IITA hosts party for staff and their families in Tanzania

Manyong (second left) presents a gift to Sophia Swai (extreme right)
 in recognition of her 12 years of service to IITA

 IITA ended its rather eventful year in Tanzania on a high note with an end-of-year party for all its staff and their families in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The annual event was held at the Kunduchi Beach Hotel and was packed with lots of fun activities and games allowing the staff and family members to interact and get to know each other better in an informal setting.

While addressing the staff and their family members, Victor Manyong, the Director for Eastern Africa thanked them for all their support and hard work that saw a very successful year for the hub.

Children of staff prepare to compete in a sack race

He highlighted one of the key events in the year as the very successful launch of the Science Building in May that was attended by high-level policy makers in the region including presidents and ministers, donors, and the private sector. He said the success of the event had led to the selection of IITA Tanzania as the venue for the CGIAR Board meeting in March 2014. He also noted the hub had increased in staff and in the number of new projects.

He called upon everyone to work together towards supporting the Institute to achieve its goal of helping smallholder farmers in Africa.

Manyong also presented a long-term service award to Sophia Swai who had been with the Institute for 12 years. Presents were also given to the winning teams in the different games and activities for the day.