Dr. Sylvestor Dickson Baguma
Executive Director
Dr. Sylvester Dickson Baguma is the Executive Director of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA). The Board of Directors, comprising the Directors General of the National Agricultural Research Institutes (NARIs) of the 15 ASARECA Member States appointed him as the substantive Executive Director on June 24, 2025, in an Extra-Ordinary Board of Directors meeting. The appointment took immediate effect from 1st July 2025. Before the appointment, he had been serving as Interim Executive Director since October 7, 2024, when the Board of Directors initially appointed him to steer the organization. Prior to joining ASARECA, Dr. Baguma had been serving as the Director of the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) Bulindi Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (BuZARDI) in western Uganda. The Board then embarked on an exhaustive process to recruit a substantive Executive Director, an exercise which attracted a total of 126 candidates from Eastern and Central Africa. It is from this pool of competitors that Dr. Baguma emerged as the winner after several tests and interviews. Dr. Baguma’s task is well cut. The Board of Directors and stakeholders want him to seek and leverage on existing partnerships with complementary Agricultural Research for Development institutions and development partners to crowd in opportunities and resources for ASARECA; and act in the best interest of Member States. He is not new to ASARECA. Over the last 20 years, he has participated in core teams during consultations to inform priorities and drafting of ASARECA’s Strategic, Medium-Term Operational, and Programmatic Plans which have informed ASARECA’s strategic focus and impacts over the decades. He was part of the team that designed the ASARECA Master’s course in AICKM which is being implemented by universities in some member countries. A public speaker and facilitator, he has moderated ASARECA’s strategic and flagship stakeholder engagement events and discourse including the ASARECA Agriculture Ministerial Conference (2023), the Regional Common Ground Dialogue for Mainstreaming Sustainable Agriculture in Eastern and Southern Africa (2024), and the consultative meeting for CGIAR and the National Agricultural Research Systems for Eastern and Southern Africa. At Continental level, Dr. Baguma was part of the lead team of experts from the National Agricultural Research Systems that worked with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and ASARECA to develop priorities for the Regional Agricultural Information Network (RAIN) for the ASARECA sub-region, and the ERAILS programme, an information system through which farming communities and farmer advisory service providers are mobilized to generate questions for agricultural experts to provide actionable responses including speedy information to farmers. Dr. Baguma is also a member of NARO Governing Council, the highest Governance body of Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organization, he is a Board Member of FARA, as well as the current Chair of the NARO Intellectual Property Management Committee, which promotes commercialization of NARO’s agricultural research technologies and innovations. He is on several boards of different entities in Uganda. He holds a PhD in Knowledge Management of Loughborough University in the UK, a Master’s degree in ICT specializing in MIS of Cranfield University in the UK, a Master’s in Agriculture of Makerere University, a Postgraduate Diploma in Modern Management and Administration of Cambridge Tutorial College and has formal training in project planning and management including using outcome mapping for planning and M&E. He has proven experience in designing and implementing strategic plans for impact.