Evelyn Knapwerth

Evelyn has a Master’s degree in Geography with a specialisation in “Development and Globalisation”, with a particular focus in issues of socio-ecological transformation, sustainable value chains and participatory project planning and evaluation. 

Evelyn also has practical experiences working in the cocoa sector. She has supported the local civil society organisation “Kalimajari” in Bali, Indonesia implementing the project “Sustainable Cocoa”, with the aim to strengthen the agricultural potential and to make the local cocoa sector globally competitive and at the same time environmentally as well as socially sustainable. She returned to Bali to conduct the field research for her master thesis with the topic of “Human equality and societal transformation: gendered perspectives within a cacao-growing community in Bali, Indonesia”. Evelyn is passionate about promoting gender equality and women empowerment through Balini Business.

For some years, she worked at an organic supermarket, getting insights regarding the specific niche market of organic products in Germany in terms of supply and demand, target areas as well as target customers. 

Currently, Evelyn holds the position of a sustainability officer at a business association. With her colleagues, she is developing a product demonstrating the sustainability performance of companies. Moreover, she is supporting companies in meeting (legal) sustainability requirements. 

Growing up in Germany and being a chocolate lover from an early age, for a long time she did not know how cacao is grown or much about everyday life of smallholder cacao farmers. She highly appreciates that she could learn from the farmers herself and underlines the importance of learning about the stories of people behind products.