Office of the Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Tshilidzi Madzivhandila
Chief Executive Officer and Head of Mission, FANRPAN
Commissioner, National Planning Commission of South Africa
An agriculture and food systems policy leader with more than 25 years of experience in applied research, policy analysis, programme evaluation and policy advocacy, leading FANRPAN’s work to translate evidence into policy action across Africa.
Profile
Strategic leadership for African food systems
FANRPAN vision
Resilient African agriculture and food systems, in harmony with nature, delivering prosperity and health for all.
Mission: Promote an enabling policy environment for the transformation of agriculture and food systems in Africa.
Strategic Plan 2025–2035
Dr. Tshilidzi Madzivhandila is the Chief Executive Officer and Head of Mission of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), a pan-African policy network. He has more than 25 years of experience in applied research, policy analysis, monitoring and evaluation, policy advocacy and programme leadership across agriculture, food systems and natural resources.
He provides strategic leadership for FANRPAN’s 2025–2035 Strategic Plan and oversees the network’s multi-country programmes, partnerships and policy engagement. He works with governments, regional bodies, research institutions, the private sector, civil society and development partners to translate evidence into policy action, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, Agenda 2063, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Dr. Madzivhandila joined FANRPAN in 2011 as Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator and led the network’s policy research portfolio as Director for Policy and Research from 2014 until his appointment as Chief Executive Officer in 2019. Before joining FANRPAN, he spent nearly a decade at South Africa’s Agricultural Research Council as a senior researcher and monitoring and evaluation specialist.
Beyond FANRPAN, Dr. Madzivhandila serves as a Commissioner on South Africa’s third National Planning Commission, which provides strategic guidance for the implementation of the National Development Plan 2030, and as an Interim Advisory Board Member of Digital Earth Africa. He also serves on the RUFORUM Technical Committee and on the strategic advisory boards of FSNet-Africa and CaBFoodS-Africa.
He champions cross-sector collaboration and social inclusion, with a particular commitment to the meaningful participation of women and young people in transforming African food systems.
Beyond FANRPAN
National and continental service
Alongside his leadership of FANRPAN, Dr. Madzivhandila serves on national, continental and international bodies that shape development planning, agricultural research and food systems policy.
National Planning Commission of South Africa
Commissioner, Third National Planning Commission
Appointed December 2021, five-year term
Provides strategic guidance for the implementation of South Africa’s National Development Plan 2030.
FSNet-Africa and CaBFoodS-Africa
Strategic Advisory Board Member
AFRICAP (GCRF)
Co-Principal Investigator and Strategic Advisory Board Member
2018–2022
ICRISAT Smart Food
Board Member
2019–2021
IDRC-CARIAA
Member, Science and Policy Advisory Committee
Career
Professional journey
- 2019 to presentChief Executive Officer and Head of MissionFANRPAN
- 2014–2019Director for Policy and ResearchFANRPAN
- 2011–2014Monitoring and Evaluation CoordinatorFANRPAN
- 2010–2011Research, Monitoring and Evaluation OfficerCo-operative Banks Development Agency, South Africa
- 1998–2007Senior Researcher and Monitoring and Evaluation SpecialistAgricultural Research Council, South Africa
Education
Academic qualifications
- PhD in EconomicsUniversity of New England, AustraliaSpecialisation in public policy and programme evaluation
- Master of Development StudiesUniversity of the Free State, South Africa
- Advanced Programme in Marketing ManagementUniversity of South Africa
- Bachelor of Agricultural ManagementUniversity of Limpopo, South Africa
Strategic direction
Thematic priorities of the 2025–2035 Strategic Plan
Under Dr. Madzivhandila’s leadership, FANRPAN advances policy research, knowledge management and advocacy, capacity strengthening and learning across these thematic areas.
