Secretariat - Agroecology Coalition

Our team:

Oliver Oliveros – Coordinator
o.oliveros@agroecology-coalition.org

Bringing a wealth of experience to the role, Oliver has taken on the role as the Coordinator of the Agroecology Coalition and head of the Coalition Secretariat as from 01 February 2023.

Prior to this role, he was the interim Executive Director of the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, a coalition of foundations committed to leveraging their resources to help shift food and agriculture systems towards greater sustainability, security, and equity. Oliver previously worked as the Deputy Director, Partnerships and International Relations at Agropolis Fondation, the French foundation for scientific cooperation in agriculture and sustainable development. He worked as the Global Coordinator of the DURAS Project (2004-2008) which aimed to promote dialogue between the scientific and civil society communities and transform such process into research collaboration. He was formerly with the Secretariat of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) in FAO in Rome (1999-2004) where he worked on issues related to research partnerships and civil society organizations.

Before coming to Europe in 1999, Oliver worked for five years at the Ministry of Socio-economic Planning in Manila (Philippines) where he was extensively involved in project evaluation and investment programming in the agriculture, rural development, and natural resources sector as well as in the formulation of the country’s Agenda 21 and Medium-Term Development Plan.

Oliver is from the Philippines and holds both Filipino and French citizenships. He lives in Rome with his wife, their 11-year-old son and 4-year-old dog.

Amélie Steu – Associate Coordinator
a.steu@agroecology-coalition.org

Amélie is a young French national who joined the Agroecology Coalition as Associate Coordinator as of May 2023. She is convinced that the shift towards agroecological and organic food systems is the solution to address current and upcoming environmental challenges such as biodiversity loss, climate crisis, soil erosion, and environmental pollution, as well as societal challenges linked to unfair supply chains, unsustainable livelihoods, and food insecurity. Prior to joining the coalition, she worked for three years for IFOAM Organics Europe, where she gained knowledge of organic farming and EU institutions, and developed her skills in advocacy, coordination, project and partnerships management. Amélie also undertook two internships at the United Nations: one in International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD)’s Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Department (Italy), and one in UNU-FLORES’s Communications and Advocacy Unit (Germany). She studied at Sciences Po Toulouse and obtained a joint Master’s degree in Governance of International Relations as well as International Cooperation and Economic Development. She is based in Rome where she eats tasty Italian cuisine as well as enjoys the nice weather and the beautiful country.

Valentina Pavarotti – Communications Officer
v.pavarotti@agroecology-coalition.org

Valentina, an Italian national, joined the Agroecology Coalition in March 2023 as Communications Officer. She brought her extensive experience in communications for international organizations, which she gathered over several years in Brussels. Before joining the Coalition, she led the communications team at CIDSE, the international alliance of Catholic development organizations, where she was involved in communications and storytelling projects on agroecology, corporate regulations, gender equality among other topics. Previously, she worked for communications agencies in Brussels carrying out campaigns for the European Commission and as a freelance journalist. Over the years she gathered experience in content creation for social media, press relations, video making and podcasting. She holds a MA’ in European Journalism from IHECS (Brussels, Belgium), a MA’ in Human Geography from King’s College London (UK) and an undergraduate degree in international development and cooperation from the University of Pavia (Italy). Nowadays you can spot her cycling around the streets of Bologna where she lives with her family.

Emile Frison – Senior Advisor
e.frison@agroecology-coalition.org

Emile, a Belgian national, is a member of the Intenational Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food). He has spent most of his career in international agricultural research for development, starting as a researcher at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigeria in 1979, and working in Mauritania on integrated pest management for three years. He joined the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources in 1987 and became Regional Director for Europe of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute in 1992. He became the Director of the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain (INIBAP) in 1995 and was Director General of Bioversity International from 2003 to 2013. He is currently a member of the International Scientific Committee on Sustainable Food Systems of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation. His areas of expertise include agroecology and agricultural biodiversity. He has a particular interest in agroecological food systems transformation towards diversified, equitable, resilient and sustainable food systems that ensure quality nutrition, health and wellbeing to all.