Our volunteers

Some members of the Prolinnova network have volunteered to help with translations between the four major languages used by Country Platforms in the network: English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. We thanks them heartily for their support!

Holly Hufnagel
As both a veterinarian and agricultural economist, I have a particular interest in innovation in the livestock sector. I developed this interest during my veterinary studies where I worked with pastoralists in Ethiopia and was struck by how their resilience was intimately linked to their ability to adapt and innovate in response to their constantly changing environment. Upon graduating in 2011, I worked for the East Africa Desk of the Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome and started a Masters in Agricultural Economics. Since 2013 I am based in Germany and work for a consultancy specialised in providing technical advice and support to the agriculture sector in Africa and Asia. My focus is on West Africa, where we work in several countries providing support to agricultural value chains.

As I am particularly interested in agricultural innovation and am bilingual French/English, I am happy to support Prolinnova with translations. Not only can I contribute to the Prolinnova network, but I can also learn how to better foster the promotion of innovation processes within my own work.


Marion Girard Cisneros
Born in France, I graduated in Communications Sciences (BA, Seville) and International Development Studies (MSc, Amsterdam). Since 2008, I have been working as a communicator and a project officer in various governmental and non-governmental organisations operating in the fields of culture and agriculture for development, based in both Europe and sub-Saharan Africa.

More recently I have specialised in online multimedia content management. Today this is my main area of work at CTA (Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation), an organisation of the ACP-EU that supports farmers in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

I cultivate an interest in theories of degrowth and the concept of food sovereignty. Against the unequal distribution of resources and food, I think the relevance of networks like Prolinnova has become even more evident. That is why I support it as a volunteer translator and editor.


Soledad Bergós

I am an agricultural engineer born in Uruguay with a MSc in Resource Management from the University of Edinburgh.

I have also attended training courses in Sweden and Thailand on appropriate technology, sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty.

I have been involved in different jobs but always working directly with farmers and their families with a special interest in participatory approaches, innovation, entrepreneurship, youth and gender issues. Lately, I have been working for international cooperation in rural development coordinating actions with several public and private institutions and NGOs.

I am also involved in an organic consumers’ cooperative trying to develop new and fair relations with farmers.

I have always had a permanent curiosity for languages, translation, intercultural communication and travelling.

I got to know Prolinnova from another Uruguayan friend who is currently working for it.


Claudia Levy

My professional experience begins with a trajectory on Economy of Tourism (SENAC; MA USP, Brazil), having worked in different spheres of this area. I then moved towards Human Geography (MSc UNICAMP, Brazil), and could extend my investigations into local livelihoods and conservation area management through a joint MSc in Regional Development Planning and Management (TU Dortmund, Germany / KNUST, Ghana). From 2009 to 2013 I worked with the German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture (DITSL) in the Mozambican component of a development cooperation project. The research component of the project focused on the study of local livelihoods integrating facilitation of farmer groups for knowledge exchange and cooperative action. I recently completed a PhD in the Graduate School of Socio-Ecological Research for Development at the International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD), University of Kassel, Germany.

I have worked with rural communities in different regions of Brazil, in Ghana and in Mozambique and also contributed to setting up a project in Tanzania. The methods I apply are actor-oriented, with strong field-research components and tools for participatory assessment and reflection. More recently, I have applied a similar methodology in a socioeconomic study on impact assessment of a project within the Tijuca National Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Following this experience, while based in Berlin, I am further contributing to the Master Ambiental consultancy group in Brazil in a variety of projects.

In 2009, when looking for examples of farmer-led initiatives in Mozambique, I came to know Prolinnova and started following this great network. In 2014, I participated in a Summer School from the Right Livelihood College (RLC) in Bonn, mediated by Laurens van Veldhuizen, then with the Prolinnova International Secretariat in the Netherlands. Thus, from my experience on farmer- and community-led research and development, I am thankful to be able to contribute to the Prolinnova network.

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