Arnoud's long experience in the tropics, where he trained smallholders using the Farmer Field School (FFS) approach, has resulted in his belief in the strength of combining smallholders, sustainable trade, environment-friendly production and private-sector investment. His expertise spans grants & loans for emerging markets, business development, partner searches, matchmaking, fair trade and its pre-financing, organic agriculture, smallholder farming, Farmer Field Schools and training-by-doing.

Frank's pride and joy is the unique FarmTree®-Model he has developed for agro-forestry planning, implementation and management. Using a multi-stakeholder approach, this model generates scenarios of farms and landscapes, giving farmers an understanding not only of their investment robustness, but also of nutrition benefits, carbon flows and returns-per-day by gender. The FarmTree®-Model can forecast the costs and benefits of entire agro-forestry projects, serving both farmers and conservation agencies. Frank holds an MSc in Agronomy and a PhD in Innovation Studies from Wageningen University. For more information see: www.farmtreeservices.com.

With over 10 years’ experience in international cooperation projects seeking to achieve food system change, Justa has expert knowledge on both the theoretical and practical requirements for making this goal a reality. Justa holds a PhD in human geography and political science (University of Aberystwyth) and an MPhil in Anthropology (University of Oxford). With her strong academic background in combination with excellent organisational skills and field experience in eastern Africa (Uganda), the Arab region (Jordan, the West Bank) and Latin America (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Peru) Justa brings a wealth of experience to the team. 

With more than 20 years' experience as a financial and operational executive in international companies, Zeynep excels in developing financial models and implementing operational controls that streamline business operations, increase efficiency, transparency and profitability, and drive growth even with limited resources and in challenging environments. With her strong interpersonal and cross-cultural skills, Zeynep fosters good relations with all levels of staff, clients and partners, creating pleasant collaborative environments.

An anthropologist by training, Sara has over 30 years of experience in the fields of international and rural development. First and foremost a communicator and connector, she helps people to communicate clearly through written text. A team player who can motivate, plan and manage – meeting deadlines is second nature to Sara.

Gabija believes that one of the best ways to conserve nature is by fostering sustainable livelihoods and agroforestry. She is passionate about and has experience in landscape finance, participatory assessments and innovative methodological approaches. Gabija has conducted participatory studies in Indonesia, Ghana and Vietnam, where she led workshops, focus group discussions and interviews with experts and community members.

His desire to contribute to a green and sustainable world has led Ard to study International Land and Water management at Wageningen University. He values a positive work environment and makes an active contribution to that at DIBcoop. He favours an inter-disciplinary approach as this allows diverse knowledge streams to come together to achieve sustainability goals. Ard has worked on several agri-projects in Uganda and Sri Lanka, where 'People, Planet, Profit' are at the core of the strategic tools being implemented.

With her roots in mountainous rural Bhutan, working experience in the agriculture sector and educational background in Environmental and Plant sciences, Tshering works on practical solutions that contribute to sustainable farming practices, sustainable business development and resilient livelihoods. Her interests include natural resource management, agronomy, agroecology, crop diversification, climate smart agriculture, agroforestry and plant/tree-soil modelling. Tshering is now focusing on networking, proposal writing, project implementation and the promotion and use of the FarmTree®-Model. She is particularly interested in collaboration with Asian countries.

Although Moussa’s training is in journalism, translation and interpreting, his heart lies in agribusiness and agroforestry. He is a fervent tree planter too and has been closely involved in a Jatropha agroforestry project – the nuts of this tree have many uses including the production of biodiesel. Moussa is DIBcoop’s man in Mali, from where he coordinates our projects in West Africa.

Thor's background is in international nature management. His keen interest in agroecology and agroforestry, landscape restoration and participatory approaches fuels his contribution to projects that address environmental and social issues in a pragmatic and holistic way. Thor has experience mainly in rural South America, and he enjoys working and communicating in diverse and international settings.

Michel Uiterwijk is our FarmTree® Tool co-developer and is guiding the development of the FarmTree® Application. Michel is an experienced mobile app developer and has extensive experience with agriculture and biodiversity related simulation models. Michel uses core principles such as Clean Code, SOLID, DRY and TDD (Unit Testing).

Irene Vinkenburg is our software developer. She has an MSc in chemistry and a Bachelor’s in the visual arts, and used to be a high school teacher. A few years ago, she made a career switch and learned to code through the Make-IT-Work program at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. She now maintains and adds new functionality to the code of DIBcoop’s FarmTree® Model and is improving the tool's accessibility. 

Bart is a freelance renewable energy consultant specialising in bioenergy and solar power. With degrees in Electrical Engineering and in Development Studies, he has a strong grasp of technical concepts combined with a thorough understanding of developing country contexts. Bart brings 20 years of experience in developing and executing renewable energy related studies, project implementation, technical assistance and training, in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.

Dennis’ interest in a sustainable world led him to study Land and Water Management at Wageningen University. While studying he developed a particular interest in how Geo Information Systems and Remote Sensing can help inform local partners about the problems they face. During his internship at DIBcoop he hopes to learn how to apply the knowledge gained from his studies in a real-life situation, and that this knowledge proves valuable for other DIBcoop projects.

Roos is fascinated by ecosystem processes, and as a MSc student in Climate Studies she wants to explore the potential of nature-based solutions. With a bachelor’s in environmental economics, she has the skills to combine social and natural science. During her internship, she is keen to work on the quantification of agroforestry performances using the FarmTree® Tool, in order to provide understandable information for our users.

Demba has a BSc in Plant Sciences and is currently doing an MSc in Organic Agriculture at Wageningen University and Research. Having grown up in Mali and the Netherlands, he is interested in the challenge of how to intensify agricultural production in Mali without incurring the negative impacts on the environment (and our health) that have happened in the Netherlands. Demba sees a way forward through agroforestry, where the basic principle is to intensify by diversifying and make full use of the complementarity between trees and crops. Since trees take time to grow, he’s also learned how valuable it can be to predict the outcome of a system with a model. He now has opportunity to put this into practice at DIBcoop/FarmTree, as he’ll be collecting data from cashew trees in Ivory Coast which will then be fed into the FarmTreeTool.

Papa Moussa specialises in logistics and project reporting. After studying and living in the US for several years, he moved back to Africa, setting up a fishing company in Sierra Leone, which works with smallholder fishermen, and running several logistic companies in Senegal. He has assisted USAID with project reporting on agricultural projects in English, French and other languages. His excellent interpersonal communication skills have helped him to build a wide network in Senegal, a great advantage when it comes to developing locally based projects. Papa Moussa collaborates with DIBcoop on project development in West Africa, providing expertise and profound knowledge of the local context and dynamics.

Sarah Hassan Ali joined DIBcoop through the Dutch government's Young Expert Programme (YEP). She has a BSc in Industrial Engineering and three years' experience in developing and implementing emergency humanitarian projects in Somalia. Sarah is interested in the business development sector, and is engaging with DIBcoop to build partnerships in both Kenya and Somalia.

Limbi works on proposal and business plan development, partnership building, resource mobilisation and institutional capacity development for the private and public sector, farmer organisations and NGOs. He has 18 years of experience in management and development programmes through NGOs, faith-based organisations and the private sector. Limbi's main focus is developing innovative sustainable business cases that involve smallholders with other players in the value chain.