Silvia Sarapura

Bio Summary

Silvia has more than fifteen years of proven experience in the fields of rural planning for development, gender transformative change and agricultural R4D.  As a result of her extensive research engagement in Africa, Asia, South East Asia, and Latin America, Silvia built a strong and innovative track record in international rural and agricultural research for development.

Until July 2019, Silvia was a Senior Researcher with the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Netherlands. She worked with regional multi-stakeholders platforms for the improvement of agricultural universities in Mozambique; in applied agricultural research with Bioversity International, ICARDA, ILRI, CIAT, CYMMIT and AWARD; with African public and regional organizations on the Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD) Platform- Africa; in climate-smart agriculture and gender planning with Dutch and international organizations.

As a Post-Doctoral Fellow with WorldFish, CGIAR, Silvia was part of the Global Scientific Team on Aquatic Agricultural Systems. She designed, planned and implemented the Research in Development Approach with international, national and local partners in five countries of Asia, Oceania and Africa. She also led the Gender Capacity Development and Organizational Culture Change Initiative in nine WorldFish countries. She also worked with the International Potato Center, CGIAR in food security, local development of agricultural systems and gender action research.

Silvia concluded her MSc and PhD studies at the University of Guelph within SEDRD. Silvia’s excellent research skills, as well as planning and communication skills are documented in book chapters, synthesis reports, articles, and theses. Silvia is Peruvian-Canadian and proficient in English and Spanish. She also has intermediate knowledge of French and Portuguese.

Research Interests

Dr. Sarapura’s research interests are in agri-food systems and rural planning, gender transformative change planning, youth in rural development; intersectionality in land use planning; applied research – research for development.

Current Research Initiatives

• Integrated Seed Systems for community rural development in Ethiopia and Uganda – CCAFS and Bioversity International, CGIAR.
• Gender planning in agri-food systems for rural development in the Zambezi Region, Mozambique – Zambezi Valley Development Agency and 7 educational institutions.
• Averting migration of female populations for rural revitalization through STEM Programs in Honduras, Guatemala and Chiapas (Mexico) – CATIE, Costa Rica.
• Resilient seed systems for climate change adaptation and sustainable rural livelihoods – Different countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America – Bioversity International, CGIAR and research, academic local partners in countries.