Donald Ndahiro joined the Millennium Villages Project in Rwanda in December 2005 as the agriculture coordinator and became the cluster manager and team leader in May 2007. Prior to joining the MVP, Mr. Ndahiro worked as a team leader for two years with Rwanda rural development agency, a local NGO set up with support from UNHCR to assist with resettlement of returning refugees after the 1994 Rwanda genocide. In this position, he was responsible for overseeing the planning of resettlement villages, including farm land, and coordination of activities between government, UNHCR and communities that were being resettled. Additionally, Mr. Ndahiro worked with ZOA Refugee Care in Bugesera district, where the millennium villages is located, for nine years initially as an agriculture coordinator and later as a program manager. His responsibilities included designing interventions in collaboration with government, donors and other partners and leading the organization’s transition from relief to development approach. After the phase out of ZOA Refugee Care from Rwanda, he joined World Vision as a regional coordinator for its food security development assistance program that was funded by USAID.

Mr. Ndahiro has a master’s degree in agricultural economics from Makerere University in Uganda and 15 years of experience working with local and international non government organizations in management positions.  Additionally, he has certificates in extension management from Wageningen University, The Netherlands, in participatory research from Thrissur, India and in natural resources management and development from the Eastern and Southern Africa Management Institute.

Mr. Ndahiro has a broad orientation, with community based projects in relief and development phases and skills in participatory research, training techniques and methodologies. He has been a lead facilitator in the development of grassroots based development plans at district and provincial levels and has participated in the decentralization reforms currently taking place in Rwanda.