Dr Richard Kasuga

Dr Richard Kasuga is currently working at the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), as Knowledge Management and Communication Manager at the Directorate of Technology Transfer and Partnership. Before joining TARI, Kasuga worked with the International Institute of Tropical agriculture (IITA) (July 2017 to December 2018) where he was Senior Country Coordinator of Building Nutritious Food Baskets (BNFB) project in Tanzania. While at IITA, in collaboration with BNFB team, Kasuga provided leadership on advocacy activities for BNFB project in Tanzania. BNFB was testing a scaling up model through multi –crop (food basket) approach to contribute to the reduction of hidden hunger by catalyzing sustainable investment for the production and utilization of biofortified crops namely orange –fleshed sweet potato, pro-vitamin A maize and high iron/zinc beans. As part of his responsibilities, Kasuga teamed up with other staff in resource mobilization through writing of concept notes and writing fundable proposals. Kasuga was appointed to kick start the establishment of the Government Communication unit at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives in 2004 leaving his former Department of Research and Development. Since then he has successfully served as Head of Government Communications and Spokesperson at the Ministry. Kasuga has served as a Communication team member of the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project since 2008. He has served as an Advocate of Reaching Agents of Change (RAC) Project to promote investment and utilization of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes for Combating Vitamin A Deficiency. He worked as a Member of National Steering Committee for Regional Agricultural Information Network (RAIN) of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research for Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA). He has served as a Board member of Sokoine University National Agricultural Library (SNAIL); and also, a Secretary of the Ministerial Advisory Board of Agricultural Seed Agency (ASA). For the period of 15 years he worked as agricultural researcher and information specialist at the Department of Research and Development where he served as a database management expert, editor and writer of research and training newsletter and has participated in writing several other documents on agriculture. During his carrier he has worked as a trainer and resource person of several workshops and seminars on agricultural information management. He has been a team leader and national coordinator of GIS activities in Tanzania. He has led several other teams to prepare agricultural sector information and knowledge management strategy documents. He has a strong leadership background in development, strategic communication, negotiation skills, public relations, and sustainable agriculture; with knowledge of national agricultural research systems and key agricultural research and extension policies. Over the years, Kasuga has developed a strong leadership capacity and ability to work in teams. He has developed strong working relations with the mass media through a network of journalists in mainstream and community media. He can interact with various stakeholders through his working knowledge on social media such as blogs, facebook and twitter. He can interact directly with the public through TV and radio talk shows, organizing and conducting press briefings, responding queries via twitter, facebook and other social networks. He has a long experience and working knowledge on ICTs particularly web design, content management, database management, library information automation systems and geographic Information Systems. Kasuga is a trainer and facilitator who has worked as a resource person and facilitated in a number of workshops and seminars. He is a leader, an excellent communicator (written and spoken) and a manager who is capable of working under pressure to meet strict deadlines. He is a strategist, team builder, diligent, obedient, honest and reliable.