Senior Advisor Jaap Voeten has extensive experience managing research and capacity development projects in inclusive value chain development. Early in his career, he served as Chief Technical Advisor on small agribusiness networks and long-term entrepreneurship development projects overseas, gaining hands-on experience in partner engagement, intercultural collaboration, and field-based project implementation. Mid-career, he completed a PhD in Economics, applying a mixed-methods approach to understand sustainability, responsible small-scale innovation, and productivity growth in agricultural value chains in low-income countries.

Today at KIT, Jaap leads evaluation studies involving farmer organisations, economic value chain analysis, Theory of Change and contribution analysis approaches, as well as participatory learning and co-creation with partners to assess impact at farmer and local levels in Africa and Asia. A selection of his work at KIT Institute includes:

• Growing Together (IDH): Midterm and end-term evaluation of a multi-stakeholder program supporting smallholder farmers and SMEs to improve productivity, value addition, and marketing while promoting sustainable supply chains.
• Agriterra (Project Lead): Midterm Review (MTR) of the Farmers Focused Transformation program, including validation and contribution analysis of the Theory of Change and capacity development of farmer organizations.
• Dutch Embassy Bénin: Design and delivery of business coaching for farmer organizations with local teams under the program Approche Communautaire du Marché Agricole au Bénin (ACMA-3).
• Heineken (Project Lead): Analysis of inclusive supply chains in Rwanda, focusing on value distribution for smallholder barley farmers supplying Heineken.
• Dutch Embassy Nigeria: HortiNigeria project, strengthening business linkages and partnerships among smallholder farmers, offtakers, processors, and marketers in horticulture clusters.
• Bopinc (Project Lead): Gates Foundation project Beyond Farming Collective (BFC), promoting Agri-Food Industrial Organizations (AFIOs) by strengthening value chain actors, business service providers, and policy engagement.
• Rabobank Rural Fund (Project Lead): Impact case study of the Etico sustainable coffee and sesame supply chain in Nicaragua, assessing cooperative system development.
• RVO (Project Lead): Midterm Evaluation of the Inclusive Horticulture Value Chain project funded by the Dutch Embassy in Jordan.
• Nestlé: Impact assessment of the cacao smallholder household income accelerator in Côte d’Ivoire, using test-control surveys and case studies.
• Sociaal Economische Raad (SER): Evaluation of the Dutch Agreement on Sustainable Garments and Textile (AGT), assessing effectiveness in achieving its objectives and impact pathways.