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Sophie Grouwels

FAO Forestry Officer, Forest an Farm Facility

FAO

Sophie Grouwels worked for more then a decade in Latin America, first based in El Salvador and then Venezuela, in different positions related to rural development, conflict resolution, economic empowerment and gender mainstreaming. In 2000 she transferred to the Forestry Department at FAO HQ in Rome, were her work focused on community based forest enterprise development in which NTFPs and women led enterprises were central. Since 2012 she is part of the management team of the Forest and Farm Facility, a multi-donor trust fund partnership (FAO, IUCN, IIED and AgriCord) programme, aiming at strengthening Forest and Farm Producer Organizations (FFPOs) as key agents for climate-resilient landscapes and improved livelihoods - currently active in 10 countries in 3 continents.