Stakeholder Group

Dr Neufeld began her career in an academic position at the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico where she led a variety of implementation research and impact evaluation studies to improve the impact potential of social protection programs in Mexico and the region. She then brought her passion improving the generation and utilization of evidence in program design and delivery to non-governmental organizations, most recently the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, before joining FAO as Director of the Food and Nutrition Division in early 2022. Dr Neufeld is incoming President of the International Union of Nutrition Scientists (IUNS), Past-Chair of the Micronutrient Forum Steering Committee, former Board member of the American Society of Nutrition, and has been member of several WHO and other technical advisory groups. She has published over 150 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and holds a Master’s and PhD in International Nutrition from Cornell University.

Columba O’Dowd is the Nutrition Policy Lead for Irish Aid in the Department of Foreign Affairs. Columba has a long track record in development and humanitarian settings including working in Horn of Africa and Asia.

Dr Cornelia Loechl joined the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2010 as a nutrition specialist and since 2015 has been Head of the Nutritional and Health-Related Environmental Studies Section. The agency’s mission is to increase the contribution of nuclear technology to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world; the section supports the application of stable isotope methods to develop and evaluate interventions to combat malnutrition in all its forms. Dr Loechl has extensive research and programmatic experience in nutrition from assignments for the International Potato Center, International Food Policy Research Institute, World Food Programme and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit.

Erin Milner is a Senior Nutrition Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Advisor at USAID where she leads monitoring and evaluation efforts and manages multi-sectoral nutrition programmes. She has 13 years of international experience designing and implementing nutrition and health projects throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining USAID, Erin created resources for nutrition-sensitive agriculture programming and led research in Kenya on nutrition linkages with ecosystems, food security, water and sanitation, and early childhood development. She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences with a focus on Public Health Nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley, US.

Dr Francesco Branca is Director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety at WHO in Geneva. During his tenure, WHO has created a WHO Nutrition strategy, established a new nutrition guideline development process and developed a Comprehensive Implementation Plan on Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition with six global targets. Dr Branca led preparation for the Second International Conference on Nutrition and has led the Secretariat for the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition. Previous roles include Senior Scientist at the Italian Food and Nutrition Research Institute, where he led studies on the effects of food and nutrients on human health at the different stages of the life cycle and on the impact of public health nutrition programmes. He has also served as President of the Federation of European Nutrition Societies.

Frits van der Wal is Senior Policy Advisor, Food and Nutrition Security, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands. He works on two crucial themes for fostering sustainable economic development and food and nutrition security in developing countries: land governance and, nutrition and vocational training. He provides advice and support to embassies worldwide and is the strategic partner of organisations like the International Land Coalition in Rome and the Global Land Tool Network in Nairobi and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition. Prior to this, Frits worked in Africa for 18 years, including in various national soils institutions in Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania and for rural integrated development programmes.

From August 2016 to December 2022, Gerda Verburg served as UN Assistant Secretary-General and Coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, working with the 60 country governments that lead the SUN Movement, united with UN agencies, civil society, business and donors, in a common mission to defeat malnutrition in all its forms. She was appointed by the UN Secretary-General based on her extensive experience in politics and international cooperation. In 2008, following her appointment the previous year as Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands, Ms. Verburg was elected as Chair of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD 17). From 2011, she served as Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the United Nations Rome based agencies (FAO, IFAD and WFP). In 2013, she was elected as Chair of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS), and in 2014 she served as Chair of the Agenda Council for Food and Nutrition of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Juliane Friedrich is a Senior Technical Specialist with a focus on nutrition at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). She is responsible for enhancing and mainstreaming nutrition in the context of nutrition-sensitive agriculture. She also actively contributes to the integration of gender in nutrition-sensitive agriculture. Based in Rome, she also provides direct field support in IFAD’s investments globally. Before joining IFAD in 2014, Juliane worked as Global Policy Advisor for nutrition for the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations and for the Integrated Rural Nutrition Programme in Zambia, the Integrated Food Security Project in Kenya, and the Environmental Rehabilitation Project in Kenya.

Kyoko Shibata Okamura has over 20 years of experience in the areas of health policy research, large scale nutrition program management in Asia and Africa, nutrition financing and accountability, as well as nutrition-sensitive agriculture and food systems. She joined the Global Engagement Unit of the World Bank’s Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice in 2018, working on nutrition-responsive public financial management, obesity prevention strategies, nutrition and food system nexus, among other issues, in addition to providing technical support for nutrition operations in countries.

Dr Lawrence Haddad became GAIN’s Executive Director in October 2016. Prior to joining, he was the founding co-Chair and lead author of the Global Nutrition Report. He is also 2018 World Food Prize Laureate.

