“I am an African child
Born with a skin the colour of chocolate
Bright, brilliant and articulate
Strong and bold; I’m gifted
Talented enough to be the best
I am an African child” – Eku McGred
Tokelo Shai is an MSc Student in Climate Change, Agriculture and Food security at the National University of Ireland Galway funded by Irish Aid. She made the choice to pursue her studies in this field due to her experience working as intern at SouthSouthNorth. The experience revealed the irrefutable truths of climate change and how it will impact the livelihoods of farmers across the world, but most importantly smallholder farmers such as her grandmother who is dear to her heart. She gained invaluable skills in climate change adaptation for smallholder farmers, the role of investments in climate resilient infrastructure and management of projects.
Her educational background is a BSc in Applied Statistics and Chemistry at the University of Cape Town (UCT), where she went on an exchange semester in the second year of the program to Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria. During her time there, she did an intensive German and chemistry course.
In this blog, she shares experiences, findings and lessons from her research project that will be supervised by NUI Galway MScCCAFS program, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security program (CCAFS).
Background on Institutions:
International Fund for Agricultural Development is an international financial institution which is specialized in the United Nations Agency. It provides investments in rural development that aim to empower people in rural areas to increase food security, improve nutrition of their families and increase their income.
CGIAR Reseach Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security which is led the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) addressing climate change challenges and declining food security on agricultural practices, policies and measures through strategic, broad-based global partnerships.
