Namanga Ngongi was President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) from 2007-2012. He has diverse professional experience at national and international levels in areas related to agriculture, food security and management of international organizations. He began his career in Cameroon working as an Extension Officer and Deputy Head of Projects in the Ministry of Agriculture. In 1980, he was appointed Representative to the United Nations (UN) food agencies in Rome.

He joined the World Food Program (WFP) in 1984 and became Deputy Executive Director in 1994. In 2001 he was appointed Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and led the peace keeping mission (MONUC) for two years. He helped put together the transitional government. Namanga retired from the UN in 2003. He has since undertaken several high –level missions for the UN, including a study on food reserve systems in Africa and coordination of an international conference on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration in Sierra Leone. Namanga holds a PhD ( Agronomy/Crop Science) 1976 from Cornell University.