The Director General of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Centre for Africa  Dr. Belay Begashaw will retire effective November 30, the organisation has announced.

A citizen of Ethiopia, Begashaw has been the head of the organisation since it started operations in 2016.

Headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda,  the centre was set up to offer African governments and organisations technical support, neutral advice and expertise to accelerate the implementation of the SDG agenda across Africa.

The organisation announced his retirement by a statement published on their Twitter handle on Wednesday November 11.

"The Board of the SDGs Center for Africa announced today that Dr. Belay Begashaw will retire as Director-General, effective 30 November 2020, and thanked him for his service, " the post read.

Caroline Makasa, a senior staff member of the center will serve as the Acting Director-General, while an open search process for the next Director-General is conducted, the organisation said.

About Begashaw

Begashaw has over 20 years of experience in agriculture extension and rural development, ranging from a grass-roots development agent to the Minister of Agriculture for Ethiopia.

Before his service as the head of the SDG Center for Africa, Begashaw worked in a number of high profile positions among which he was the founding Director of the Columbia Global Centers for Africa.

He also worked at the Columbia University, Earth Institute (EI) in 2009, where he served as Senior Agriculture Policy Specialist and Director of MDG centre for Eastern and Southern Africa.

He also has served as the Associate Director of the Agriculture and Food Security Center of the EI.