Lawrence’s previous positions include Director of the Institute of Development Studies, Director of the Food Consumption and Nutrition Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute, President of the UK and Ireland’s Development Studies Association, and the UK’s representative on the Steering Committee of the High Level Panel of Experts of the UN’s Committee on World Food Security.

After studying law, Mr. Hoppe became a legal counsel at the German Patent and Trademark Office in 1998, before assuming the same position at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in 2002. During his time at BMZ, Mr. Hoppe has held various positions. These include Policy Advisor on environmental protection in China, as well as on principles and procedures. He was also Chief Speech Writer and Head of Division for Peace and Security, Disaster Risk Management. He has also undertaken postings abroad to the German Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York and Head of Economic Cooperation and Development at the German Embassy in Hanoi. Currently, he is the Head of Division for Food and Nutrition Security, Global Food Policy, Fisheries.

Dr Máximo Torero Cullen is the Chief Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He joined the Organization in January 2019 as Assistant Director-General for the Economic and Social Development Department. Prior to FAO, he was the World Bank Group Executive Director for Argentina, Bolivia, Chile Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Prior to this, Dr Torero led the Division of the Markets, Trade, and Institutions at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Dr Torero, a national of Peru, holds a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of the Pacific, Lima, Peru. He is a professor on leave at the University of the Pacific (Perú) and an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the University of Bonn, Germany.

Dr. Mohamed Abdi Farah is a health and nutrition policy specialist, currently advising the Prime Minister of the Federal Government of Somalia on social sector reform. He is also the SUN focal point for Somalia and has worked as the Director General of the Ministry of Health at the federal level.

Neil Watkins is Deputy Director for Agriculture and Nutrition Policy, Advocacy and Communications in the Global Policy and Advocacy division at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Based in Seattle, US, he manages a global portfolio of policy and advocacy grants on nutrition and agriculture issues. He led the development of the foundation's first nutrition advocacy strategy. Prior to joining the foundation in October 2012, Neil led advocacy and policy efforts on a range of global poverty issues in Washington DC, including serving as Director of Policy and Campaigns at ActionAid USA.

Rachel Toku-Appiah is the Nutrition Programme Manager of the Graça Machel Trust. She leads the Trust’s nutrition programme at the national, regional and global levels and advocates for nutrition to be addressed as a development priority. This includes budget advocacy, policy improvement and building civil society capacity to conduct more effective advocacy and improve stakeholder coordination. She engages with a wide range of stakeholders from government to civil society and academia, recognising the multi-sectoral effort required to effectively improve the nutritional status of communities and nations. Prior to joining the Trust, Rachel worked as Country Director of the Clinton Foundation Health Access Initiative in Lesotho, supporting the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in the scale-up of HIV/AIDS care and treatment. She also worked for McKinsey & Company in the US and has over 20 years’ experience working in the private, non-profit and government sectors.

Dr. Víctor Aguayo is the Director of Nutrition and Child Development at UNICEF. He brings 30 years of policy, programme, management and humanitarian experience in maternal and child nutrition in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and globally. His work is guided by the belief that hunger and malnutrition are a violation of children’s rights. Dr. Aguayo is the lead author of the UNICEF’s Conceptual Framework on Maternal and Child Nutrition, 2020 and the UNICEF’s Nutrition Strategy 2020-2030.

Xavier Pavard is currently in post for the European Commission, Directorate General (DG) for International Partnerships, in the Unit in charge of Sustainable Agri-Food Systems and Fisheries. He works more specifically in the sector devoted to nutrition and “One Health” issues. Prior to this post, from 2016 to 2020, he was Team Leader for Agriculture including nutrition in the EU Delegation in Burundi. Previously, he has held positions in the Council of the European Union and the DG of the European Commission dealing with Health and Consumer issues. Xavier Pavard followed a veterinary training in the National Veterinary School of Maisons-Alfort (France), with a professional specialisation in epidemiology and tropical animal diseases. He has a broad working experience of the French public administration for food safety and veterinary topics during his time in the Ministry of Agriculture and the French Embassy in the UK.

Heather McBride is the Deputy Director of the Nutrition Team in the Global Health and Nutrition Bureau at Global Affairs Canada. Heather’s career spans the development, peace and security streams including time in Nicaragua, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Marika Nomura joined JICA as an advisor on nutrition in 2018, supporting technical cooperation in project formation, monitoring and evaluation, and capacity building related to nutrition and health. Prior to joining JICA, she worked at the Japanese medical college, JICA technical cooperation project in Yemen, Harvard School of Public Health, and the National Institute of Public Health. She specializes in nutrition policy. She is particularly knowledgeable and experienced on school meals management program in LMICs, sustainable and healthy diets, Primary Health Care, drawing on Japan's experience in improving nutrition.