In 1995 I started to work in Albania and I staid there for five years; most of the time as teamleader of an integrated agricultural project of the Dutch government. After 2000 I completed dozens of support mission to a range of transition countries. Initially working at village and district level, I gradually got involved in national level strategies and policies. Ten years of coaching a Moldova umbrella NGO working on marketing, extension and cooperative development gave me an unique insight in the struggle for development. In the last few years I formulated two large value chain programmes as well as the national horticultural strategy of Kosovo and a reform programme for the Albanian applied research and extension system.
