the humanitarian, development and business fields. Since January 2020, Anne-Lyse has been serving as a Programme Monitoring Officer for UNHCR Rwanda, where she leads impact monitoring for the country operation program with an annual budget of approximately USD 50 million and coordinate over 50 partners who support over 135,000 refugees and host communities. With a background in development economics and extensive regional experience across East Africa in SMEs, Private Sector and Partnership development, Anne-Lyse Bizindavyi has contributed to various impactful initiatives. Anne-Lyse is a Board Member of EPRN and holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Rwanda and a Master’s in Tourism and Entrepreneurship Development from Université du Québec à Montréal (Uqam), Canada. She is both fluent in French and English.

PANELISTS :

Ms. Stella Rusine Nteziryayo is Rwanda’s Chief Economist within the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. She is known for her leadership in debt sustainability, macroeconomic policy, fiscal planning, and climate finance. Her work includes designing Rwanda’s MediumTerm Economic Framework (MTEF), helping the country navigate crises like COVID-19. She led Rwanda’s first bond issuance in 2013 and subsequent Eurobond, and developed the Climate and Natural Resources Finance Strategy.

Honita Cowaloosur is an Economic Affairs Officer at UNECA, and works extensively on the blue economy. She recently led the formulation exercise of the EAC Blue Economy Strategy and Action Plan by UNECA. Honita has served the Government of Mauritius for over a decade in capacity as Head of Strategy, Economic Development Board, Head of Business Development Services, SME Mauritius and managed the exports towards Africa portfolio of the Trade Promotion Agency of Mauritius. She actively researches and publishes on SEZs models of development.

Johnson B. Rukundo is an Economist, at present working with UNDP Rwanda office and has previously worked as an Economic Advisor at UNDP-Juba South Sudan office since February 2023. He provides policy advice to the Resident Representative of UNDP and is responsible for research and development and engaged in formulation of strategies and plans for solutions to economic challenges. Prior to joining UNDP as a consultant, he worked as a Consultant- Economist at the World Bank country office in Rwanda for 2 years, where he delivered a report on the Public Expenditure Review (PER) and the provided technical support in the analysis of health insurance data to produce a capitation financing policy, that is currently being implemented. He also delivered on nutrition budget tagging for the National Child Development Agency (NCDA) by developing sector specific guidelines aligned to NCDA Strategic Plan. Johnson is one of EPRN senior members. He holds a PhD in Economics.

James Warner is a Research Fellow in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit and is the Program Leader for Rwanda’s Strategy and Support Program (RSSP). He first joined IFPRI in 2013 and was the office head of IFPRI’s Eastern and Southern Africa Office, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Before joining IFPRI, James worked extensively in eastern and southern Africa as both an academic and economic policy consultant and was a tenured Associate Professor at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, USA. Recent publications include papers on rural mobile phone ownership from a gender perspective, economics of acid soil remediation, biofortification, nutrition supplementation strategies, and smallholder agricultural commercialization. His U.S. education includes a PhD from the University of Utah, master’s degrees from the University of New Hampshire and University of California, and a bachelor’s degree from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.

PANEL 2 : Revenue Mobilization through effective tax policy administration
Thursday 26th June 2025 - Afternoon

MODERATOR :

John Karangwa presently serves as the Head of Research and Policy Analysis at the Rwanda Revenue Authority, leveraging over a decade of public sector experience specializing in official statistics and public economics. Previously, he held the role of Principal Statistician overseeing Social and Vital Statistics at the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda. John holds a BSc. in Applied Statistics from the National University of Rwanda, a Post Graduate diploma in Poverty Reduction : Policy and Practice from the University of London, and an MSc in Applied Economics from University College Dublin (UCD). His research pursuits include tax compliance, tax policy, tax administration, and the development of efficient and equitable tax systems. These efforts have significantly influenced the evolution of tax policy and have played a meaningful role in advancing the strategic initiatives of RRA.

PANELISTS :

Fabrizio Santoro is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, and the Research co- Lead for the ICTD programme on Digital Public Infrastructure and Tax. His main research interests relate to governance, public finance, and taxation, with a strong focus on impact evaluation and data analysis. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Sussex.