- Climate Change Resilience
- Nutrition and Sustainable Livelihoods
- Natural Resources and Environment
- Trade and Markets
- Investments in Agriculture
- Technology and Innovation
- Gender, Equity and Social InclusionCross-cutting
Research
Selected publications
Development Practice in Eastern and Southern Africa: Lived Experiences from the Trenches
Madzivhandila, T., Hachigonta, S., Francis, J., Kamuzhanje, J., Kolawole, O.D. and DeWolf, S. Springer Nature.
Smart Food for Healthy, Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems
Grando, S., Anitha, S., Tabo, R., Tsusaka, T., Givens, I. and Madzivhandila, T. (eds.). Frontiers Media.
Introducing the FSNet Africa model
Mkandawire, E., Mentz Coetzee, M., Swanepoel, F., Dougill, A., Quinn, C. and Madzivhandila, T. New Agenda.
Assessing and mapping Water-Energy-Food Nexus smart innovations and practices in Limpopo Province
Musetsho, K.D. et al. Frontiers in Water.
A new integrated assessment framework for climate-smart nutrition security in sub-Saharan Africa
Jennings, S.A. et al. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems.
Achieving Food Security and Nutrition
Madzivhandila, T. et al. In AGRA, African Agriculture Status Report.
From the CEO’s desk
CEO’s Blog
Reflections and commentary from Dr. Madzivhandila on African agriculture, food systems and policy.
Innovation that reaches the farm: science, technology and indigenous knowledge for Africa’s food future
A World Food Day reflection by FANRPAN CEO Dr Tshilidzi Madzivhandila on how science, technology and indigenous knowledge can raise productivity, cut food loss and help smallholder farmers adapt to climate change.
What the Region Already Knows, and What It Has Yet to Fund
On Monday 17 August 2026, Heads of State and Government met at the Durban International Convention Centre for the 46th Ordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community, under the theme of resilient, sustainable and inclusive industrialisation through...
Two in Three Africans Still Cannot Afford a Healthy Diet
Global hunger eased again in 2025, and the long rise in Africa’s hunger prevalence was interrupted. The harder problem is affordability. A healthy diet remains beyond the reach of most Africans, and that is where food systems policy now has to concentrate. Dr...
FANRPAN at the 21st RUFORUM AGM: Advancing Agrifood Transformation
FANRPAN participated in the 21st RUFORUM Annual General Meeting, held in Gaborone, Botswana, from 1 to 5 December 2025. Leaders from government, higher education, research institutions, industry, and development partners convened to reflect on the future of Africa’s...
Youth Power: An “Around-the-Fire” Conversation at CAADP PP 2025
On the morning of 30 October in Kigali, the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) joined AGRA and the Youth in Employment from Food and Agriculture (YEFFA) program for an “around-the-fire” conversation on youth agripreneurship held...
Leveraging Corridors to Scale Circular Food Systems in Africa
11th SADC Multi‑Stakeholder Water Dialogue in Maseru At the 11th SADC Multi-Stakeholder Water Dialogue hosted in Maseru, Lesotho from 29 to 30 September 2025, FANRPAN CEO and Head of Mission, Dr. Tshilidzi Madzivhandila, called for a new approach to Africa’s food...
G20 & Food Security: Ministerial Declaration – Ubuntu in Action
Last week, I had the privilege of joining agricultural ministers and experts from across the globe at the G20 Agriculture Working Group (AWG) and Food Security Task Force ministerial meetings in Somerset West, South Africa. The sessions (14–19 September 2025) were...
Women Power Africa’s Food Systems | Policy Must Match Their Contribution
New evidence shows that most working women in sub-Saharan Africa earn their livelihoods in agrifood systems, yet face persistent gaps in land rights, digital access, income security and voice. Here’s what must change. Evidence we cannot ignore Agrifood systems are the...
Financing Africa’s Sprint to 2030: Insights from SDR 2025
The Sustainable Development Report 2025 (SDR 2025) arrives exactly halfway to the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and at the start of the Fourth UN Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville. Its central message is...