Success Stories

Halima Hassen Mogesse, 2008 AWARD Fellow, Ethiopia

AWARD Fellow Halima Hassen Mogesse credits the AWARD Proposal Writing Course as a key contributor to her recent successful bid for a research grant from the Africa-Brazil Agricultural Innovation Marketplace. After completing a nine-month research attachment at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Syria, where she worked alongside scientists to acquire skills in molecular genetics to better characterize, conserve, and use indigenous goat breeds, Hassen Mogesse developed a winning project proposal for a total award of US$80,000.

Apart from this recent success, Hassen Mogesse has also recently had two papers published in peer-reviewed journals. “I am grateful to the AWARD staff for all the support and opportunities that they have given me,” she says.

Emily Masinde, 2010 AWARD Fellow, Kenya

AWARD Fellow Emily Masinde, a Master’s student at Egerton University in Kenya, won an award for the best scientific paper at the Egerton University International Conference held in September. Also, the university’s Horticultural and Industrial Crops Division, headed by AWARD Mentor Dr. Lusike Wasilwa, had the highest points in KARI, making it the best performing division.

Ugo Chijioke, 2011 AWARD Fellow, Nigeria

Ugo Chijioke, a senior research officer at the National Root Crops Research Institute, is currently engaged in a three-month research placement with the Natural Resources Institute in the U.K. The project, funded by Harvest Plus and sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is related to her PhD work on the retention of carotene in products from yellow-fleshed cassava varieties.

“I have increased my networking thanks to the AWARD Mentoring Orientation Workshop in Kenya last October,” she says. “AWARD has already opened a wide range of opportunities for me, including the opportunity to attend the Global Cassava Partnership conference in Uganda in June.”

Stella Ennin, 2009 AWARD Fellow, Ghana

AWARD Fellow Dr. Stella Ennin recently received a 2012 Ghana Women of Excellence Award from the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs for her contributions to scientific research and agricultural development. Ennin is the first female deputy director of the Crops Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Ghana. She is also the first female in the entire organization, which is made up of 13 institutes, to reach the highest grade of chief research scientist.

Ennin has contributed to the development of 14 crop production technologies. She has also organized some 70 field days for 200 agricultural extension officers and 2,000 farmers, both men and women, who were trained on the new technologies, resulting in 10 to 50 percent yield increases and the reduction of drudgery in crop production. These new technologies include choice of variety; chemical and organic fertilizer application to normal and quality protein maize; and optimum cowpea and soybean plant population density in crop rotations and intercrops with maize and cassava. She also developed mechanized ridging for planting and minimum staking to reduce drudgery and deforestation associated with yam production and climate change in Ghana’s coastal, forest, and forest-savannah transition zones.

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Dr. Mabel Jendeka Mahasi, 2008 AWARD Fellow, Kenya

Dr. Mabel Jendeka Mahasi has been promoted to the position of Centre Director at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI)—Molo.

“I would like to thank AWARD for my exposure, which contributed greatly to my career focus and upward mobility. The skills that I learned [through AWARD’s leadership training] are useful tools as I get into management,” says Mahasi, formerly a principal research scientist at KARI. “Many thanks to my AWARD Mentor, Dr. Lusike Wasilwa, for her support, and to the management of KARI for recognizing my contribution to the institute.”

Dr. Sheila Ommeh, 2008 AWARD Fellow, Kenya

Dr. Sheila Ommeh has moved to a new role as researcher/lecturer at the Institute of Biotechnology Research at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. 

“I am really excited since I believe this will give me the opportunity to work closely with farmers at the grassroots level to deliver to them what I have been advocating for—better poultry.” Ommeh, a molecular geneticist whose research focuses on breeding disease and drought-resistant indigenous chickens, previously served at the International Livestock Research Institute.