Annual Meeting 2004
The 40th Annual Meeting of
The Association for International Agriculture 
and Rural Development

"Progress in International Agriculture and Rural Development"
Speakers and Panelists

Dr. Claude Nankam
Agriculture Team Leader, Technical Resources
World Vision, United States

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Dr. Claude Nankam began his career as plant pathologist in 1981, in the USAID funded National Cereal Research and Extension project of the Cameroon Agronomic Research Institute. From 1981-1991, he identified and studied diseases of maize and sorghum in the country, and worked with the breeding teams, to select/develop varieties resistant to the major diseases such as leaf blights and maize streak virus.

In 1995, Claude joined World Vision as the Manager of the agriculture program in Angola, where he developed a very successful seed project, the Seed of Freedom, in collaboration with the Angolan Ministry of Agriculture, five centers of the CGIAR system (CIAT, CIMMYT, CIP, ICRISAT and IITA) and eight international NGOs. He also developed the agriculture recovery program for internally displaced people in the northern province of Angola, leading to tremendous increases in their food production. Claude co-authored the chapter "Agriculture Recovery: Achieving Post-CHE Food Security" in the World Vision book Complex Humanitarian Emergencies: Lessons from Practitioners with information from the Angola work.

 Since 1999, Claude has the global agriculture and food security portfolio of World Vision US after assuming the responsibility of Program Officer for Latin America and the Carribbeans, with focus on Haiti, Honduras and Guatemala. He has developed the Agriculture Sector minimum standards, the sector strategic framework, the food and livelihood security assessment tool to aid field staff design their food security program. He represents World Vision on the Advisory Committee of the 2020 Vision of IFPRI, and seat on the Board of Directors of the Environment Concern for Hunger Organization (ECHO). He was member of the "Think tank" for the Sustainable Rural Livelihood Program of Iowa State University, and the member of the discussion group on Harvest Plus: Breeding Crops for Better Nutrition, a program on the biofortification of cassava and sweet potato.

Claude's academic background includes a MSc in Agriculture from the University of Dschang, Cameroon (1981), a MSc in Plant Pathology from Iowa State University, USA (1986), and a PhD in Plant Pathology/Breeding from the University of Illinois, USA (1995). He has published more than 22 scientific papers, abstracts and technical papers. Claude has traveled for work in many countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and he speaks and writes French, English, Portuguese, and reads Spanish.