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Liliana Demartini

Academic background: Bachelor’s degree in International Relations at the University of Bologna, Italy, and Master’s degree in Human Rights and Multi Level Governance at the University of Padua, Italy.

Areas of interest: Climate change adaptation, climate resilience and disaster risk reduction, gender equality and human rights, community-based sustainable development, women-led humanitarian work.

Languages spoken: Italian, English, Portuguese.

Liliana is a young development and humanitarian professional from Sardinia, Italy, with knowledgeable working and living experience about the conditions of conflict and disaster-affected communities. She is passionate about strengthening resilience, climate justice and advancing human rights, particularly women and indigenous people rights.

After graduating from the University of Bologna in 2013, she joined volunteering programs in South-East Asia, and enrolled in the master’s program in Human rights at the university of Padua. While living in the Philippines, she developed her interest in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and conducted her dissertation work with communities highly affected by the climate crisis. This experience further cemented her view on the importance of having a 'bottom-up' approach when working directly with communities in addressing issues affecting their livelihoods.

Her experience at the headquarters of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) inspired her to work directly again with people in communities experiencing the severe impact of climate change. Firstly in Kara, Togo, on a youth program centred on environmental protection, and later in Arusha, Tanzania, where she assisted the management of an EU-program focusing on advancing the rights and resilience of Maasai women at the borders with Kenya. Afterwards, she joined the team of ActionAid Myanmar in 2019, leading their Resilience Program in different parts of the country. In Myanmar, she further consolidated her convictions about women-led humanitarian action that is centred on the principles of feminist leadership, and on the importance of developing community-based solutions against climate change. These experiences have helped Liliana gain useful skills and advance knowledge in project management, communication, research, capacity building, fundraising, and more.

 

Liliana Demartini