YPARD is delighted to welcome Genna Tesdall as the incoming YPARD Director.
She is a graduate of the global oriented Iowa State (2015) and Penn State Universities (2018) with an M.Sc. in Plant Pathology and International Agriculture and Development.
Before joining YPARD, she was the federal agricultural policy officer at the German Rural Youth Association (Bund der Deutschen Landjugend) (2020). As a Fulbright Researcher at the Humboldt University of Berlin (2018-19), she focused on youth involvement in agricultural policy and was the former president (2013-14) of the International Association of Agriculture and Related Sciences Students (IAAS). She currently resides in Berlin.
On the occasion of joining YPARD as director, Genna explained her motivation for joining the YPARD team:
Agriculture and food systems must sustain the environment and her people, and networks like YPARD are key to achieving these goals. No progress can happen justly without the democratic and informed engagement of youth. We are the leaders not only of tomorrow but today! To this end, I strive to be a servant-leader for YPARD in order to foster equality between generations (and all delimiters of privilege).
We thank the outgoing director, Yemi Ayedeye for his dedication to the YPARD network for the last two years.
Welcome on board Genna Tesdall!