The Agri-Youth Initiative Network (AYIN) is delighted to announce the appointment of Monica Ayu Alex as our Executive Director, effective 1st October 2025. Monica will be leading AYIN’s mission to empower young people through sustainable agriculture, peacebuilding, and community transformation.
Monica is a seasoned Programme professional with over ninr years of experience in project management, monitoring, and evaluation. Monica’s expertise spans humanitarian work, market system development, and sustainable agriculture. She has successfully led initiatives such as School Feeding, Nutrition, Livelihood programs and private sector engagement that lead to award of over 500,000 USD to MSMEs, impacting thousands of beneficiaries. Notably, piloted Cash Based Transfers in schools, benefiting over 5,000 pupils, and managed a $3.5 million scale-up across multiple regions in South Sudan. Her work with Stitching SPARK implementing the SMAC Project has fostered significant economic opportunities for many farmers and private sector actors, creating over 300 jobs for women and youth. Monica is dedicated to leveraging innovative solutions to enhance food security and empower local farmers.
Monica holds Master in Business Administration (MBA), majoring in Management from the University of Suffolk- UK and also a graduate of Economics and Statistics from Kyambogo University and currently pursuing her quality certification in Quality (Food Quality and Lean). She is a professional who brings to the team extensive experience and expertise in the implementation of livelihood interventions, food security, Health/WASH, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting. She has dedicated over 9 years in the humanitarian sector, contributing significantly to both emergency and development projects.
Monica made strides as programme associate with WFP and as an Intervention Manager with SPARK, a pioneering pilot project that leverages the Market System Development approach, interventions in the areas of Bee honey, Local seed business focusing on Quality Declared Seeds and Advocacy for better trade environment in South Sudan, including brokering partnership, co-design and supporting partners to effectively deliver on the agreed goal and objectives. Her commitment to quality and passion for transformative work make her a tremendous asset to any initiative.