Jimena Niño Caceres

Chief of Party, USAID Specialty Coffee Program in Colombia

Jimena Niño Caceres is an alternative development specialist with extensive experience working with international cooperation programs. A Colombian citizen, she currently serves as chief of party for ACDI/VOCA’s $5.8 million USAID Specialty Coffee Program, which has 46 activities with various actors along the coffee value chain. The program works to develop networks of Colombian and international partners to enhance collaboration and leverage resources from public-private partnerships in order to create licit livelihoods and increase smallholders’ incomes. Before joining ACDI/VOCA, Ms. Niño worked in mid- and senior-level management positions for the government of Colombia (GOC). She was responsible for the design, implementation and evaluation of several USAID-funded agricultural and agroforestry programs targeting vulnerable populations. In this capacity, she acted as a key GOC counterpart for international donors, implementing partners and other stakeholders in support of the U.S. and Colombian governments’ strategy for strengthening licit economies. Some of her coordination work includes multisectoral projects cofinanced by USAID, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and the GOC, which have been implemented in alliance with the Federación Nacional de Caficultores, ACDI/VOCA, Associates in Rural Development and the Pan-American Development Foundation. Ms. Niño also has experience providing technical and policy advice on agricultural and agroforestry projects, including specialty crops initiatives like coffee and cacao. She earned her M.A. in international cooperation from Universidad Complutense in Madrid and a B.A. in government and foreign relations from Universidad Externado, Bogotá. She is a native Spanish-speaker and is fluent in English and French.