Johanna Renckens

Johanna Renckens holds a Master's degree in Anthropology from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. She worked for more than 30 years in Ecuador, Peru, Belgium, Costa Rica and Nicaragua leading rural development projects and generating spaces for debate on strengthening sustainable agricultural chains, inclusivity, gender, youth, fair trade, rural development and agrifood systems, with a strong focus on cocoa and coffee.

She currently works at Rikolto, an international NGO with more than 40 years of experience in transforming value chains and strengthening small-scale farmer organisations and food chain actors in Africa, Asia, Europe, Central and Latin America.

At Rikolto, she coordinates the CREA project, co-financed by the EU, which implements, together with actors of the private sector and academy, a support programme for 24 producer organisations and 33 MSMEs in 8 chains, to improve access to the EU market and improve the sustainability and inclusiveness of their products and businesses. This project is part of the International Cocoa and Coffee programme of Rikolto which thrives towards more resilience and a living income for farmers.