VOCAL strengthens the voice of countervailing civil society powers in the coffee sector, holding private sector and governments accountable, enhancing the social, environmental, and economic conditions across the global coffee value chain, addressing blind spots and underrepresented issues in the value chain, ensuring the voices of producers and the civil society are heard and taken into account.As co-founder, I bring in my experience of more than fifteen years of leading collaborations of civil society organisations in the cocoa sector into this new arena.

Responsibilities include strategy development, global advocacy, leading and developing research projects, maintaining and building our network - both internally and towards external partners in government and industry , aligning communication between members, capacity building of (southern) partners, fundraising, liaising with our board, (keynote) speaking, etc.

VOICE is an association of NGOs and Trade Unions working together to address sustainability issues in the global cocoa supply chain.I was involved in the setting up of the network in the summer of 2010, and was one of the two co-coordinators of the network since January 2012. Activities included liaising with members, aligning agendas and vision, liaising with cocoa industry and government officials, public speaking engagements, etc...

Stop The Traffik is an international coalition fighting against human trafficking, the modern day slave trade. Activities include setting up strategy, funding and staff, as well as running advocacy campaigns, building relationships and partnerships.The main aims of Stop The Traffik are to create awareness of the issue of trafficking, and to mobilize (young) people into making a change, a kind of 'Do It Yourself' approach.

Liaison to national and local politicians, trying to find a political solution for refugees who have been denied asylum by Dutch government, but cannot return.

The 10 Campaign (www.10campaign.com) was a joint campaign by a host of global civil society organisations (CSO's), aimed at raising awareness of child labour and trafficking in West Africa's cocoa sector. The campaign was run in the tenth anniversary year of the Harkin Engel Protocol, a promise by industry and governments to end human trafficking and worst forms of child labour in West Africa's cocoa sector. Due to the failure of this promise to deliver, global CSO launched a campaign calling on stronger government intervention, better rules, and stronger implementation. As coordinator, I was responsible for forming the coalition, ensuring and facilitating the drafting of policy pieces, and maintaining press contacts, including various interviews on CNN, BBC and other media.

Little Things That Kill (formerly known as Eleven), were a Dutch/New Zealand rock band, based in the Netherlands. We won the Grote Prijs van Nederland in 2003, with myself winning the NTB Best Musicians prize that year. The band has extensively toured the country, playing almost 200 shows in total, including most of the countries large pop-venues and festivals. The band released two EP's (Beneath a Million Stars in 2002, and She is Always Right in 2004), and one full-length album (Smokescreens in 2010).