Appointment of Dr Anthony Mveyange as Executive Director, PASGR

The Board of PASGR is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Anthony Mveyange as the Executive Director.

Dr Mveyange is a passionate Tanzanian development economist whose research and policy interests include (but not limited to) inequality, poverty, education and health, natural resources, international trade, trade policy, economic growth, and development in Africa.

He has 15 years of experience designing and evaluating projects and programs, policy advisory, and overseeing thematic research-related programs in Africa.

Anthony is joining PASGR from Trademark East Africa (TMEA), where he is a Regional Research and Learning Director overseeing an impactful research and learning portfolio across ten Eastern African countries: Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Malawi, Somaliland and Eastern DRC.

As an independent advisor, Anthony supports Porticus Africa in evaluating early childhood development programs in selected slums in Nairobi, Kenya. He also advises on child protection projects in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Before joining TMEA, Anthony was a research economist in the World Bank Development Research Group in Washington DC, the USA. At the Bank, he was a technical team member that produced the World Bank 2017 Global report on Water and the Economy. Anthony was also a technical advisor to Kenya’s Ministry of Health and the National Center for Population Development (NCPD). He also advised Tanzania’s Ministry of Land and Human Settlement on a DFID funded Rural Land Certification Program.

Dr Mveyange is an East Africa Social Science Translation Collaborative (EASST) fellow and a founding member of the Network of Impact Evaluation Researchers in Africa (NIERA) at the United States International University in Nairobi.

He was recently nominated by the World Manufacturing Foundation as among 12 global experts to produce a White Paper on restoring Global Value Chains in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. He is also a contributor to Africa in Focus at Brookings Institute in the United States.

Dr Mveyange brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in research and evaluation across countries in Africa. He recently concluded a rigorous impact evaluation of AMREF Health Africa’s 10-year Alternative Rite of Passage Programme to curb Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting practices in Kajiado County in Kenya.

Dr Mveyange was also a research cluster lead for a six-country research initiative funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through the African Research Consortium (AERC) on the COVID-19 pandemic effects across East African countries. He oversaw a team of senior researchers from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and Burundi.

In the past, Anthony also consulted for the World Bank Group, Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund of the World Bank, and the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER). He also contributed to the 2015 African Economic Outlook report produced by OECD, AfDB and UNDP.

Dr Mveyange holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from the University of Southern Denmark; a double Master of Arts in Economics from Colorado State University, United States and University of Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania; a Post-Graduate Diploma in Poverty Analysis for Socioeconomic Security from the Institute of Social Studies at Erasmus Rotterdam University, Netherlands; and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance from Mzumbe University, Tanzania. Dr Mveyange is currently pursuing a third Master’s degree in Management – Agribusiness at Strathmore Business School, Kenya.

Dr Mveyange’s appointment is effective August 1, 2021