Benito Eliasi

Benito Eliasi is the Executive Director of the Farmers’ Union of Malawi. He has degrees in economics, human ecology, and agriculture and his professional background is in agricultural economics. The Farmers’ Union is an umbrella body for all farmers in Malawi and works with commodity associations, cooperatives and individual farmers. Benito is responsible for running the secretariat and assisting farmers in lobbying for better policies and strategies.

Veronica Griffith

Veronica Griffith is Deputy General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union with responsibility for research. She is a graduate of the University of the West Indies with a Bachelors of Science in Economics and has extensive training in industrial relations, research and policy development, and productivity. Veronica represents the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados on a Government advisory committee on trade matters.

Timothy Kondo

Timothy Kondo is Programme Co-ordinator for LEDRIZ/ANSA and has been active in the Zimbabwe trade union movement for more than 30 years. From the ‘shop floor’ he worked his way up to the position of Lobbyist and Advocacy Co-ordinator for the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), a post that he held for ten years. Timothy is a skilled negotiator with specialist knowledge of working class global struggles against exploitation and interests in working class goals.

Tendai Makwavarara

Tendai Makwavarara has worked for trade unions in Zimbabwe for about five years and is currently an economist for the LEDRIZ/Mananga Centre for regional integration. Her main areas of interest focus on trade policies and their impact on poverty, and gender issues relating to development, trade, livelihoods and HIV/AIDS. Tendai specialises in policy advocacy and lobbying, on both national and international development issues, including trade.

Kingsley Ofei-Nkansah

Kingsley Ofei-Nkansah is the Deputy General Secretary of the General Agricultural Workers Union of the Ghana TUC, where he has worked for about twenty years. Since joining the Union leadership in 1995, he has been active in campaigns and advocacy on issues such labour rights, trade and development, the global banana trade and food security. His educational background covers political science, labour policy and development studies and he has published a number of papers.

Moses Shaha

Moses Shaha is the National Chairman of the Kenya Small Scale Farmer Forum. In this role, he campaigns and lobbies government trade officials on a wide range of issues which affect the interests of small-scale farmers and fishermen in Kenya. As well as disaster management and mitigation, Moses has specialist knowledge in community mobilisation and development, conflict resolution and value addition in marine and agricultural produce.

Henry Wejja

Henry Wejja works as an Agricultural Marketing Officer for the Mtandao wa Vikundi vya Walkulima Tanzania (MVIWATA). As well as promoting entrepreneurial skills and market oriented production to small-scale farmers in Tanzania, his work also involves raising awareness about international trade processes, issues and agreements. Henry has a Masters degree in Agricultural economics and specialist knowledge in rural agricultural marketing.