Francine Picard Mukazi is Director of Partnerships at the Shamba Centre, leading stakeholder engagement and advocacy strategies across and overseeing the delivery of advisory services in French. Over the last 15 years, Francine has worked in over 20 countries, advising policy makers, parliaments, regional economic commissions, and institutions in Africa on food, agriculture, land, climate change, gender equality, and regional integration. She was a Senior Policy Advisor and Partnerships Lead at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). Francine managed capacity building programmes for the Pan African Parliament and served as an adviser to the Africa Forum (an organisation of former African heads of state) on regional integration. She also participated in the creation of the Ecowas Network of Parliamentarians on Gender Equality and Investments in Agriculture and Food Security, which aims to improve food security and nutrition in West Africa. Francine holds an MA in Legal and Political Anthropology from La Sorbonne University, an LLM in European and International Law from L'Université Paris Descartes, and a diploma in African Studies from the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales. Francine was born and grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has lived and worked in South Africa and France.