Fausto Rodriguez

Graduated as Engineer in Agronomy from Zamorano, Honduras and hold a master’s degree in Project Management at UNITEC. From 1998 to 2009, he worked for several Institutions among them Swisscontact, Zamorano and CLUSA especially focused in building business capacities and access to markets and services for SMEs and Farmer Organizations in Central America. In 2010 he joined to Rikolto a Non for Profit Organization with roots in Belgium and since 2017 is the Director for LATAM . He is also on charge of the Rikolto´s Cocoa Program in this region, giving strategic advice and facilitation in stopics such as Sustainability, Sustainable Sector Development, Multi stakeholders Settings, Inclusive Business  , Sustainable and Resilient Productive Models and Professionalization of farmer organizations.

Rikolto aims to contribute to a sustainable and competitive cocoa sector through programs and projects(with financial support of the Belgium, USA, EU and Switzerland cooperation and other funders) in sustainable and inclusive value chains, policies and strategies for sustainable sector development, professionalization of farmer organizations, linking producers and buyers and/or processor companies under long term and inclusive relationships and at the end, improving opportunities to generate living incomes for smallholder farmers, enhancing at the same time, youth inclusion, gender equity and resilience at farms, communities and cocoa landscapes.