I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Brian Baptista as  Special Technical Advisor to the Executive Director of CAFOR in the Secretariat of CAFOR in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Regional Representative and Head of the CAFOR Regional Office for Europe based in Copenhagen, Denmark. For two years, Mr Baptista’s appointment is effective as of May 2nd 2023. As my Special Technical Advisor, Mr Brian Baptista will work closely with me in the Secretariat of CAFOR to provide professional guidance, set standards, and ensure rigour, quality and timeliness in producing technical documents and reports submitted to the CAFOR governance entities, partner agencies, and institutions.

The CAFOR Regional Office in Europe is the first of seven regional offices that CAFOR is opening. Other Regional offices will follow in Kinshasa, DRC, for Central Africa, Nairobi, Kenya for East Africa, Lilongwe, Malawi for Southern Africa, Abuja, Nigeria for West Africa, Rabat, Morocco for North Africa and New York, USA for the Americas and the African Diaspora.

As the Regional Representative and Head of the CAFOR Regional Office for Europe, Mr Baptista will help CAFOR promote collaboration among European countries with the CAFOR Secretariat team in the delivery of different programmatic activities to build synergy and increase effectiveness and efficiency. He will also manage the region’s financial and human resources planning to implement CAFOR programmatic activities in Africa. He will also coordinate with key stakeholders and sponsors in the planning and organization of CAFOR dialogue forums, Roundtables, Ministerial conferences, and critical events involving multi-lateral institutions, development agencies and the African Union. Mr Baptista will also work closely with the countries in the region to support and strengthen existing national, regional and international networks.

Mr Baptista brings to CAFOR an ability to establish new and innovative solutions, maintain strong business alliances, and motivate the entire team towards project completion to attain project expectations. Mr Brian Baptista is the founder and CEO of COPUBLICA, an education consultancy company that has positively impacted the education sector since its inception in 2016. Since then, his company has had a great run. It continues to thrive by working with governments, non-profit organizations, and private sector entities to design and implement sustainable and impactful education solutions aligned with their unique needs and priorities.

Mr. Baptista was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and resides in Copenhagen, Denmark, with his wife and two children. He holds an M.Sc. in Business and Management from CBS, Copenhagen and has 20 years of leadership experience in education and project consultancy.

Please join me in congratulating Mr Brian Baptista, and let us all wish him well in his new position.

Dr Lawalley Cole

Executive Director, CAFOR