About the Facilitator/Resources Person:

Dr. Bidyuth Mahalder has an enormous expert in international development with a particular focus on climate-smart agriculture, food security, nutrition, agricultural research and extension, knowledge management, disaster management, women empowerment, and smallholders’ access to digital finance and more.

He has over 30 years of experience in managing programs for the Government of Bangladesh, donor organizations, research institutes, NGOs and UN agencies in Bangladesh and other South Asian Countries in different prestigious position includes roles as Agriculture Sector Lead for Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan at ADPC, Senior Programme Advisor at UN-FAO, Chief of Party for the USAID-funded Agricultural Extension Project, and Deputy Chief of Party for the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) led Cereal Systems Initiatives for South Asia Project in Bangladesh. Currently, Dr.  Mahalder is working as CoP with ACDI/Voca Bangladesh. He has visited more than 25 countries across Asia, Europe, America and Africa in participating in several international skill development training courses, conferences, and seminars and published 25+ scientific papers in reputed journals and conference proceedings. 

He holds an M.Sc. in Irrigation and Water Management, a Masters in GIS from the University of Twente, Netherlands, an MBA from the University of Dhaka, and a PhD from Khulna University.