BCFN YES! 2016

Mr. Mattia Prayer Galletti, a national of Italy, joined IFAD in 1988. For more than twenty years he worked as Country Programme Manager in the Asia and the Pacific Division, in charge of several country programs, such as: Bhutan, Laos, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, the Pacific-sub-region, Iran, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India.

In 2011 he moved to the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD as Senior Evaluation Officer, responsible for corporate-level evaluations. Since January 2014, he joined the Policy and Technical Advisory Division as Lead Technical Specialist, focusing on the thematic areas of empowerment, targeting, smallholder institutions and rural youth.

Since 2013 he lectures during the fall semester at the Master in Development Practice, UC Berkeley. Mr. Prayer Galletti holds a University Degree in Political Science from the University of Bologna, one Master in Economics of Agro-Food Systems and one Master in Development Studies (Geneva, Switzerland).

Oliver Oliveros is the Senior Officer for Partnerships and International Relations at Agropolis Fondation. Prior to this, he was the Global Coordinator of an international initiative called DURAS (2004-2008) which aimed to promote dialogue between the scientific and civil society communities and transform such efforts into concrete research collaboration.

He was formerly a Programme Officer (1999–2004) at the Secretariat of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) in FAO in Rome where he worked on issues related to research partnerships, knowledge systems 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 policy analysis, project evaluation and investment programming in the agriculture, rural development and natural resources sector as well as in the formulation and localization of the country’s Agenda 21 and Medium-Term Development Plan.

Roberta Sonnino is a Professor and Director of Impact and Engagement in the School of Geography and Planning (Cardiff University, UK), where she has been involved in international research on food security, urban food strategies and governance and public food policies.

In recent years, Professor Sonnino has acted as a commentator to print and broadcast media organizations in Italy, Finland, Denmark and the UK and has advised on food policy the EU, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Soil Association and the City of Milan (as a member of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact’s Awards Evaluation Committee).

Roberta Sonnino is currently the Director of the Research Centre for Sustainable Urban and Regional Food (SURF) and of the MSc Programme Food, Space and Society at Cardiff University.

Francesca Scazzina is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Food Science, University of Parma. Her research work starts in 2005 with a main focus on complex carbohydrate, dietary fibre, prebiotics and antioxidants in foods, and their effects on metabolism and intestinal functions.

During her Ph.D. studies, she was a visiting scientist at the School of Food Biosciences, Food Microbial Sciences Unit, University of Reading (UK). She also was involved in population surveys in the Italian section of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).

In these research fields, she is co-author of several publications on international peer reviewed Journals. Since 2009, being involved in food educational projects implemented in primary schools of the Parma area, Francesca acquired a deep experience in educational health learning programs and children population surveys.

She is Senior Collaborator at The Need for Nutrition Education/Innovation Programme (NNEdPro), Cambridge Foundation, Cambridge (UK).

With a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, she has conducted research at universities and at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità for years.

In 2005 she began working with WWF Italy, first for the International DetoX Campaign for the prevention of the spread of toxic chemical substances and then, starting in 2009, for WWF Italy’s Responsible Sustainability Program (Conservation Directorate) which focuses on the impact that the use of natural resources has on biodiversity, and promotes models of sustainable management through the use of sustainability indicators which monitor causes and identify actions that can reduce and mitigate the effects.

Since 2012 she has also been the head of the WWF Program “One Planet Food”, the objective of which is to modify the current models of food manufacturing and consumption, moving them towards a new model that integrates human wellness and the preservation of biodiversity and natural resources, and getting citizens, schools, institutions, and businesses involved as well.

Transmitting respect and love for the incredible and fascinating diversity of life on this planet is not only her profession but also her greatest love.

Born in Parma on 18 January 1977, she earned a degree in Food Science and Technology from the University of Parma, completing a thesis entitled “Analisi conoscitiva delle abitudini alimentari di un campione di bambini del territorio di Parma” [Cognitive Analysis of the Eating Habits of a Sample of Children in the Parma region] and earning the title of “food technologist”.

In 2006 she began working with the Human Nutrition Unit of the Food Sciences Department at the University of Parma on various food education projects for elementary school children and since 2008 she has worked as a nutritional consultant, writing educational articles for various websites.

In 2013 she became a founding member and president of Madegus S.r.l., a university spin-off company that disseminates the culture of wellness and teaches people how to establish healthy eating habits right from childhood.