Speaker

Katie Gallus – geographer & moderator with a massive crush on all things digital. She reins from a family farm in the south of Germany and is filled with wanderlust. She worked for German public broadcasters Deutsche Welle, SWR (ARD) and ZDF before working for the United Nations in New York City. Following her passion as an explorer and storyteller, she did research in the Caucasus of Georgia, Egypt, Kyrgyzstan, Brazil and Iraq. She's also lived abroad: in Cameroon among cocoa plantations, in Sierra Leone working alongside filmmakers and during the pandemic she's been based in Berlin and Addis Ababa. Katie is a sought-after presenter on subjects of digital ideas in development, climate change, agriculture and development policy.

Currently serving as Ambassador at Large for Global Food Security at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of the Government of Spain. Former Director General for Sustainable Development Policies from 2018 to 2021. In this position, he has been lead author and strategist of the 2030 Agenda Implementation Action Plan of Spain, coordinating the Spanish Voluntary National Review at the High Level Political Forum. Lead author of the Spanish Cooperation Joint Response Strategy to COVID-19 pandemic. He served in the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary General from 2011 to 2017, including as Coordinator of the UN Secretary-General High Level Task Force on Global Food Security and as Team Leader of the UN Secretary General´s Special Representative for Food and Nutrition Security from 2016 to 2017, based in Rome. Senior policy advisor on sustainable development to the UN Secretary General´s Special Advisor for the Post-2015 Development Agenda Ms Amina J Mohammed from 2012 to 2016, leading on food security, agriculture and food systems, financing and climate change. Renowned as being part of the team facilitating the process leading to the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he was instrumental on crafting Ban Ki-Moon´s Zero Hunger Challenge and SDG 2.

Before joining the UN, he was Deputy-Director General of Development Policies at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Spain from 2007-2010, leading on Spain´s global response to the global food crisis. He coordinated the 2009 Madrid High Level Meeting “Food Security for All” and substantially contributed to the reform of the Committee on World Food Security. In this position, he was lead author of the 2009-2012 Spanish Cooperation Master Plan and was instrumental on the set up of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), the L´Aquila Food Security Initiative, the UN Fund for the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and the "Spanish Fund for Cooperation on Water and Sanitation". Full time Professor of Development Theory and Planning at the School of Agricultural Engineering and Environment at the Technological University of Valencia UPV (2000-2007) and Director of its Development Cooperation Centre (2004-2007). An engineer by training, he holds a nationally awarded Ph.D on development planning and management. He is author or co-author of more than 50 publications.

Michael Windfuhr is a political scientist, educated at the University of Heidelberg. Since 2011, he is the Deputy Director of the German Institute for Human Rights, the national human rights institution of Germany. Since autumn 2014 he is member of the Independent Complaint Mechanism of the there European Development Finance Institutions DEG, FMO and Proparco (from Germany, Netherlands and France).  Beginning of 2017 he started to be a member of the UN-Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In 2020 he was reelected up to 2024 and is currently vice-chair of this Committee.  

For the five years prior to this, he served as Human Rights Director of Bread for the World, the development organisation of the Protestant church of Germany. Between 1988 and 2006 he co-developped FIAN-International (FoodFirst Information and Action Network), an international human rights organisation that focuses on the realisation of the right to adequate food. 

From 1998 to 2010 Michael Windfuhr lectured at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Heidelberg for more than ten years. His main fields of publication and teaching are: human rights policies, international relations theory, international economic and development policies. He has published extensively, particularly on economic, social and cultural rights as well as on trade and agricultural policies.
 

Michael Fakhri is the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. He is also a Professor at the University of Oregon School of Law. He teaches and researches in the areas of international law, food law, and commercial law.  Professor Fakhri received his doctorate from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, LL.M. from Harvard Law School, LL.B. from Queen's University, and B.Sc. in biology from the University of Western Ontario. Prior to pursuing graduate studies, he practiced law for four years in Toronto, Canada. Professor Fakhri is from Lebanon.

