About Silke Pietzsch

Silke Pietzsch has worked in different settings and with organizations in the humanitarian and development fields, always focusing on food security, livelihoods, and nutrition.

Silke began her career at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in 1998, and two years later worked with GTZ in various Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Sri Lanka. Silke worked on improved seed varieties, community development programs, and addressed the problems caused by changing rainfall patterns and the resulting risks of drought. In 2002, Silke joined Action Against Hunger (ACF) to open missions in Malawi and Zimbabwe, and facilitated the first exploratory mission in Swaziland.

Silke then joined Doctors Without Borders (MSF), to find out about nutrition programming in Ethiopia, but went back to food security and livelihoods when she did humanitarian support for the Great Britain Oxfam team in 2004. With them, she covered flood emergencies in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, was part of the Tsunami response in India and Andaman, and helped with the droughts and resulting food crises in Niger and Mali, as well as the chronic crises in East Africa. After a stint in Oxford headquarters, Silke came back to ACF in 2006 as Food Security Coordinator in Niger, where she focused on improving agro-pastoral production through improved techniques and seed varieties, improving natural resource management through agro- forestry, diversifying income generation, and contributing to national and local surveillance systems, including remote sensing in pastoral areas.

Silke holds a master’s in food science and household economy from the University of Kiel, and a master’s in public health from the University of Maastricht. She speaks English, French, German, and some Nepali and Dutch.