Benoît Thierry

Rural poverty is a global crisis. The rural poor are often overlooked, but the majority of the world's poor live in rural areas. I am passionate about IFAD's work to tackle this global issue head-on through innovation, partnerships and collaboration.

I am a regional representative and previously a senior program manager working for IFAD, the International Fund for Agriculture Development, a technical agency of the United Nations, agro-economist by academic background.

I completed studies as a Rural Development Advisor, France (1985), graduated Engineer in Tropical Agricultural Economy from ISTOM, France (1987) and completed a Doctoral Programme in Human Geography from the University of Sorbonne, Paris (1988).

In the late 80’s, I worked as a Project Manager with the Bolivian NGO “Suma Mankranani” and for the group, French Volunteers for Progress (AFVP) in Western Mali. In the 90’s, I was the West Africa Regional Representative for GRDR - Group for Research & Implementation of Rural Development specialized in remittances and later as Project Manager in Cambodia with GRET (Research Group for Technological Exchange) on a water and sanitation programme; then as a Rural Development Advisor with UNDP supervising the CARERE reconstruction programme. From 1999 until I joined IFAD, I was Portfolio Manager with UNOPS office in Kenya supervising IFAD projects in the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region. Since I joined IFAD in 2004, I was a country programme manager based in Rome and covering the ESA division successively in charge of Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Comoros, Seychelles and Madagascar (USD 100 million portfolio). In October 2011, I moved to Asia division where I was in charge of Bhutan, Nepal and Thailand (USD 100 million) and supported Farmers Organisations network in Asia-Pacific. From August 2014, I moved to Hanoi, creating the South East Asia Hub for Cambodia, Laos, Philippines and Thailand portfolios (USD 200 million). From September 2016 to August 2018, I headed back to IFAD Rome handling Knowledge Management for Asia Pacific and managing the biggest country program worldwide: Bangladesh (USD 300 million). Since then, I am the IFAD regional representative in West Africa, heading the sub-regional Hub in Dakar and covering 7 countries.