Esther Ndungutse Mukundane

Esther is a Sustainbale Land Use Fellow and an agriculture expert with experience managing cooperatives, livelihoods, value chains and women economic empowerment programmes. In her current role as the Country Director at Aspire Rwanda, she oversees programmes geared towards the improvement of livelihoods of women and youth.

Her notable achievements include setting up and serving as the first country director of Sustainable Harvest Rwanda, an NGO promoting the inclusion of smallholder women coffee farmers in the entire value chain. She also organised the first “Let’s Talk Coffee Rwanda“ Conference that attracted senior government officials, retailers, NGOs and roasters from Europe and the US to discuss challenges and opportunities for smallholder farmers in the coffee value chain. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture from Makerere University and is a Hubert. H. Humphrey leadership fellow of agriculture and rural development at Cornell University.