ANNA CANTAFORA

WORK EXPERIENCES

SENIOR CONSULTANT

2013 -

Birdnest Garden Lodge - Gambia, Italy and Switzerland

• In charge of developing a training centre project in the hospitality sector in order to promote collaborations between business and charity activity.

• Fundraising activity with NGOs, foundations and private philanthropy in Switzerland and Italy.

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FarmStrong Foundation - Ivory Coast and Switzerland

• Responsible for negotiating and managing foundation's research activities by liaising with Swiss and Ivorian research centres/universities to improve the quality of nutrition of the cocoa farmers by introducing an integrated farming system which produced animal proteins through the re-cycling process of agriculture by-products and kitchen waste.

• Edited FSF project with the monetary value of 750.000 CHF for State Secretariat/Swiss Economic Affairs SECO.

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Veterinarians Without Borders NGO - Italy and Sahrawi Refugee Camp

• Developed and expanded nutritional programs for Sahrawi refugees by organising a dairy unit and laboratory for 300 litres/day of camel milk.

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Slow Food Foundation - Morocco, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda

• Responsible for providing technical assistance and vocational training on animal husbandry management to optimise Slow Food Presidia protocol of N’dama and Molo sheep, Ogyek honey chain and Longhorn Ankole cattle in accordance with scientific based evidence.

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Terre Solidali NGO - Niger

• Studied nutritional quality of animal feed available on the market in a renewable energy project.

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COOPI NGO - Chad

• In charge of leading resolution of critical conflicts/natural resource management related issues by performing several surveys, participative, and inclusive processes as well as recommending accurate practical recommendations to governmental ministries in Chad.

PROJECT
MANAGER

2014 - 2016

​Tecnoalimenti - Italy

• Directed negotiating and managing activities of industrial/academic research and development programs for authentic food-tech project designing, strategic management, and evaluation.

• Obtained funds for several projects from national (Ministry, Regional Authorities) and international bodies (Framework Programmes of the European Commission, H2020 strategy).

• Established agri-food corporate through start-up proposals and advanced business modelling.

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

2007 - 2013

​Università degli Studi di Milano - Niger, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Uruguay and Italy

• Achieved cooperation between university and NGOs by establishing three dairy units: two in Niger and one in Cameroon and developing a number of lessons for university and vocational training courses.

• Connected University with African and Italian enterprises in the agro-food sector to develop and stabilise economic estates of local entrepreneurship.

• Responsible for improving the growth of the milk value chain from production to sale by identifying a sustainable economic model and risk-based food safety/quality control system.

• Led cross-functional teams numbering from two to ten African employees and oversaw African and Italian six PhD students in order to build and promote work capabilities amongst the youth.

• In charge of negotiating a wide range of major projects from inception to completion within time constraints with multiple budgets of 65.000 € to 1M €.