Head of IFPRI’s Latin American and Caribbean Program

Mr. Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla is the Head of the Latin American and Caribbean Program at IFPRI. He joined IFPRI as a visiting Senior Research Fellow in 2012 and in 2017 he was named Head of the LAC Program. He has more than 40 years of professional experience working on development and poverty issues, including grass-roots work, academic activities, consulting work, and positions of institutional leadership in international organizations and governments. He has resided and worked for extended periods in different countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and has acted as consultant and staff member with several international organizations: United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA), Organization of American States (OAS), and World Bank. Mr. Diaz-Bonilla served as a member of the Board of Executive Directors of the IADB for almost nine years, and occupied leadership positions as Chairman and Vice Chairman of several Board Committees responsible for the governance of the Bank.

Chair of the High Level Panel of Experts of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS)

Patrick CARON holds doctorate in veterinary sciences and PhD in development geography. His works relate to the role of territories in rural change and to the multi-functionality of agriculture and landscapes. He joined CIRAD, a French public tropical agricultural research institute in 1988 and has been General Director for research and strategy from 2010 to 2016. He has been involved in many international research and expertise initiatives. He was appointed as the Chair of the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in November 2015.

General Coordinator, La Via Campesina, Zimbabwe

Elizabeth Mpofu is an organic farmer and activist who works tirelessly for the betterment of smallholder farmers. She is the current General Coordinator of La Via Campesina, the international peasant movement comprising some 164 local and national organizations in 73 countries in the defense of small-scale sustainable agriculture as a way to promote social justice and dignity. She is also a Board member of the Alliance of the Food Sovereignty In Africa, representing La Via Campesina in Africa. Elizabeth is a founding member and Chairperson of Zimbabwe Smallholder Organic Farmers Forum (ZIMSOFF) and Board member of Eastern & Southern Smallholder Farmers’ Forum (ESAFF), organizations which promote sustainable farming practices and the majority of whose members are women. She is currently working with African rural women leaders to build a grassroots movement that advances rural women’s rights across the continent. In the 1980s and 1990s, Elizabeth was the Chairperson for the Association of Zimbabwe Traditional Environmental Conservationists (AZTREC). In 2016, she was appointed by the UNFAO as its Special Ambassador for the International Year of the Pulse for Africa. Elizabeth’s recent opinion column in the global magazine Farming Matters focused on issues of gender equality, women pastoralists, and traditional crops. She was featured in a series on food and seed sovereignty and is a regular speaker at events. eliz.mpofu@gmail.com

Secretary General, Asian Farmers Association

Ms. Ma. Estrella “Esther” Penunia is Secretary General of the Asian Farmers’ Association or AFA, a regional alliance of national farmers organizations in Asia. Established in 2002, AFA is currently composed of twenty national FOs in sixteen countries, representing around 13 million small-scale men and women farmers, fishers and indigenous peoples. AFA believes that investments in empowering farmers’ organizations and in strengthening their cooperatives are investments in unleashing the potentials of millions of family farmers in the work of ending hunger and poverty in the world. Esther was appointed FAO Special Ambassador for the 2014 International Year of Family Farming. As a social development worker, Esther spent more than three decades of professional years in the field of rural development, working with the famers, fishers and indigenous peoples’ sectors in various capacities as community organizer, participatory action researcher, trainer, gender advocate, consultant, campaigns coordinator, NGO executive/manager and networker. She and her husband are currently working in partnership with a farming family in developing a 2-hectare upland farm through sustainable, integrated, diversified, organic practices.

Coordinator at Scaling-Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement

Since August 2016, Gerda Verburg (NL) is serving as UN Assistant Secretary-General and Coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, working with the 64 country governments that lead the SUN Movement, united with UN agencies, civil society, business and donors, in a common mission to defeat malnutrition in all its forms.

Prior to her appointment, she served as Chair of the Agenda Council for Food and Nutrition of the World Economic Forum (WEF), 2014; was elected as Chair of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS), 2013, and served as Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the United Nations Rome-based agencies (FAO, IFAD and WFP) from 2011.

Ms. Verburg was elected as Chair of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD 17) in 2008, following her appointment the previous year as Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands.

WOCAN (Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources Management), Core Associate

Ms. Meena Bilgi has three decades of grassroots, managerial and advocacy experience mobilizing and sustaining civil society organizations aimed at meeting human needs, especially of women ensuring sustainable use of natural resources and enhancing livelihoods, especially in areas affected by climate change and over-exploitation of natural resources. As specialist to many bilateral and multi-lateral projects, she works closely with technical and social sectors teams on integrated approaches to natural resources, engaging stakeholders, confronting unsustainable practices and implementing alternative strategies that strengthen the role and contribution of the poor and women to sustainable development. She has experience with the intersection of gender analysis and organizational change in the context of different types of organizations, with a focus on impacts of organizational culture and leadership on development and justice. She serves as faculty to various academic institutions to teach development professionals and encourage cross-cultural exposures, and is a promoter of gender sensitivity committees at workplaces. She has been active in UN-Intergovernmental processes for a decade, is Core Associate of WOCAN (Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources Management), a Steering Committee member of the Gender and Water Alliance (GWA), and committee member of India’s GEF-UNDP/Small grant programme. She is an active member of the Women’s Major Group. She also holds a Master of Philosophy in social work and is pursuing doctorate in gender budget and public policy.