FIAN International appoints new Secretary General

Recently, FIAN International’s Board appointed Sofia Monsalve Suárez as the future facilitating force of the organization. “We are pleased to announce that Sofia Monsalve Suárez will take over  the role as Secretary General at FIAN International as of January 2016”, says Anita Klum, President of FIAN International. “We express our deepest gratitude and appreciation to Flavio Valente for his commitment to co-ordinate and strengthen the work of the organization for more than eight years.”

 Klum underlines that, with Valente, the organization has increasingly been on the frontline of major international human rights processes and his successor will carry on in this direction. “We are sure, that Sofia will bring the organization even closer to its mission and vision of supporting peoples’ struggles for their human right to adequate food and nutrition in line with the indivisibility of rights,” she adds.

Sofia Monsalve Suárez, currently Access to Land and Natural Resources Coordinator at FIAN International, has been working for the organization for the last 16 years, and has played a major role in building joint platforms of rural social movements and in facilitating civil society participation in key negotiations at the Committee on World Food Security. 

For her part, Monsalve Suárez says she is “honored to take up the position” as Secretary General of FIAN International and underscores the crucial progress that has been made under Valente. “The commitment of Flavio over the last decade to unveiling the corporate influence over food and nutrition public policy spaces and to re-affirming popular sovereignty, together with the full guarantee of women´s rights, have helped FIAN shape the new conceptual framework for the realization of the right to adequate food and nutrition. Crucially, this has also strengthened the link of the right to food to social struggles”, she stresses.

In the view of Valente, this process would not have been possible without the support and companionship of the entire organization, as well as peer civil society groups, throughout his mandate. “I extend my gratitude to all our partners in social movements, non-governmental organizations and other institutions that have closely worked with and trusted us during these years.”  Valente goes on: “I leave the post with the feeling of mission accomplished and with the certainty that I couldn’t have a better replacement”.

Klum recalls that Valente will continue his work at FIAN International by helping strengthen case work and capacity development with his knowledge and experience and looks optimistically to the future, “We feel that Monsalve Suárez comes at an opportune time to further the relationships both internally and with our partners and allies. She will guide the organization towards supporting people in their struggle for a world where all fully enjoy their human rights in dignity”.