Eric Holt Giménez - Curriculum Vita
ERIC HOLT-GIMÉNEZ
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
University Professor/Lecturer - Four years university teaching (upper and lower division) in Environmental Studies, Area Studies, Development Studies; emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches integrating political economy, agroecology, political science, anthropology, sociology, geography, conservation biology, and ecology; focus on experiential learning, self-directed and group projects, community fieldwork, participatory and action research.
International Agricultural Development Specialist- Twenty-seven years in Mexico, Central America, South Africa and California: Sustainable Agricultural Research and Development (SARD), Natural Resource Management (NRM), Agroecology, Cooperative & Community Development and Community Watershed Management , from village and tribal to national and regional levels;
Program Coordinator/Manager- Twenty years of farmer-to-farmer program development with farmers’ unions and non-governmental organizations in Mexico, Central America, and the United States in support of Movimiento Campesino-a-Campesino, a transnational peasant movement for sustainable agriculture; 2 years Management of Latin American program (based in Washington DC) for IFI transparency, accountability, advocacy and reform.
Development Advocacy/Information Specialist- Monitoring of multilateral development banks (MDBs.) for civil society organizations in Latin America; information/data collection & analysis, documentation of MDB development policies & projects; information and institutional access services to affected communities & CSOs; transnational advocacy networking for grassroots, alternative development movements.
Researcher - Ten years of design, organization, training, fieldwork, analysis and presentation of research on environmental vulnerability, sustainable agriculture, agroecology, watershed management and Natural Resource Management, using Participatory Action Research , Farmer Experimentation and Participatory Technology Development in Central America; continuing work on the role of non-governmental organizations in Central American recovery and development;
Consultant - Twelve years extensive work in U.S., Mexico, Central America, Philippines, Brazil and South Africa with governmental and non-governmental institutions on technical, socio-economic, methodological and geopolitical aspects of sustainable agricultural research and development;Analyst/Lecturer : Studies, Reports & Presentations to numerous conferences; University seminars & classes; lectures to academics, students, groups of professionals, technicians and legislators, on diverse themes dealing with the Political Economy of Development, peasant culture and agroecology in Central America, Africa and the U.S.; food security, food sovereignty, agroecology, and sustainable agriculture ; the roles of governmental and non-governmental actors & institutions in sustainable agriculture; farmer-led processes for innovation and diffusion , farmer to farmer movements for sustainable agricultural development ; Political Economy of International Finance Institutions; IFI policy reform—transparency, accountability, social & environmental safeguards.
EDUCATION:
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Ph.D., Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, 2002.
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M.Sc., International Agricultural Development, University of California, Davis, 1981
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Bachelor of Arts, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington, Spring, 1977
PUBLICATIONS:
Territorial Restructuring and the Grounding of Agrarian Reform: Indigenous Communities, Gold Mining and the World Bank, (In Press)
Campesino a Campesino: Voices from the farmer-to-farmer movement for sustainable agriculture in Latin America, 300 pp., Food First, Oakland (2006).
"Measuring farmers' agroecological resistance after Hurricane Mitch in Nicaragua: a case study in participatory, sustainable land management impact monitoring." Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 93 : 87-105, Amsterdam, (2002).
“Measuring farmers’ agroecological resistance to Hurricane Mitch in Central America: Participatory action research for sustainable agricultural development”, Gatekeeper Series , International Institute for Environment and Development, London (2002).
“Medición de la resistencia agroecológica campesina frente a huracán Mitch”, Nueva Ruralidad y Política Agraria , Nueva Sociedad/Universidad Libre de Amsterdam, Caracas, (2001).
“The Campesino a Campesino Movement: Farmer-led Sustainable Agriculture in Mexico and Central America,” Food First Development Report #10, and In Paradox of Plenty: Hunger in a Bountiful World (Boucher, Douglas, ed.), Food First Books, Oakland, California, (1999).
“The Campesino a Campesino Movement: Farmer-led Agricultural Extension”, Overseas Development Institute, Agricultural Research & Extension Network, IIED Network Paper #59a, Surrey, (January, 1996).
“Frijol Abono; The Case of Rio San Juan,” In Tapado, Slash/Mulch: How Farmers Use it and What Researchers Know About It , (H. David Thurston, et al. eds.,) Ithaca, N.Y.:CIIFAD and CATIE, (1994).
