Centre on Armed Groups
I recently joined the Expert Network with the Centre on Armed Groups, a Geneva-based NGO which centers on producing research, facilitating dialogue, and providing advice on how to engage with different armed groups around the world. I regularly join the Centre’s activities and collaborate on specific projects.
War Child
Between 2019 and 2023 I served as the Global Youth Empowerment Specialist for the humanitarian NGO War Child. In this capacity, I developed the organisation’s strategy for youth programming, and worked in conflict-affected contexts such as Burundi, DRC, the West-Bank and Gaza. I also represented the organisation in global fora such as the Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action and the Global Coalition on Youth, Peace and Security.
International Committee of the Red Cross
In 2019 I engaged in a collaboration with the Medellín office of the International Committee of the Red Cross. I supported the protection delegate in understanding the context of urban gang-related violence in the city peripheries. I also authored a report for the organization on dynamics of recruitment of adolescences into urban narco-gangs.
United Nations
In 2018 I was invited to author an expert paper to contribute to the Progress Study on the UN Resolution 2250 (2015) on Youth, Peace and Security. In my paper I argue that efforts to include youth in peacebuilding are restricted to involving peace activists and young leaders, leaving outcast youth out of the picture. The paper fed into the final report The Missing Peace: Independent Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security.
UNICEF
Between November 2015 and March 2016, I interned at the Child Protection team of the UNICEF Colombia office. My tasks involved monitoring the UN Security Council Resolution 1612 grave violations against children in situations of armed conflict, and contributing to drafting the Colombia section of the UN Annual Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict.
International Center for Transitional Justice
For the Colombian Office of the International Center for Transitional Justice, in 2015 I worked on a research project on the inclusion of children's rights in the Colombian reparations programme established by the Victims’ Law. The project’s final report was based on detailed legal analysis and on over 20 semi-structured interviews with public officials, academics, NGO workers and activists.