Mussolini Kithome, Ph.D

Dr. Mussolini Kithome is a Kenyan citizen with over 30 years of senior technical, managerial and leadership work experience in community-based program design and implementation, resource mobilization, grant management, government-donor relations, field operations and staff support - focusing on the areas of agricultural development, food & nutrition security, livelihoods, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), environment and natural resources management.

He’s currently the policy advisor on matters agriculture, food security & nutrition, livelihoods, arid and semi-arid lands and disaster risk management, environment and natural recourses management at the Council of Governors (COG)-Kenya (the highest decision-making organ in Kenya’s 47 county governments). Dr. Kithome holds a PhD in agricultural development from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; an MSc (Agricultural Sciences) from Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands; a BSc from the University of Nairobi, Kenya; and a Postgraduate Diploma (Distinction) in Project Planning and Management from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. He is currently a member of the Institute of Directors (MIoD) Kenya.

Dr. Kithome’s work experience spans across the countries of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan, and Tanzania; with significant executive leadership accomplishments and ability to assess complex strategic challenges and develop approaches to solutions. He has substantial management experience in leading development projects in multi-cultural environments working with and through governments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, civil society, and other partnerships. Previously, Dr. Kithome was the Coordinator of the Agricultural Sector Coordination Unit (ASCU) in Kenya where he coordinated ten (10) Agricultural Sector Ministries. He provided leadership and guidance in the conception, formulation and development of the national agricultural sector programs and policies that included, among others, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) Compact; Ending Drought Emergencies (EDE) Program for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands that created National Drought Management Authority (NDMA); Agricultural Sector Development Support Program (ASDSP), the first one of its kind in the East African region; Horticulture Policy, the National Agribusiness Policy, Research and Extension Policy, and Food & Nutrition Security Policy; and national strategies such as the Agricultural Sector Development Strategy (ASDS) 2010-2020; and legal instruments (Crops, AFA and KALRO Acts of 2013) that resulted in the formation and establishment of the current Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA), and Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO).