Director of the Colombian office & Principal Researcher at RIMISP

Dr Angela Maria Penagos is the director of the Colombian office and Principal Researcher at RIMISP - Latin American Center for Rural Development. She is an economist with a master’s degree in Environmental Economics and Natural Resources from Andes University in a joint Program with Maryland University. She has extensive experience in the design and assessment of public policies on rural and agricultural development with emphasis on designing policy tools with a territorial approach. As director of Rural Development Unit in National Planning Department of Colombian Government, she introduced changes incorporating the concept of rurality and territory in the design of public policies. In that context, she coordinated the Rural Mission. That Mission was a mandate of the Colombian government to have strong technical and political recommendations during the negotiation process of the peace Agreement. Once appointed as Director of Rimisp Colombia, she has given support to the government in the design of policies and instruments for the implementation of the rural transformation in the post conflict context using the strong capacity and results of RIMISP in Latin America. Currently, she is coordinating the Transforming Territories Project, a regional project that covers Chile, Mexico and Colombia sponsored by IDRC.