Jara Bakx joined Levin Sources in January 2022. Prior to Levin Sources, Jara worked as Policy Officer Raw Materials at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she was engaged in policy themes related to gender and mining governance, sustainable sourcing, transparency in the extractives industry, responsible business conduct, and conflict minerals.
Moreover, Jara has experience as historical and academic researcher in various positions, as associate at the Netherlands Water Partnership, and as project manager for a policy and technical study on sustainable sludge treatment in the Western Balkan region. Throughout her academic and professional career, Jara developed an expertise for topics on the intersection of development with environmental and social justice. She is passionate about fostering gender equality in the mining sector and ensuring that mineral sourcing respects communities and nature.
Jara holds a BA in History from Utrecht University with expertise in postcolonial studies, contemporary history and development geography. She received her MSc in International Development Studies (cum laude) from Wageningen University & Research, where she specialised in environmental governance, land- and water conflict studies, indigenous environmental movements and political ecology. Her dissertation research focused on the local adaptation and social impact of an Ecuadorian water fund’s landscape restoration strategies, with particular attention to the reconciliation of rural livelihood practices with global restoration targets. Finally, Jara completed the MA Advanced Master in International Development programme from Radboud University (cum laude), for which she wrote a position paper critically examining the presence of green colonialism in the conservation sector. Jara has also completed online trainings on gender and mining governance, water ecology, and urban environmental innovations.
She works fluently in English and Dutch and has good command of Spanish and intermediate French and German skills. Jara is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
