Godgift Swai
Lecturer
E-mail: godgift@sua.ac.tz
Mr. Godgift Swai is a member of the academic staff in the Department of Biosciences, College of Natural and Applied Sciences (CoNAS) of Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA). He holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), Tanzania, and a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from the Sokoine University of Agriculture. He is currently undertaking a PhD. in Agroecology jointly between the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania, and the University of Aarhus, Denmark. The main theme of his ongoing research is invasion of rangelands and agroecosystems by Prosopois juliflora and Chromolaena odorata in Northern Tanzania, focusing on trends, factors, control measures, and impacts. Ultimately, the research aims at developing ‘strategic solutions’ and ‘innovations’ for the control and management of invasive alien plant species in Northern Tanzania and similar areas. Mr. Godgift has worked as a consultant and offered professional expertise in issues related to ecological resources surveys, baseline/ feasibility studies, biodiversity assessment, vegetation assessment, environmental and social impact assessment, environmental and social safeguards, environmental and social management frameworks, forest inventories, ecological restoration, carbon assessment and monitoring, participatory natural resource management, and socio-economic baseline studies.
Besides academia, he has strong capacity-building skills as Professional Facilitator, having trained and worked extensively under the USAID/ Feed the Future Programme since 2014– to design and conduct training/ course/program and undertake facilitation. He has executed consulting roles as a Capacity Building Specialist, Facilitator, and Trainer in agriculture, food security, and natural resource management. He has worked successfully in several assignments commissioned by the USAID under Feed the Future Programme– namely Africa Lead II, DAI, CDM Smith-IRRIP2, and PolicyLink. Likewise, capacity-building forums organized by the FAO and EU projects (post-harvest management), UNEP-DTU Partnership (MRV for the forest sector in Tanzania), and platforms organized by National institutions including the National Economic Empowerment Council (NEEC) and UONGOZI Institute.
Mr. Swai is conversant with research skills including research design, data management and professional writing and editorial work. He has good computer literacy and strong analytical and communication skills. He is conversant with both quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques for forestry, ecosystems management/agroecology, and biodiversity conservation.