Brief Biography
Maimouna is an International Phytosanitary Specialist at the IPPC Secretariat. She supports the implementation of activities of the project “FAO support to COMESA trade facilitation programme”, including the development and delivery of training materials on emerging pests. She also support communication on the project and IFU activities.   Prior to joining the IPPC Secretariat, Maimouna was a Multiprogram Inspector and later Plant Health Risk Assessor and Multiprogram Inspector at the Canada Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), where, to support the CFIA Plant Health programme, she conducted risk assessments and inspections, and provided scientific advice to risk managers, on invasive species. She also collaborated with various CFIA stakeholders.   Maimouna spent 10 years working as a Senior Agricultural Research Officer and Plant Health Inspector in the Zambia national plant protection organization (NPPO), serving under various capacities including inspections, pest risk analysis, policy and programmes, communication, training and stakeholder collaboration. She was instrumental in leading major national and regional surveillance projects on Maize Lethal Necrosis and tomato leaf minor, Tuta absoluta. Maimouna is a biologist with a Master of Science degree in Environmental Biology and Management from Australia and a Bachelor of Science in Biological Science (Entomology and parasitology) from Zambia.   She is a Zambian, speaks English, and is learning French.