Ruaf Secretariat

Jess Halliday is Chief Executive of RUAF CIC and coordinator of the RUAF Global Partnership. She leads RUAF’s involvement in the CGIAR Resilient Cities Initiative, the RUAF-FAO City Region Food Systems Initiative, and the Urban Futures programme (funded by the Botnar Foundation). Jess also co-edits Urban Agriculture Magazine. Her main areas of expertise are urban and city region food systems governance, food environments, gender and inclusion, and multi-stakeholder processes. Jess draws on her academic background for the development of methodologies and tools for urban and city region food systems, having received her PhD in Food Policy from the Centre for Food Policy, City University London, in 2015. Prior to joining RUAF in 2018, Jess completed short contracts with the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) and CIRAD. From 2002 to 2011 she worked as a journalist specialising in the food sector, across online, print, and broadcast media. 

René van Veenhuizen is Senior Project Manager with Hivos.  René has worked with RUAF for the last 25 years – starting at ETC, then with RUAF Foundation, and from 2018-2023 with Hivos as coordinator the RUAF Partnership Secretariat. René graduated in Land and Water Management from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. He has over 35 years’ professional experience, working with universities, the UN, and various NGOs. As Senior Project Manager with Hivos, he currently coordinates the EU-funded AfriFoodLinks project, and is Advisor to the Urban Futures programme (funded by Fondation Botnar) and the EU-funded HealthyFoodAfrica project. He has been the editor of the Urban Agriculture Magazine for 20 years, is co-author of several publications on sustainable food systems and urban agriculture, and is a speaker at local and international workshops and public engagements. He has extensive advisory and consultative experience, advising on sustainable agricultural development, urban agriculture and food systems. 

Joy Carey is an independent Sustainable Food Systems Planning consultant with a focus on cities. She has worked in sustainable food and farming with the UK and international organic and local food sectors since 1990. Joy is a founding director of Bristol Food Network and author of ‘Who Feeds Bristol: Towards a resilient food plan’ (2011) – a city region food system assessment report that has informed RUAF’s work with FAO on City Region Food Systems (CRFS). Since 2016 she has contributed to both CRFS assessment methodology and indicator frameworks for tracking progress on the delivery of food policy and strategy, including the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact monitoring framework for cities. From 2018-2021, Joy led Bristol’s collaborative effort to become recognised as a Gold Status Sustainable Food City. That work continues today as Bristol Good Food 2030.