My expertise

Every project working in vulnerable contexts, such as countries of the Global South or with marginalised communities, needs to make sure it doesn’t have unintended negative impacts. To that end, most large organisations have created processes to assess and monitor potential risks, as well as design and implement effective mitigation measures. I have both helped industry-leading organisations in the field of international cooperation – such as the German GIZ, UNDP, Caritas and the environmental NGO WWF – and large private cooperations to implement their safeguards processes and develop them, where they were lacking. This enabled me to gain a deep understanding of not only the legal requirements in the international and several national contexts, but also understand further implications, such as reputation risks and best in class approaches, when it comes to safeguards.

I have studied the human rights of indigenous peoples and local communities in Latin America and Central Africa, particularly but not limited to their relation with environmental projects and international climate policies. Sometimes – not to say: often – at least two completely different world views and cultures clash, when international actors seek to work with these communities. Bridging the differences and structuring the conversation, always from the perspective of the rights-holders, is a considerable challenge that I have grown very good at over the years. I have been able to successfully design communication and participation strategies for marginalised communities that have greatly helped to reduce conflicts, ensure that rights-holders’ perspectives are heard and included, make sure benefits arrive where they are supposed to go and create good synergies between the different actors involved.

It’s 2025. Making sure that projects are designed in a way that at the very least doesn’t compromise women’s rights and potentially even promotes them, should be the bare minimum. In fact, it often is. Many organisations require the preparation of a gender analysis before a project can start in order to understand the potential impacts and benefits of gearing the entire projects or particular aspects of it specifically towards the needs of women and girls. I have prepared more than 20 gender analyses for different projects around the world and across a range of legal and socio-economic contexts. My approach is always intersectional, making sure that the experiences of women who face multiple oppressions are adequately captured and represented. My analyses look at the situation of women along two axes: the country context and the thematic context, each being analysed on the legal, institutional, societal, and project level, as well as on the individual level for members of the target group(s).

I have worked extensively with due diligence in value chains for some of the largest retail companies on the planet – both traditional supermarkets and online stores – to make sure their value chains follow the legal requirements, such as the German Due Diligence in Supply Chains Act and the upcoming European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, as well as the European Deforestation Regulation, but also, where possible and necessary, inspire companies to go beyond the bare legal minimum and create supply chains that hold up to the strategic and moral expectations of the companies and their customers.