Matheus Zanella, Program Coordinator, Beacons of Hope, brings more than 10 years of experience in global food policies. Before joining the Global Alliance, Matheus co-led action-research projects with partners from around the globe and was involved in building up a global platform for sustainable land and soil management, the Global Soil Week.

Recently he contributed to the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and to the TEEBAgriFood report. In his home country, Brazil, Matheus supported the government and farmers’ organizations in topics related to food security and sustainable management of natural resources. As a part-time chef, he owns Mesa pra Doze (mesapradoze.com), a project that offers fine-dining experiences focusing on reducing food waste and on using local and organic ingredients from his hometown, Brasília.

Matheus is a PhD Candidate at the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) of the University of Bern, holds a Masters in Advanced Cookery from the Basque Culinary Centre, and a Masters in Rural Development from Humboldt University of Berlin.