Professional Experience:
Throughout my career, I consistently demonstrated the ability to think strategically and provide policy directions and leadership. For example, in my current position as Country Director in Greece, I am working in tight collaboration with other INGOs and UN agencies for stimulating better policies and approaches for protecting the rights of refugee, asylum seekers and migrants. Similarly, I have considerable experience in promoting durable solutions and resilience through multi-sector projects, including on labour issues and employment. When I worked as BRCiS Consortium Chief of Party, I promoted a holistic community-based approach for resilience, which resulted in a multi-sector and multi-year programme. Starting with a budget of around 29 million USD and a planned outreach of 210’000 individuals, I expanded the programme to 75 million USD and over a million beneficiaries in two and a half years.
Through my professional experiences in Albania, Chad, Somalia, South Sudan, Greece and Tunisia, I gained work experience in a wide range of contexts and explore the complexity of migration issues. For example, I am in discussion with ECHO to promote integration of asylum seekers and refugees in Greece, in particular through the access to the labour market. As Country Director, in addition, I am also actively promoting ethical employment. In fact, at NRC Greece we have opened avenues for hiring asylum seekers and actively worked to overcome institutional challenges such as limited mobility. In addition, I have a direct experience in engaging with governments and other institutional actors. In Somalia for example, I supported the Government in drafting the National Development Plan (Pillar V). Also worth to mention, for years I have lead programmes for the integration of migrants (internal displaced people, returnees etc.) through vocational training and business incubation.
I am not afraid to embrace new technologies and innovative approaches to improve impacts. For instance, I designed and negotiated a cross-border initiative between Kenya and Somalia, for facilitating repatriation of refugees through their economic and social integration. I also coordinated the development of a web-based monitoring and management system, which allows a real time collection and verification of data as well as a sophisticated analysis of the information and Value for Money for better programming.