Muhammad Eesa: Rebuilding agricultural capacity in Afghanistan

Muhammad graduated from the Master of Project Management at VU. He is now leading a multi-million dollar World Bank project to rebuild the agriculture sector in Afghanistan.

Background

Qualification: Master of Project Management, 2013

Job: Director for Afghanistan Agricultural Inputs Project at Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL)

Muhammad also received the highly competitive AusAid scholarship.

Rebuilding Afghanistan

Prior to studying at VU, Muhammad worked extensively on large-scale community-development projects.

At UN-HABITAT, he oversaw the implementation of over 650 projects in education, rural development and disaster risk management. He joined the National Solidarity Program (NSP) with the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development in Afghanistan. There he supervised million-dollar community-development contracts between NSP and Non-Governmental Organisations ensuring contractual obligations are met.

After finishing his studies at VU, Muhammad returned to Afghanistan and was appointed to his current role as the Director for Afghanistan Agricultural Inputs Project at MAIL. The appointment was based on his VU-gained credentials as a minimal requirement of the position.

The project management skills Muhammad acquired during his studies provided him with the confidence and knowledge to oversee even larger projects and expand his career beyond regional work to an international level.

His current project will develop:

border quarantine stations at eight borders across Afghanistan
13 agricultural laboratories
irrigation networks
seed storage and office buildings
training to over 300 civil servants, 7000 farmers, doctors, nurses, and chemical traders.

Through all his successes, Muhammad has remained a strong believer in the lifelong learning process. He holds three masters degrees and is hopeful of pursuing a doctorate at Victoria University.