From 16 to 19 April 2012, the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa (DTMA) project held its regional planning meeting for West Africa in Kumasi, Ghana. During the meeting, IITA Director General Nteranya Sanginga presented Wilfred Mwangi, DTMA Project Leader, with a plaque in “recognition of his leadership in building strong partnerships among diverse institutions for successful implementation of the DTMA project in sub-Saharan Africa”.CIMMYT work revolves around leveraging partnerships. At a maize and wheat meeting in January, Deputy Director General for Research and Partnerships Marianne Bänziger described Mwangi as “a person who builds bridges.”
Since the inception of DTMA, Mwangi, who is also Associate Director of the Global Maize Program and Regional Liaison Officer, has been involved in building partnerships with donors, research institutions, and seed companies in 13 countries across the region. “To have a sister institution recognize our partnership is really great,” said Mwangi noting that getting everyone involved in the project to read from the same script has not been an easy task.