Dr. Lilian Nkengla is an international Development and Gender Specialist with over 14 years of experience designing and delivering programs that drive measurable social and economic impact. She ensures that agriculture, climate resilience, and natural resource management initiatives translate into improvements in livelihoods, gender equity, and community resilience.

Across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, Lilian has partnered with international NGOs, research institutions, and development agencies to integrate gender equality, social inclusion, and socio-economic analysis into program design and implementation. Her work in Uganda, Ethiopia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cameroon etc has strengthened adoption of innovations, increased women’s access to resources, and improved the sustainability of development interventions. She has extensive experience in translating complex social research into actionable strategies that enhance project feasibility, reduce social risks, and foster community ownership.

As Program Lead for Agriculture and Food Systems at Oxfam America, Lilian led multi-country initiatives such as the Urban food Hives to Nourishing Cities across three regions (Africa, Asia and Latin America) in five countries that delivered measurable outcomes for smallholder farmers and women. She guided country teams to design gender-responsive programs that improved equitable access to land, finance, and markets, while participatory processes she facilitated amplified community voices in decision-making e.g. the UN World Committee on Food Security on urban and peri urban agrifood systems policy recommendations. Earlier, as Senior Advisor for Agriculture and Markets, she embedded socio-economic and gender analysis into climate-resilient agriculture and market systems programs, increasing adoption rates, improving livelihoods, and strengthening social resilience in East and West Africa.

In prior roles at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Lilian coordinated multi-country research on land tenure, labor, and resource governance, producing evidence that informed interventions with stronger social acceptance and higher adoption of innovations. Her work has directly influenced policy research and program design ensuring realistic assumptions about household decision-making and resource use.

She holds a PhD in Gender and Natural Resource Management from Brandenburg University of Technology, Germany, where she examined community-based forest management and evolving gender relations in Cameroon. Fluent in English and French, Lilian brings a collaborative, outcome-focused approach, committed to ensuring development programs deliver measurable results that improve equity, strengthen livelihoods, and build lasting resilience in the communities they serve