I am a Rural Sociologist with a PhD in Agriculture specializing in the Organization of Smallholder Farming Systems. Since 1988 she has worked for a number of national, bi and multilateral organizations, as well as international private funding agencies to design, provide technical support for and evaluate policies and projects aimed at enhancing the active participation of indigenous farming communities. She headed the Latin American and Caribbean Women in Agriculture Program for FAO. She worked on gender and agrobiodiversity issues there and with the CGIAR Systemwide Initiative on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis where facilitating access to capacity building in gender and diversity with a focus on multi-stakeholder involvement in development initiatives was paramount. She has lectured at the Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, Wageningen Agricultural Univeersity in the Netherlands and is co-founder of the Institute for Sustainable Smallholder Production Systems and the Masters’ program “Agrarian Innovation for Rural Development” at the National Agrarian University in Lima. She contributed to the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). She has consulted on research and development projects in many countries including Bolivia, Brazil, Morocco, Mozambique and Uganda. Currently, she is an Honorary Research Fellow for integrating gender in the Forest Genetic Resources Program at Bioversity International in Rome.