Nutritionist, PhD in Public Health. Professor at the University of Brasília, Brazil, Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Health Sciences. Academic and governmental experience in food and nutrition policies, food and nutrition security and the right to food. Worked on the implementation of the Food and Nutrition National Police (Ministry of Health – 2000-2003). President of the Brazilian National Food and Nutrition Security Council (Consea) 2017-2018, 2023-2024, adviser board of the Presidency of the Republic. The council was composed of representatives of civil society and government of the different areas.

Her professional life has been guided by the perspective of relating the different dimensions of the food systems and nutrition considering consumption, determinants of food behaviour, people's health, aiming at the progressive realization of right to adequate food. Currently she is also the Coordinator of the Observatory for Food and Nutrition Security Policies of the University of Brasília.

Member of the StC of the Brazilian Alliance for Healthy and Adequate Food a network of civil society organizations and academics for FNS policies advocacy. Member of the Advisory Committee - Brazilian Network for Research in Sovereignty and Food and Nutrition Security. Member of the Project Team – 12th HLPE Report Nutrition and Food Systems. Member of the StC HLPE-CFS 2017-2019, 2021-2023. Member of the IPES-Food since 2023.

Beth Bechdol is Deputy Director-General at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In this role, she continues her service to food and agriculture – now on a global scale. Ms Bechdol is responsible for FAO’s Partnership and Outreach work, including Partnerships and UN Collaboration, Resource Mobilization and Private Sector Partnerships, South-South and Triangular Cooperation. She also leads programmes in the area of Plant Production and Protection and oversees FAO’s main technical advisory committee on agriculture, the Committee on Agriculture (COAG) as well as the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Secretariat.

Before joining FAO, Ms Bechdol was President and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana, the Midwestern state’s economic development initiative focused on advancing the agbioscience sector and developing 21st century talent. Prior to her leadership of AgriNovus, Ms Bechdol was Director of agribusiness strategies at Indianapolis-based law firm Ice Miller LLP where she helped build the firm’s dedicated legal practice to food and agribusiness clients.

She also was the former Deputy Director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture.

Ms Bechdol’s dedication to public service in agriculture and her extensive trade and farm policy experience started in Washington, D.C. where she served in key roles as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and as Economist on the Senate Agriculture Committee.

She began her career in the Washington office of Informa Economics. As the first female Vice President in the firm, she assisted clients in understanding critical food and agriculture issues such as global trade negotiations, federal farm policy, technology advancements, farm structure, risk management tools, among other major trends. She also provided market information expertise to several international development projects in Egypt, the Republic of North Macedonia and Ukraine.
Ms Bechdol excels at building unconventional alliances and connecting people. She has had significant roles on boards and commissions, including the National FFA Board of Trustees, the Purdue Research Foundation and the Farm Foundation Round Table.

Ms Bechdol was raised on a multi-generation family grain farm in rural Indiana. She received her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in international law and international affairs, and completed her master’s degree at Purdue University in agricultural economics.
 

Dr. Frick joined the WFP Global Office Germany in Berlin as Director in 2021. Since November 2022, he also acts as Director a.i. of the WFP Brussels Office to the Euro-pean Union. Prior to these assignments, he was the Deputy Special Envoy to the Food Systems Summit 2021. He served before as the Senior Director of UN Climate Change (UNFCC) where he was overseeing the implementation of the Paris Agree-ment and the secretariat’s Climate Action work. From 2015 - 2017, he served as Di-rector for Climate Change at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). As Ambassador to the international organizations based in Germany (2012-2015), he helped building up the UN’s sustainability hub in Bonn. Prior to this assignment, he led E3G’s – Third Generation Environmentalists, a leading climate change think tank – climate diplomacy work.

