YPARD is delighted to welcome Rahel Wyss as the new Country Representative for Switzerland.
Because of new intense professional paths, Johanna has decided to hand over her role as YPARD Switzerland representative to another Young Professional. Read her testimonial about her experience with YPARD.
Rahel Wyss has been already fully involved with YPARD in Switzerland; she substituted Johanna at a SFIAR meeting and helped to promote YPARD in Switzerland.
The floor to Rahel Wyss to tell you more about herself:
"I grew up on a farm in the east of Switzerland. My parents are farmers. My older brother took over the farm last year. We do dairy and arable farming. I have got two sisters. My younger sister is working as a scientific collaborator in plant protection. My older sister has got her own family with three little daughters. I have been involved into agriculture since I am very little. I had my tasks to do, like taking care of the animals, feeding the animals, helping on the fields and milking the cows.
Working on the fields and in the barn was a pleasure for me and my relation to farming and nature became very close. My interest and curiosity about every detail that was going on in the farm business never fully disappeared. After finishing my apprenticeship as a commercial clerk and being abroad for nine months, I soon realized that I wish to be professionally active in the branch of agriculture.
I saw that a further education in agriculture is a great opportunity to deepen and extend my knowledge about this complex but very interesting field. I did a practical training on a farm in the French part of Switzerland to be prepared for the courses at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, School for Agricultural Forest and Food Sciences HAFL in Zollikofen.
In 2012 I have carried out my five months field assignment to complete the BSc studies in International Agriculture in Northern Vietnam on an economic analysis in the field of Rural Development. I was a team member of Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation and could gain valuable experiences and insights in their project activities.
Currently I am employed as Part-time assistant for socio-economy at HAFL, where I am providing assistance to teaching in the field of international agriculture and supporting diverse mandates and project activities in the field of ARD. In parallel, I am enrolled in the Masters program in Applied Agricultural and Forest Sciences at HAFL.
Last week, I had the great opportunity to participate at the two weeks Summer School 2013 organised by ETH Zurich World Food System Center on an organic farm in Switzerland. I am looking forward to work and exchange with international students and to discuss on the topic of sustainable agriculture, food security, production and distribution systems in the food value chain.
I became a member of YPARD because I am very interested in the regional and global context of agriculture and research for development and I experience YPARD as the perfect platform to exchange among young professionals. I feel ready to commit time and effort as a country representative and am looking forward to represent YPs from my region."
Rahel brings great experience in ARD and we look forward to our future cooperation! We thank Johanna very much for all her great contribution to YPARD and we are only glad she will keep on being an active YPARDian!