Dr. Ana Laura Touza, a national of Argentina, is a rural sociologist and gender specialist. She holds a PhD in Social Sciences from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), a master’s degree in development from Erasmus University in The Netherlands, and a bachelor’s degree in political science (Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Argentina). She has taught at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. As a researcher, she conducted a study on the social exclusion of peasants in Honduras and studies on gaps in rural municipalities to achieve Millennium Goals in the same country. As a gender specialist, she was part of the team that developed the Gender Economic Profile of Central America, leading the research for Honduras. Additionally, she conducted research on Maya women in Guatemala and Miskito and Lenca women in Honduras. She worked at the United Nations Development Programme in Honduras and the World Food Programme in Honduras, Mozambique, and Panama, where she coordinated a regional program to include small producers in value chains, involving nine countries. Dr. Touza was the Food and Agriculture Organization for the United Nations (FAO) Representative in Cabo Verde from 2019-2025. She is currently the FAO Representative in Jamaica, The Bahamas and Belize.
