Anita Ximenes is a social science researcher / monitoring and evaluation officer in the Seeds of Life program within the East Timor Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF). She has worked for MAF since 2006. Previously she was as a research assistant in the USAID-supported Agriculture Rural Development Program. Anita graduated from the National University of East Timor in 2009 with a Bachelor of Socio-Economics in Agriculture. She is currently on leave from MAF, and is pursuing a Masters degree in Food Security and Agricultural Development at Kyungpook National University in South Korea.