From 2007 to 2010, as Programme Director of Kofi Annan’s Global Humanitarian Fo-rum, Dr. Frick developed the founding narrative of climate justice. In 2007, during the German EU presidency, he was the European Union’s lead negotiator in the estab-lishment of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Prior to this, Dr. Frick served as German representative for human rights and humanitarian affairs at the UN General Assembly (2005 to 2007). From 2002 to 2005, he was Cabinet Affairs Advisor to Ger-man Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. From 1999 to 2002 he was posted to post-crisis Albania as Consul and Deputy Ambassador.

Dr. Frick has been a German diplomat since 1996. He holds a PhD in Law from Re-gensburg University and a diploma in International Relations from Science Po Stras-bourg. He was a senior fellow at Demos, New York as well as a guest lecturer at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.
 

Nutritionist, PhD in Public Health. Professor at the University of Brasília, Brazil, Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Health Sciences. Academic and governmental experience in food and nutrition policies, food and nutrition security and the right to food. Worked on the implementation of the Food and Nutrition National Police (Ministry of Health – 2000-2003). President of the Brazilian National Food and Nutrition Security Council (Consea) 2017-2018, 2023-2024, adviser board of the Presidency of the Republic. The council was composed of representatives of civil society and government of the different areas.

Her professional life has been guided by the perspective of relating the different dimensions of the food systems and nutrition considering consumption, determinants of food behaviour, people's health, aiming at the progressive realization of right to adequate food. Currently she is also the Coordinator of the Observatory for Food and Nutrition Security Policies of the University of Brasília.

Member of the StC of the Brazilian Alliance for Healthy and Adequate Food a network of civil society organizations and academics for FNS policies advocacy. Member of the Advisory Committee - Brazilian Network for Research in Sovereignty and Food and Nutrition Security. Member of the Project Team – 12th HLPE Report Nutrition and Food Systems. Member of the StC HLPE-CFS 2017-2019, 2021-2023. Member of the IPES-Food since 2023.
 

For over twenty years, Sibi has been providing support to national governments, local communities and United Nations agencies in the areas of humanitarian and development action, innovative programme design and strategic partnerships.

Currently, she is the Senior Regional Adviser for Food Systems, based out of the World Food Programme’s Regional Bureau for Eastern Africa. In this capacity, she leads a team that works with issues of climate action, water resource management, livelihood support, resilience-building, environmental sustainability and women’s economic empowerment in the nine countries that make up the region.

Prior to this position, Sibi’s assignments included Head of Programme for the WFP Ethiopia Country Office, Adviser to UNICEF’s Emergency Operations Division and Deputy Country Director of the WFP Ghana Country Office.

She spent several years working in the UN headquarters in New York, managing external relations for some of WFP’s most complex and challenging portfolios, including Sudan, the DRC and Somalia. Sibi is passionate about supporting local governments and communities to manage their climate risk and brokering strategic partnerships for innovative and impactful programmes that mitigate the effects of complex crises on the most vulnerable. Sibi is a national of Benin.
 

Caroline Delgado is a senior researcher and the Director of the Food, Peace and Security program at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). With a specific focus on peace, security, and development, Caroline's research primarily revolves around human security and its impact on the outcome of conflict and peace processes. Another key area of her research is the identification, evaluation, and measurement of the impact of state-, UN- and NGO-led humanitarian and development interventions on peacebuilding efforts. She currently leads the SIPRI-World Food Programme Knowledge Partnership, which involves conducting research in several conflict-affected countries to determine the potential contribution of food security interventions to peace. Caroline's geographical focus is primarily on Latin America, specifically Colombia, and various sub-Saharan African regions.

Caroline has ample experience from academia and policy-related research institutes and think tanks, but also as a practitioner before transitioning into research. 
 

Christine Campeau is the Global Advocacy Director for Food Systems at CARE, where she leads the execution of CARE's global policy and advocacy on food and water systems at global, regional, and national levels. 

Most relevant to Policies Against Hunger, Christine was the Deputy Chair of the UNFSS’s Action Track 4 to advance equitable livelihoods and the realization of human rights. Christine continues to guide the work of CARE country offices to support the implementation of national food systems pathways and established the Decent Work for Equitable Food Systems Coalition alongside ILO and IFAD. As a contributor to the Food Systems Countdown Initiative, she helps measure, assess, and track the performance of global food systems toward 2030 with a specific focus on workers’ rights.

Prior to this, Christine worked for intergovernmental agencies, such as UN Nutrition; for global support systems, such as the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement Secretariat; and with civil society organizations, including Caritas Internationalis.

Christine holds a Master of International Relations from Webster University, Geneva, Switzerland, with a combined focus on international diplomacy and climate-induced migration. Born and raised on a farm in Southern Ontario, she has spent countless hours volunteering on organic farms across Canada and working with farmers in developing countries. Her personal goal is to work with committed farmers, entrepreneurs, social movements, academics, and decision makers to build resilient food systems that ensure global food and nutrition security.
 

Masresha Y. Andarge is an Ethiopian national who is the co-founder of a national Ethiopian NGO called AISDA-Action for Integrated Sustainable Development Association (AISDA).  He is currently serving as Peacebuilding, Human Rights and Humanitarian programs Advisor for the organization. Masresha has got MA degree in Development Studies specializing in Social Policy for Development from the Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, in the Netherlands. He is a Post Graduate Diploma holder in Project Management from Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands and a Graduate Certificate in Humanitarian Leadership from the Center for Humanitarian Leadership (CHL) at Deakin University, Australia. Masresha has been working both in the development and humanitarian sectors for the past fifteen years within the context and focus on pastoralist communities in Eastern Ethiopia where climate induced recurrent drought is very common affecting the lives and livelihoods of millions of people every year.

Since 2018, he has been appearing as a panelist and participant at various local and international events advocating for the top agendas of localization of aid, strategizing recovery after humanitarian response, the triple nexus; and climate resilience, mitigation and adaptation actions.  He has been sharing his lived experiences and lessons from the affected communities for funding partners, policy makers and local and international implementing organizations. 

Shahid Ali has 14 years of experience in international development. He holds a master's degree in governance and development from the University of Antwerp, Belgium. His areas of expertise include policy advocacy, local development, humanitarian response, youth development, and volunteerism. His experience includes the development and management of projects funded by the BMZ, AA, EU Delegation of Pakistan, DG ECHO, USAID, Welthungerhilfe, among others.

He has worked on various positions with a number of organizations such as Fast Rural Development Program (FRDP), Welthungerhilfe, Voluntary Services Overseas, Saint Petroc's Society (England), Khushhali Bank, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Strengthening Participatory Organizations (SPO), ASK Development, and DevCon-An association for rural development. He is an alumnus of the Institute of Development and Policy Management (IOB), the University of Antwerp, Belgium, Climate Reality Leadership, USA, and Hive Global Leaders, USA. Also, he is currently a member of the Board of Directors at Core Humanitarian Alliance Standards Alliance (CHSA), Geneva. . Mr Shahid's vision is to end poverty in all its forms.

Sofía Monsalve Suárez is the Secretary General of FIAN International.  FIAN is an international human rights organization working for the right to food and nutrition. Before turning Secretary General in 2016, she coordinated FIAN’s program on land and natural resources for more than 15 years. This work included extensive field research and fact-finding missions; as well as close collaboration with grassroots food producer organizations. She has extensive advocacy experience in the UN human rights system, FAO and the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS). In 2021, she joined the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food).

Mr. Ron Hartman is IFAD’s Director for Global Engagement, Partnerships and Resource Mobilization. He is responsible for leading IFAD's global policy agenda, multilateral relations, partnerships with member states, private sector and non-government organizations, south-south and triangular cooperation, and resource mobilization. Prior to his current position, Mr. Hartman has served as Sub-regional Director and Representative at its South East Asia and the Pacific sub-regional office in Jakarta. He was also formerly a Country Programme Manager and Portfolio Manager in the Asia and Pacific region. Mr. Hartman has also served UNOPS as a Portfolio Manager based in Bangkok, Thailand.

Prior to joining the United Nations in 2003, Mr. Hartman held managerial positions in the public and private sectors in Australia and the United Kingdom in community development, investment banking and fund management.

With 30 years professional experience, including 20 years with the United Nations, Mr Hartman has acquired extensive managerial and operational experience in over 30 countries. He has specialized knowledge in promoting sustainable socio-economic development, public policy, and public and private investment.
He has been responsible for the design and implementation of investments that have improved the lives of millions of poor and vulnerable rural people. In 2011, Mr Hartman was awarded the IFAD Presidential Award for outstanding performance.

Mr Hartman holds qualifications in economics, finance, agricultural economics and management from Curtin University and the University of Western Australia.

In 1962, Gerold Rahmann was born on a dairy farm in East Frisia, Germany. The childhood formed his identity to be a farmer, tries to be a good farmer and loves to be a good organic farmer and scientist. Gerold has studied Agricultural Economics, made his PhD in Rural Development and Habilitation in Agroecology. He is founding Director of the German Federal Research Thünen-Institute for Organic Farming (https://www.thuenen.de/en/ol/?no_cache=1)   and Professor at the Faculty of Organic Agricultural Science (https://www.uni-kassel.de/fb11agrar/en/) at the University of Kassel, Germany. He has work many years in other countries, was 7 years world board member of IFOAM (https://www.ifoam.bio/), is more than 9 years president of ISOFAR (https://www.isofar.online/) , board member of FiBL Germany and many other organisations in the Organic world. He has worked many years in other countries, mainly in southern and eastern Africa, was many years editor-in-chief or scientific journals (https://www.springer.com/journal/13165) and has published 47 peer reviewed and 340 non-peer reviewed papers.

und Professor am Fachbereich Ökologische Agrarwissenschaftender Universität Kassel. Er hat viele Jahre in anderen Ländern gearbeitet, war 7 Jahre Mitglied des Weltvorstands der IFOAM, ist seit mehr als 9 Jahren Präsident der ISOFAR (https://www.isofar.online/), Vorstandsmitglied des FiBL (https://www.fibl.org/en/) Deutschland und vieler anderer Organisationen in der ökologischen Welt. Er hat viele Jahre in anderen Ländern gearbeitet, vor allem im südlichen und östlichen Afrika, war viele Jahre Chefredakteur wissenschaftlicher Zeitschriften (https://www.springer.com/journal/13165) und hat 47 Arbeiten in peer-reviewed Zeitschriften sowie 340 weitere Arbeiten veröffentlicht.

Saima Zia, a Pakistani activist, has been actively involved in promoting the rights of peasants, gender equality, and humanitarian causes for the past 15 years. She is a member of the Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee, which is affiliated with the global peasant movement La Via Campesina - LVC. Additionally, she is representing LVC as an Asia regional representative in the Food Producer's constituency of the Civil Society and Indigenous People's Mechanism - CSIPM Central Committee.”

Dr. Mwendah M'Mailutha is the Kenya National Farmers’ Federation (KENAFF) CEO since September 2018.
He is an expert in applied agricultural economics with specialties in agricultural policymaking, rural development and development economics. He has an intimate understanding of the agricultural sector in Kenya and Eastern Africa and is well versed in the role of agriculture in the socio-economic transformation of African countries. Having been involved in working with farmers’ organizations right after his first degree, Dr. M’Mailutha has become an authority on the role and development of farmers’ organizations in socioeconomic transformation of middle-income and developing economies.   

He holds a PhD in International Development Policy and a Master's in Public Policy from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, United States of America. Before that, he graduated from Kenya's Egerton University with a BSc. Agriculture and Human Ecology. He also holds certificates in International Law, Business Administration, Leadership & Management, and Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) for development.

He has a wide wealth of experience in agricultural extension; agricultural policymaking; rural development; business development; and teaching. He has worked in many countries: Kenya; Uganda; Tanzania; Rwanda; South Sudan; Burundi; Ghana; and, the United States of America. 
Over the past five years (2019—2023) he has immersed himself in developing and shaping the role of farmers as well as the youth in climate action. Dr. M’Mailutha is also a practicing farmer (dairy, farm forestry and apiculture). 
 

Michael Fakhri is the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. He is also a Professor at the University of Oregon School of Law. He teaches and researches in the areas of international law, food law, and commercial law.  Professor Fakhri received his doctorate from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, LL.M. from Harvard Law School, LL.B. from Queen's University, and B.Sc. in biology from the University of Western Ontario. Prior to pursuing graduate studies, he practiced law for four years in Toronto, Canada. Professor Fakhri is from Lebanon.

Dr. Danielle Resnick is a David M. Rubenstein Fellow at the Brookings Institution in the Global Economy and Development Program and Non-Resident Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, DC. She previously was a Senior Research Fellow and Governance Theme Leader at IFPRI (2016-2021) and a Research Fellow at the United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) in Helsinki, Finland (2010-2013). A political scientist by training, her research focuses on the political economy of development. She has conducted analysis, fieldwork, and policy outreach in multiple countries, including Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, and Zambia. 

Dr. Resnick is the co-editor, with Johan Swinnen, of The Political Economy of Food System Transformation: Pathways to Progress in a Polarized World (October 2023, Oxford University Press) and the lead essay author for the 2022 Global Hunger Index Report on Food Systems Transformation and Local Governance. She has also served in several advisory roles, including on the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition for the 2024 report on Strengthening urban and peri-urban food systems to achieve food security and nutrition in the context of urbanization and rural transformation and as a member of the Lead Expert Group for the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition (GloPan) for the 2020 report on Future Food Systems: For people, our planet, and prosperity. 
 

Prof Dr Otto Hospes is Associate Professor Public Administration and Policy at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, and Adjunct Professor International Politics of Sustainability at IPB University, Indonesia. He has also been serving as a former senior evaluator of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is an alumni of the Master of International Development Studies of Wageningen University. 

His field of interest is international food and sustainability politics: the contestation and negotiations between states from the North and from the South about values, frames, knowledge and decision-making about sustainable food and agriculture. He is fascinated by the political use of human rights in sovereignty games, the promise and pitfalls of food sovereignty as a new human rights norm, and the intractability of changing food system governance. Some of his publications include: Fed up with the right to food? The Netherlands' policies and practices, Food sovereignty: The debate, the deadlock and a suggested detour and Food system governance: A systematic literature review. In the last five years, he is focusing more and more on contestation and negotiation between the EU and Southern states on EU ‘green’ laws on renewable energy, deforestation and due diligence.
 

Maria Teresa Nogales is the founder and Executive Director of Fundación Alternativas, a Bolivian non-profit organization dedicated to employing multidisciplinary strategies centered on guaranteeing people´s right to food as well as renovating local and metropolitan food systems to ensure resilience in the context of rapid urbanization and climate change. This works revolves around food systems research, the participatory design of food policies, the promotion of urban agriculture and food education.    

For over 20 years, Maria Teresa has worked in more than 15 countries around the world in the fields of international development, governance, democracy, food systems and food security. She has garnered experience in team management, strategic planning, advocacy and public policy, institutional communication and multi-stakeholder platform facilitation. Maria Teresa has a Masters of Arts in International Relations and a Bachelor of Science in Education from Baylor University (USA).
 

Diana  Gichengo is a human rights and good governance lawyer with over 15 years in policy engagement, designing and running campaigns on human rights, economic rights, social rights and development.  She currently heads The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA) as the National Coordinator. TISA convenes a coalition to address the economic crisis arising from weak accountability for debt revenue.  

Diana started her career as a property lawyer but soon left practice to work on protecting widows' property rights, particularly those widowed by HIV/AIDS. This is where her love for advocating for the furthest behind was crowned. She is an intersectional policy advocate, so her work on property rights soon took her to work on women’s leadership and food resilience. Later she worked on different aspects of democracy, civil and political rights. 
She has led several continental initiatives on policy making. In particular, she was instrumental in developing a general comment on matrimonial property rights for women during divorce dissolution and separation, which the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights adopted. Diana is currently leading a coalition of 40 civil society organisations in Kenya keen on addressing national and global fiscal justice through reforms to the Bretton Woods institutions.

