KAMPALA, Uganda — Qu Dongyu, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, has appointed Ezana Kassa as the new FAO representative in Uganda.
Kassa, an Ethiopian national, succeeds Antonio Querido and takes over from Yergalem Taages Beraki, who had been serving in an acting capacity. The appointment was made with the approval of the Ugandan government.
A seasoned agriculturist, Kassa has more than a decade of experience in rural development, food security and resilience programming across the Horn of Africa. He joined the FAO in 2015 as a project manager in South Sudan and later served as emergency coordinator for FAO Somalia from 2019 to 2021.
Most recently, Kassa was a senior program officer for FAO Somalia, where he provided strategic leadership and policy direction. Before his tenure at the U.N. agency, he held leadership roles with international nongovernmental organizations, including serving as country director for Action Africa Help International.
Kassa said he is honored to lead the Uganda team and plans to work with government partners to advance sustainable agrifood systems.
Uganda is famed as the Pearl of Africa and holds immense potential to become a beacon of food security and prosperity in the region, Kassa said.
He noted that the FAO will continue to support strategic investments aimed at boosting productivity and strengthening rural economies through initiatives like the Hand-in-Hand Initiative.
Kassa holds a Global Executive Master of Business Administration from the United States International University in Nairobi, a master’s degree in sustainable agriculture and rural development from the University of London, and a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Haramaya University in Ethiopia.
