I am an experienced Emergency Response manager and Disaster Risk Management (DRM) expert, at humanitarian, conflict, post-conflict contexts, and development programs, I am working with DG ECHO, and I have worked IFRC and the RCRC movement, international NGOs (Oxfam UK), donor agencies (AECID, GIZ), and UN agencies (UNICEF, UNV, UNDP, IOM).
I have worked in diverse contexts: Africa (Burundi and Tanzania), Asia (Cambodia, the Philippines, East Timor, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Mongolia), Latin America and the Caribbean Region (Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Haiti, Paraguay, Brazil), and the Middle East (Israel, Palestine, Jordan), and Europe (Hungary and Ukraine).
With emergency management and climate change adaptation needs in the context of developing countries, specifically in Southeast Asia Philippines, Cambodia, Timor Leste, etc. In a previous role as Regional Lead for Partners for Resilience https://www.partnersforresilience.nl/en, based in Manila, Philippines, I have participated, negotiated and been part of the design team of the Manila Bay Sustainable Development Master Plan of the Philippine Government, EU, Netherlands government and ADB. In that role I coordinated the partnership among Netherlands Red Cross, CORDAID, CARE, Wetlands International and the IFRC Climate Centre
I have been the Team Leader and programme manager for a bi-regional (Asia and Africa) study for the German Government, GIZ, ADB and GERES: Building Business Cases to Reach Scale: A Study on Biomass Cookstove Business Models in Asia & Africa.
Working in development and humanitarian sector for more than 25 years, currently working for the European Commission as Disaster Preparedness policy and programming specialist, within the DG ECHO team in Brussels. Previously, I have been engaged with the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement since 2010, first as Country Representative of the Spanish Red Cross in Timor Leste, establishing the Disaster Risk Reduction System in country and then in IFRC in various roles (Operations Manager in Burundi, Livelihoods Coordinator in Haiti and DRM Advisor based in the Philippines), and Regional Head of Partnership Resource Development Unit and Head of Planning Monitoring Evaluation and Response Unit in IFRC Americas.
I am a member and Trainer of the IFRC Livelihoods Reference Centre and CaLP, and member of the Advisory board of Market in Crisis (MiC), trainer, and facilitator of the UNSCC roster. Member of the roster of CashCap of the Norwegian refugee Council. And a faculty member Faculty member of the Joint Master’s Programme in International Humanitarian Action at the DEUSTO University.
I was born in Spain, and my academic background is Agriculture Engineer, with a master’s degree in international relations, a Post Degree in Environmental Sciences, and I hold a Humanitarian MBA by Roxbourg. I speak Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, French and English, and conversational Tagalog and Tetun.