Diana has extensive experience working with marginalised and vulnerable groups, including women, rural communities, displaced & stateless persons, gender & sexual minorities, and persons with disabilities and their challenges with access to services, including social security. She is working closely with Wethungerlife and the Right to-food coalition in Kenya in pushing for administrative, policy, legislative, and people action in realising the right to adequate food.
 

• Originally from the Zapotec Indigenous Peoples of Juchitán of Zaragoza, State of Oaxaca, México.
• Member of the Board of Directors of the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC)
• Organization Secretary of the Unit of the Indigenous and Peasant Force (UFiC), national organization in Mexico. 
• Director of International Affairs of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples, of the Mexican Government (2018-2022).
• Member of the Coordinator Committee of the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC).
• Secretary of the Assembly of Indigenous Peoples for Food Sovereignty (APISA A.C.) 
• Member of the Coordination Committee of the Civil Society Mechanism and Indigenous Peoples (CSM-IP) for the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), period 2019-2021, Rome, Italy.
• Municipal President or Major of the Heroic City of Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca, México, in the period 2014-2016.
• Member of the United Nations Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) for the period 2011-2013
• General Director of the Superior College of Integral Intercultural Education of the State of Oaxaca (CSEIIO), México, period 2010-2013
• Technical Secretary of the Commission of Indigenous Affairs of the Federal Chamber of Deputies, México, in the period 2007-2009

Hilal Elver was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Right to Food (2014-2020). In 2021, she has been selected to the High-Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) of the UN World Committee of the Food Security (CFS). October 2022 she became a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the UN Food Systems Summit Hub.  
Professor Elver started her teaching career at the University of Ankara Faculty of Law. During that period she also served as the legal advisor at the Ministry of Environment (1989-1991), then acted as the General Director of the Women Status (1991-1993). In 1994 she was appointed by the UNEP as the Chair on Environmental Diplomacy at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies in Malta. Currently Professor Elver is a researcher at the UC Santa Barbara. co-directing the Climate Change, Human Security and Democracy project since 2009.  

She has numerous publications in international law, environmental law, human rights law particularly on right to food, water, and women rights. 
Her book on Peaceful Uses of International Rivers: The Euphrates and Tigris Basin published in 2002 by the Transnational Publisher. In 2008 she co-edited five volumes International Human Rights: Critical Perspective published by Routledge: U.K.  In 2012 she authored, Headscarf Controversy: Secularism and Freedom of Religion published by Oxford University Press. Her co-edited book with Paul Wapner is Reimagining Climate Change was published in 2016 by Routledge Press. Currently she is working on a book “Right to Food: A Human Rights based approach to food security and nutrition in times of multiple crises.”
 

Nosipho is currently Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of South Africa in Italy, Permanent Representative to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome (FAO), Governor to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Permanent Representative to the World Food Program (WFP).

Furthermore, she is also accredited as non-resident High Commissioner of the Republic of South Africa to the Republic of Malta and as non-resident Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa to the Republic of San Marino and to the Republic of Albania.

Nosipho has over twenty years in senior management position in the public service, twelve of which she served as a Director General for the Department of Environmental Affairs.

Her previous responsibilities as a Director General included oversight of Statutory bodies such as South African Biodiversity Institute (SANBI); South African National Parks; Isimangaliso Wetland Authority – St Lucia; South African Weather Services (SAWS).

