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Staff at GRAIN
GRAIN is a small and like-minded group with a big and ambitious agenda. Our team is composed of 13 programme staff and three finance and administration staff. We have a few programme staff in each region of the South -- Africa, Asia and Latin America -- working closely with local groups there. They are complemented by three global programme staff, plus an information team that helps with our publications and outreach. More than half our staff are women and, together, we represent a dozen nationalities. Rich in this diversity, GRAIN functions as a collective, with a horizontal management system and participatory methods of decision-making, evaluation and controls. Henk Hobbelink
Devlin Kuyek
Renée Vellvé
Shalini Bhutani
Vlady Rivera
Elfrieda Pschorn-Strauss
Jeanne Zoundjihékpon
Camila Montecinos Ramón Vera Herrera Carlos Vicente Sue Branford Ralph Smith Alexis Vaughan
Finance and administration team Etchel Del Pilar
Daniela Gimeno
Aitor Urkiola
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07-Oct-2009 |
Print
Henk is one of the co-founders of GRAIN and has been with the organisation since it started in 1990. He is an agronomist by training and worked previously with Dutch and European NGOs. Henk is the coordinator of GRAIN, and as such is responsible for the overall functioning of the organisation. Part of his responsibility is also to keep up with the global issues that the organisation works on, and contribute to GRAIN's programme with research, writing and outreach activities.
Devlin joined GRAIN in 2003. He first started doing freelance work with GRAIN at the end of the 1990s, while working with NGOs and peasant organisations in Malaysia and the Philippines. Devlin is GRAIN's most active researcher, with a focus on global agribusiness, a role through which he also supports GRAIN's regional staff. He is co-responsible for Oryza hibrida, GRAIN's blog on hybrid rice, and is behind some of our budding video work.
Renée is one of the co-founders of GRAIN and has been with the organisation since it started in 1990. Before that, she worked with French farmers' organisations and NGOs on the use of local seeds. In GRAIN, she focuses on global issues related to trade and intellectual property policy. She also helps with the overall coordination of the organisation. She is responsible for BIO-IPR and helps run the collaborative websites 
A lawyer by training, Shalini began working with GRAIN in 2001. Before that, she had been working with different environment and development NGOs in India, including Navdanya and WWF. In GRAIN, her responsibility is to support GRAIN's partners in Asia-Pacific and to help implement our programme across the region. Shalini focuses on issues related to intellectual property rights and biodiversity policy, and shares office with the Indian collective Kalpavriksh.
Before joining GRAIN in 2004, Vlady worked for eight years with a network of small, resource-poor farmers in the Philippines that promotes farmer-led research and management of agricultural biodiversity. He is responsible for implementing GRAIN's programme in Asia, with emphasis in supporting resistance against corporate control of agriculture. He is co-responsible for Oryza hibrida, GRAIN's blog on hybrid rice.
Elfrieda worked with several environmental NGOs in South Africa for many years before she joined GRAIN in 2005. She helped set up Biowatch, and worked with them for several years. In GRAIN, her responsibility is supporting GRAIN's partners in anglophone Africa and to help implementing our programme in this part of the continent. 
Jeanne started with GRAIN in 2001. Before that, she had been working on biodiversity issues at WWF West Africa and teaching at the National University of Côte d'Ivoire. She holds a PhD on the genetic resources of African yams. In GRAIN, her responsibility is to support GRAIN's partners in francophone Africa, and to help implement our programme in this part of the continent. She is in charge of producing Semences de la Biodiversité.
Camila joined GRAIN in 2002. She is an agronomist who has worked with small farmers for most of her professional life, especially through the Chilean organisation CET and a number of years with the global CBDC programme. Camila's responsibility is to support GRAIN's partners in Latin America and to help implement our programme across the region. On GRAIN's behalf, she is an advisor to the Biodiversity Commission of Via Campesina and she participates actively in producing Biodiversidad magazine. 
Ramón joined GRAIN in 2009. He is the overall editor of Biodiversidad, a quarterly magazine produced in collaboration with 10 partners in the region. He also works actively with the rest of GRAIN's Latin America team in advancing our programme in the region. In addition, he edits the Mexican monthly Ojarasca, he translates international writers for the Mexican newspaper La Jornada and is actively involved in the struggles of indigenous peasants in his country.
Carlos joined GRAIN in 2001, after many years with CETAAR, a group which works on the promotion of medicinal plants in Argentina. A pharmacist by training, Carlos' role in GRAIN is to coordinate our information and outreach work in Latin America, as well as support GRAIN's partners and help implement our overall programme in the region. He also participates in 
Sue joined GRAIN in 2006. She is co-editor of Seedling and manages all of GRAIN's English-language publications on a job share with Ralph Smith. Sue is a journalist with extensive experience in radio and print media. She has worked for the BBC World Service, continues to write regularly for several UK newspapers and magazines, and in her spare time teaches journalism at City University in London.
Ralph joined GRAIN in 2006. He is co-editor of Seedling and manages all of GRAIN's English-language publications on a job share with Sue Branford. He is an editor of many years’ standing who has worked for various magazines, including Red Pepper, and for several book publishers. He was for ten years a production editor and director at the London publishers Zed Books. 
Alexis joined GRAIN in 2000. Before that, he worked for NGOs in the UK, doing research and campaign work on agriculture and food issues. Alexis helps to manage much of GRAIN's information and outreach, including translations, media work and the website.
Etchel joined GRAIN in 2004. She is responsible for the administration and bookkeeping of GRAIN's Los Baños office, as well as helping out with overall office management.
Daniela joined GRAIN in 1997. She is responsible for the administration and bookkeeping of the organisation. She also makes sure that everything functions well in the Barcelona office. 
Aitor joined GRAIN in 2000, coming from a long experience with NGO work in the Basque Country. Aitor is in charge of GRAIN's overall administration, financial management and organisational development. He also backs up the coordinator when needed and plays a key role in making sure GRAIN's vital communication tools work.
