Mohamed Harun

Mohamed Harun serves as the adviser to Mozambique's Minister of Tourism, a role he has held since 2008. He is an expert on the conservation of biodiversity, the development of integrated tourism resorts and the role of tourism in poverty eradication in Mozambique. He obtained a degree in Veterinary Medicine in 1984 from Eduardo Mondlane University, and in 1998, he completed his PhD at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.

Currently, Dr Harun is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Eduardo Mondlane where he teaches, inter alia, animal physiology, and research methodology. He has a great passion for applied research as a means of transferring skills and technologies to rural communities.

Dr Harun began his political career in the late 1990s when he joined the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and later, he joined the Ministry of Tourism. In 1999, he was appointed to be the Executive Secretary of the Technical Council of Agriculture Research. In this position he was responsible for donor coordination and institutional reform of the Agriculture Research System at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. He acted as senior adviser to the Minister of Agriculture on matters concerning policy, strategy, and agricultural research. From 2003 to 2005 he was appointed to the position of Deputy Director of the Southern Africa Newcastle Disease Control Project (SANDCP).

Harun has published several articles and training manuals for technology transfer to farmers and rural communities. His academic positions have included serving as a senior lecturer at the University of Eduardo Mondlane, the head of the Department of Pre-Clinical Studies (1985), Deputy Director of the Veterinary School (1989) and Deputy Director of the Museum of Natural History (2007).