She represented South Africa in various multilateral, bilateral processes and overall intergovernmental bodies and Commissions, some of which include:

• Head of the South African Delegation to the three Rio Conventions in particular the Conference of Parties (COPs), Convention on Biological diversity (CBD), Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC)
• Other International bodies include Global Environmental Facility (GEF), OECD, Indian Ocean Rim Association, Benguella Current Commission, China Council on Sustainable Development, UN Commission on Sustainable Development, BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China group on Climate Change)
• Experience in development of environmental legislation, leading sustainable development goals, national climate change response policy and implementation frameworks which included the biodiversity and mining guidelines developed in partnership with the Minerals Council
• Played a meaningful role in fostering consensus on the Sustainable Development Goals, leveraging the power of South Africa in the continent as well as at BRICS and G20 platforms
• A Former Chairperson of the Directors-General Cluster on International Cooperation, Trade and Security (ICTS).
• As part of SADC in Namibia actively led negotiations during United Nations Convention on Desertification Conference of Parties (UNCCD) which adopted a decision to operationalize Land Degradation Neutrality to enable the convention to align and contribute directly to Sustainable Development goals (SDGs)
• Worked with regional counterparts as Chair of the Directors-General or Senior officials SADC Environment Forum to establish Transfrontier Conservation Areas; establishing a regional Ocean Health Programme, promote marine protected areas and combating coastal erosion.

A recipient of various awards in recognition of her work including Batho Pele awards, best head of National Department for good organizational leadership and governance. In 2008, Nosipho received an annual public sector reporting award for transparency.

A passionate leader caring for the planet, people prosperity, community and youth development and has over the years led efforts in talent management and gender empowerment in government. During 2010 she led the annual empower a child project, therefore, advancing gender equality and participation of women in key development initiatives.

A former anti-apartheid activist under the banner of the United Democratic Front, as a member of the student organizations since 1985. Nosipho served as a national gender officer to the national executive for SASCO in Johannesburg, and as a convener for non-racial sports codes in the Western Cape.

Francesca Romano, is a Land Tenure Officer at the UN FAO with over 25 years of professional experience on responsible governance of tenure rights, food security, poverty reduction, natural resource management and participatory approaches. She supported the development and implementation in numerous countries of internationally agreed standards, such as the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure, a programme based on principles such as inclusivity, transparency, participation, gender equality, and safeguards of legitimate tenure rights. Ms. Romano is a biologist and natural resources conservation specialist, and holds a MSc in Protected Landscape management at the University of Wales, UK.

Sarah Luisa Brand is an Associate Professional Officer at the Right to Food Team of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). She has been with FAO since 2020, working on the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines to support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Food in the context of national food security.

Before joining FAO, Sarah worked for GIZ, the German Development Cooperation, advising the German government and partner countries on human rights issues and on adopting a human rights-based approach to development. Sarah holds an LLM in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and a BA in International Relations.

Hala N. Barakat is an archaeobotanist. With a Ph.D. in Paleoecology from the University of Aix-Marseille III, France. She worked as a lecturer at Cairo University 1995-2000 and as deputy director at the Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT) affiliated to the Library of Alexandria (2000-2012).

In January 2013, she joined the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) as a part time researcher on the issues of “Right to Food” and “Food Sovereignty” in Egypt. She is also a founding member and former president of Nature Conservation Egypt (NCE) a non profit organization active in the field of conservation of endangered species and habitats.

Hala recently finished a book entitled “Food in ancient Egypt” to be published in 2023 by AUC press. 

She is currently a free lance consultant on the environment, heritage and history of plants in Egypt.

In 2022, she undertook her first consultancy on Egyptian food heritage for a restaurant and designed an ancient Egyptian garden for a resort in Marsa Alam. In 2023 She joined the “Discover Esna” project by “Takween” to document the food heritage of the town of Esna and surrounding villages.
 

Zeeshan is the Social Impact Manager at Nestlé, where he supports advocacy, engagement and outreach on youth, human rights, sustainable sourcing and gender & diversity. He joined Nestlé HQ after a stint with Nestlé in the Pakistan market, where his focus was on sustainability, media relations and government affairs. Prior to Nestlé, Zeeshan worked in the international development space, with assignments at both HQ and country offices within the UN system and the World Bank.

Zeeshan has undergraduate and graduate degrees from the City University of New York, and an Executive MBA from the University of Oxford.