Abel NTEGANO is one of senior members of EPRN and holds a Master’s degree of Development Policy with specialization in Fiscal Policy and Tax Policy from Korean Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management ; and he is currently a Director General of Tax policy in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning with 30 years’ experience in Economic Development field with a focus on Tax Policy, Fiscal Policy, Public Finance, Operations of Economic Development, Poverty Reduction and Government Finance Statistics. Abel is a Member of the EAC Fiscal Affairs Committee in charge of harmonization of fiscal and Tax policies of The East African community towards the EAC Monetary Union requirements, Member of National Implementation committee of the EAC common Market Protocol and Lecture in University of Rwanda and University of Adventist of Central Africa focussing on Budget Process and monitoring in Rwanda.

Mr. Mukama Denis works for the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) as the Interim Commissioner for Strategy and Risk Analysis. He has worked for the tax administration for close to 18 years now, most recently as the Assistant Commissioner for Research, Planning and Statistics having risen through the ranks from joining the institution as a statistics officer. In his current post, Denis is responsible for overseeing institutional research activities, tax policy and statistical analysis, risk management, data science and ensuring they support management decision making. He is also responsible for ensuring the institutional direction is articulated through preparing, monitoring and evaluating the institutional plans. Denis works closely with the Ministry of Finance on tax policy and administration matters including developing and monitoring implementation of Rwanda’s Medium Term Revenue Strategy (MTRS), preparing Tax Expenditure reports and annual and medium-term tax revenue projections. Denis is a member of EPRN since its establishment in 2018.

Mr. Gabor Pula, a national of Hungary, who joined the IMF in 2015, has worked on a range of assignments covering low-income, emerging market, and advanced economies. Before being assigned as IMF Resident Representative for Rwanda in 2022, he was a senior economist at the Kenya desk in the African Department. He also worked in other IMF departments (such as the Strategy, Policy and Review and European Department). Prior to joining the IMF, Mr. Pula worked at the European Central Bank including his three-year tenure as Advisor in the ECB’s Representative Office at the IMF Executive Board, at the Central Bank of Hungary and the Hungarian Ministry of Finance. Mr. Pula has conducted extensive research, including on monetary policy and inflation dynamics, trade and regional spillovers, capital flows, SOE reforms and growth and development.

PANEL 3 : Youth in agribusiness, challenges and opportunities

Friday 27th June 2025 Before noon

MODERATOR :

Godfrey Gakwandi is Project Lead at CARE International in Rwanda since 2024 but previously worked with Oxfam as Programs Manager agriculture value chains and Market systems. Godfrey is a Rwandan passionate to empowering individuals and communities to discover their potential to end poverty and inequality. With over 20 years of working experience in humanitarian development sector in Rwanda and in the region in different organizations e.g Oxfam, World Vision, Tearfund and Plan international in different capacities. Godfrey developed and managed strong partnerships in different areas mainly, agriculture, climate change, human rights including gender equality, emergency management and response, WASH & access to finance. He also well ground in organization change management processes and transition management. Godfrey holds MSc in Public Health and MA in Project Planning and Management.

PANELISTS :

Hela Gharbi has been the Country Director for CARE in Rwanda since 2020. Hela is a Tunisian feminist, who has been driven throughout her career, by her ambition to understand and tackle development related challenges from different angles. With nearly 20 years of experience, working with CSOs, INGOs, private sector and development partners, Hela has developed strong advocacy, engagement, and advisory experience in a number of areas, e.g. social and economic policies, tax justice, gender equality, climate and economic justice. Her business accumen and management consulting experience led her also to spearhead a number of strategy development and change management processes. She also supported MNOs to improve their business processes, and investment funds in identifying investment opportunities in different sectors, including agribusiness.Hela who holds an MBA in general management, an Msc in International Development and a Bachelor in Finance. She is fluent in French, English and Arabic.

Mr. Jean Paul Ndagijimana is a Rwandan national serving AGRA, as the Country Director for the Rwanda Office since August 2018. Prior to AGRA, Jean Paul served in various capacities including Africa Director for World Relief, Country Director for Clinton Foundation and senior consultant with KPMG. JP has over 25 years’ managerial hands on practical experience that include resource mobilization, projects design, implementation, monitoring and evaluations, strategy formulation and executions, compliance management as well as capacity building for senior executives. Jean Paul holds an MBA (double concentration in Finance and International Relations), a B. Com. in Business Administration and Management, a Diploma in Economics and various certifications in accounting, information technology, dispute mediations, executive coaching and spiritual direction. JP is fluent in French, English, Swahili and Kinyarwanda, and he is an avid football fun.