Program for Farmer Experimentation, Ometepe Isle, In Linking With Farmers , Intermediate Technology Publications, London, U.K., ILEIA, (1993).
From Peasant to Peasant; A New Relationship, In The Rural Extensionist , National Commission for Rural Education and Training, & Center for Research and Study of Agrarian Reform, Managua Nicaragua, (1989) (Spanish).
“Las ONGs y la Crisis Centroamericana “ (NGOs and the Central American Crisis), Commission for Central American Recovery and Development/CRIES, Managua, Nicaragua (1988).
MEDIA PRODUCTIONS
“Changing Course” 18” video-documentary on the participatory research study: Measuring Farmers’ Agroecological resistance to Hurricane Mitch in Central America, World Neighbors/Note Bene Productions, New York, 1999 (English and Spanish)
“Campesino a Campesino”, 30' video-documentary on the farmer to farmer, peasant movement for sustainable agriculture, Alba Films, c.Union Nacional de Agricultores y Ganaderos, Managua, Nicaragua, 1991 (Spanish)
“Families Beyond the Fence”, 1-hour video-documentary on the economic and ecological difficulties facing Mexican peasant families, Pearson-Glaser Productions, 1980
EMPLOYMENT/STUDY:
Present- Executive Director , Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy , Oakland California
2004-06 - Latin America Program Manager , Bank Information Center, Washington, D.C.
2002-04- Traveling faculty in Political Economy , “International Issues in Economics and
Development,” International Honors Program in Global Ecology, Boston University
2000-01- Teaching Fellow, “Grassroots Movements and Social Change in Latin America: Farmers’ Movements for Sustainable Agriculture,” Latin American and Latino Studies, University of California at Santa Cruz, CA.
1997-2002 Teaching Assistant , University of California, Santa Cruz, “Agroecology”, “Ecology and Society”, “Environment and Culture,” “Introduction to Latin American and Latino Studies.”
1999 Principal Researcher “Measuring Farmers’ Agroecological Resistance to Hurricane Mitch in Central America” a six month regional study administered by World Neighbors and funded by Ford, Rockefeller, Inter-American and Summit Foundations
1996-2002 Ph.D., Environmental Studies University of California at Santa Cruz, CA,
Dissertation: “Campesino a Campesino: the political ecology of a farmers’ movement for sustainable agriculture in Mesoamérica,” Awards : Cota-Robles Fellowship, 1996-98; Hemispheric Dialogue (Ford Foundation) summer, 1998; Inter-American Foundation Field Research Grant, 1999; David Gaines Award, summer 2000
1999-2002 Adviser , CGIAR-NGO Committee, “Scaling up farmer-led processes in sustainable agricultural research and development,” Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research, Dr. Miguel Altieri, Coordinator.
1993-2001 Consultant , SIMAS- Mesoamerican Information Service on Sustainable Agriculture, Managua, Nicaragua.
1992-93 Director , Agroecology Project for Ometepe Isle, COOPIBO, Belgian Development
Agency, Ometepe, Nicaragua.
1991-1993 Co-Director (Sustainable Agriculture), Fundación Entre Volcanes, Ometepe, Nicaragua
1990-91 Adviser , Dept of Environment/Natural Resources, National Agrarian University of
Nicaragua-University of Wageningen, Netherlands.
1986-90 Founder-Coordinator-Adviser , Farmer to Farmer Program (Campesino a Campesino), UNAG-Nicaraguan Farmer's and Rancher's Union, Managua, Nicaragua. Funded by Presbyterian Hunger Fund, CODEL, Ford Foundation, OXFAM-UK.
1988 Researcher-Consultant to the International Commission for Central American Recovery and Development (Sanford Commission); Managua, Nicaragua.
1985-87 Coordinator , The CENSA-CIERA Agricultural Exchange, Berkeley, CA.
1982-84 Coordinator , Farmers’ Marketing Cooperative, Rural Economic Alternatives Project, American Friend's Service Committee, Stockton, CA.
1980-82 Master of Science , International Agricultural Development, U.C. Davis, CA (Graduate Opportunity Fellowship 1980, Presidents Fellowship, 1982).
1977-80 Volunteer/Co-Coordinator , The Rural Development Project, Mexican Friend's Service Committee, Vicente Guerrero, Tlaxcala, Mexico.
LANGUAGES
Fluent spoken and written Spanish and English
Read and converse in French
Read and understand Portuguese (converse in Portuñol)