Key qualifications:

Mariel Mensink has over 25 years’ experience in rural and agri-business development; rural finance and value chain finance, micro-finance, business development services, market linkages and supply chain development. Through work in Africa and Asia, she acquired experience in management and policy advise, financial sector development and rural finance strategies, as well as capacity support to financial service providers to design financial products for women, smallholders, and SME’s, including small equipment loans. She is currently working for Fair and Sustainable consulting, a subsidiary of Cordaid, a Dutch based development organization. She is advising on rural finance, financial inclusion and value chain finance programs in Africa and Asia; Recently she supported programs to develop financial services for climate resilient interventions for smallholders, including rural women, with a focus on water harvesting technologies, reforestation, land management strategies and energy saving technologies, and was engaged in a study on linking climate finance to resilience strategies and innovative financing models, including linking women and smallholder farmers to appropriate financial services while also integrating digital financial services with agri-extension services and climate resilience.