Getaw Tadesse is the Director for the Department of Operational Analysis at AKADEMIYA2063. He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (Norway). He has more than 15 years of experience in policy research. His research seeks to understand the economics of climate changes ; the African agricultural value chains and agri-food systems ; and the welfare and commercial impacts of development on policies and programs. Tadesse has published more than 25 journal papers and book chapters and coordinated several research and development projects. Before joining AKADEMIYA2063, he worked as a Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany

Mr. Egide Mutabazi is currently the Analyst of Crop Products Supply Chain and Market in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources since May 2021. Before MINAGRI, he worked for RAB, for former ISAR and for NISR under research departments. Egide has work experience of 21 years in agricultural Research and Development(R&D), farmer trainings, agribusinesses with a focus on market linkages. Egide has a Master’ Degree in Agribusiness from the University of WAIKATO in New Zealand, a Bachelor’s in Agribusiness and Rural Development and a Diploma in Crop Production from the University of Rwanda with Various short term Agriculture and agribusiness- related trainings.

PANEL 4 : Youth in agribusiness, challenges and opportunities

Friday 27th June 2025 Before noon

MODERATOR :

Sonia Umulinga is a passionate social entrepreneur, climate activist, and feminist. She champions a circular economy model through Plasticraft Ltd, a social enterprise that repurposes plastic waste collected from local communities in Kigali into decoration craft accessories. Further, Sonia is an advocate for green skills and green jobs for all. Where she established "Kwanda Green," a community development initiative aimed at providing green skills training to youth and women from underprivileged areas. Additionally, Sonia sits on the board of the Equishift Network, which is leading the shift for gender justice and a just transition in Rwanda.

PANELISTS :

Silas NGAYABOSHYA currently serves as the Director General of Gender Promotion and Women Empowerment effective June 2021. For the last 16 years, Silas has accumulated vast and strong professional record in projects cycle management around Human Rights, Gender equality promotion and women empowerment, child protection, inclusive education & development, with both national and international non-governmental organizations. His main areas of his experience include, project life cycle management, analyst in Gender Equality promotion and engaging men as allies and positive partners for women empowerment, GBV prevention and Mainstreaming MenEngage approaches into gender transformative programs. He has been also Involved in different projects assessments & evaluation with different organizations. Silas NGAYABOSHYA has been commissioned to facilitate different capacity building sessions on Gender equality promotion, MenEngage and Gender Transformative Approaches (GTA) for different staff and beneficiaries with national and international NGOs/Development partners, in Rwanda and abroad. Silas holds a master’s degree of Social Sciences in Gender and Development from University of Rwanda, a bachelor’s degree of Social Sciences with education and a continuous professional diploma in special needs and inclusive education.

Marie Salvatrice Musabyeyezu is an environmentalist and sustainable development expert with over 16 years of experience leading impactful programs in climate justice, gender justice, biodiversity conservation, and inclusive green economy. She has successfully managed diverse initiatives across the Greater Virunga Landscape (Rwanda, Uganda, and DRC) and within Rwanda, enhancing local economic development, sustainable livelihoods, community resilience, and biodiversity conservation. Currently serving as Program Manager at Friedrich- Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Rwanda, she leads programs related to policy advocacy, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and capacity-building efforts to promote gender-responsive solutions and empower women and youth as catalysts for sustainable development. Salvatrice has played a key role in implementing international labor and environmental standards, including ILO Convention 190. A committed advocate for gender justice and just transition, she is dedicated to unlocking opportunities that ensure inclusive and sustainable futures for women and girls. She holds a Master’s degree in Environment and International Development from Wageningen University and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.

Annette Natukunda MUKIGA, is a social worker by profession, a feminist leader and a member of FemWise-Africa. She has been doing gender and development work within the NGO sector for more than 20 years. She is currently working with Kvinna Till Kvinna as the Country Director responsible for the strategic development of Kvinna till Kvinna’s programme/s and partnerships in Rwanda. She is also a co-founder of a local organization called Bold Women Rwanda.

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