Mr. Francisco Pichon, a national from Colombia, has had over 25 years of experience in delivering agriculture and rural development lending programmes in low and middle-income countries in Africa and Latin America. Since 2007 he has been working with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations and an IFI.
With IFAD, he was a Country Programme Manager in the Latin America and Caribbean Region during the period 2007-2012; Lead Portfolio Adviser in the East and Southern Africa Region between 2013-2014; Country Director and Representative for Tanzania and Rwanda from 2014 to 2018; and Country Director for Mexico, Cuba and Grenada since 2018 until April 2021, when he was appointed to his current role as Head of the Mekong Hub and Country Director and Representative for Viet Nam and Thailand, based in Hanoi.
Prior to joining IFAD, Mr. Pichon worked at the World Bank, focusing on Africa and Latin America Region (1994-2007). At the World Bank, he designed and supervised a wide range of operations related to land, forestry, rural productivity, territorial development and ecosystem management, and led analytical work and strategy development.
Mr. Pichon has held other research/teaching positions at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the Inter-American Foundation, and the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. He holds a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. Francisco is married and is the proud father of three sons and a daughter: Pascal, Marcelino, Elias and Celestina.