Okechukwu Daniel Ogbonnaya is the Country Representative for Rwanda at the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) where he oversees the Country program management and day to day engagement with government and development partners. Prior to this he was the Lead – Rwanda Program Coordination with the task of country program formulation, delivery, strategic planning, and operations.
Mr Ogbonnaya worked from GGGI’s headquarters in Seoul, Republic of Korea as the Regional Portfolio Officer for Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East within the Green Growth Planning and Implementation division. He also worked as the Knowledge Management and Outreach Adviser of GGGI’s Ethiopia Country Program, where he was involved in the design and roll out of the of Ethiopia’s Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) initiative. He carried out field expert work on rural development strategies in the areas of household irrigation technologies and sustainable agriculture practices in the rift valley areas of Ethiopia. His post graduate research work focused on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation policies in low and middle-income countries.
He has substantial knowledge on international environmental legal frameworks in Asia Pacific and the African region, as well as knowledge management on the co-construction of knowledge between national and international development actors.
He has authored and contributed to several policy documents, articles and technical papers on green growth, climate change adaptation policy, environment and legal frameworks in Africa and Asia, to name just a few. He is one of the key authors of the National Roadmap for Green Secondary Cities Development in Rwanda, a planning and implementation policy tool for the growth of the secondary cities in a sustainable and green pathway. He also coordinated GGGI and UNIDO’s joint research work on Impact of Green Industrial Development and Employment.
He joined GGGI in July 2010 and has a Master’s Degree in International Development & Cooperation, and an Executive Certificate in Economic Development from John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. With work experience in Korea, Sweden and Nigeria prior to joining GGGI in 2010. Daniel likes reading, playing soccer, and spending time with family in his free time.