Raf Somers Email & Phone Number

Flemish Region, Belgium

Inverde is the market leader in Flanders in training courses on forest, green and nature management. Inverde is part of Natuurinvest, the business partner of the Agency for Nature and Forest.

Brussels Area, Belgium

As the commercial arm the Flemish Agency for Nature and Forests, Natuurinvest is thematchmaker between private entrepreneurs and the Government. Its role is to facilitatebusinesses who want to invest in or with nature in Flanders. Besides, under the name Inverde,Natuurinvest provides professional training and certification in the forestry, green space andnature management.www.natuurinvest.bewww.inverde.bewww.tuinrangers.be

Brussels Area, Belgium

As right hand of the Director of Operations I supervised and supported thecountry representatives of Enabel in 6 countries (Algeria, Morocco, Mozambique,Palestine, South Africa, Vietnam).

Kigali, Rwanda

Overall management and leadership of the 18 million euro program that assisted the Rwandan Government in increasing the access to advisory services and quality seed in Rwanda. The key features of the program are:- 200,000 farmers in 8500 Farmer Field School (FFS) groups have increased their production by 40%. They are empowered to make good decisions thanks to a season long practical training program that focuses on learning through observation and analysis. Crosscutting themes such as Gender, HIV prevention and environment are integrated in the weekly group sessions.- Design and roll out of an ambitious new national extension model (Twigire Muhinzi) that involves 2,500 FFS Facilitators and 14,800 Farmer promoters as proximity extension agents and that aims to reach all Rwandan farmers. - Creation of a dynamic centre for information and communication in agriculture which produces highly relevant training materials such as manuals, magazines, training videos and an intuitive website for extension agents and farmers.- A comprehensive practical training program of all official seed growers in Rwanda and an improved seed quality control system.

Somers Livestock Solutions provides high quality products, efficient training and on-farm assistance to dairy farmers in Vietnam. Our goal is to make dairy farming in developing countries more profitable.

The Vietnam Belgium Dairy Project was implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam with technical assistance of the Belgian Development Agency. It brought innovations to the Vietnamese Dairy sector at three different levels: (1) The project encouraged farmers to become more business oriented and to invest in appropriate technologies to boost productivity and quality. (2) The project collaborated with private processing companies to make sure that farmers receive a fair milk price based on individual quality. (3) A new organization "Dairy Vietnam" to bring all the dairy stakeholder around the table was created.

Postgraduate Degree, Entrepreneurship And Innovation

Natuurmanagement, Environmental Studies

Dvm, Veterinary Medicine

Activities and Societies: Active Member of the Veterinary Student Club Member of Faculty Council Member of curriculum advisory committee