Catarina Caria

 

Catarina Caria is an international development professional passionate about sustainable development, gender mainstreaming, peace and security, civil society and women’s empowerment.

 

She has studied in Lisbon (NOVA University and Universidade Católica Portuguesa), Paris (SciencesPo) and more recently in Virginia (University of Virginia) as a Fulbright Scholar pursuing research on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. During her stay in the United States, Catarina travelled back and forth to New York and Washington D.C. to collect civil society’s best practices and peacebuilding expertise that she continues to build on in a number of initiatives she champions.

 

Catarina serves as an advisor to the WHIS Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment panel of experts, committed to the mainstreaming of a gender perspective throughout WHIS programs and initiatives. She is also the gender expert in a research group focused on Peace and Civil Society.

 

Catarina is proactively identifying opportunities to the empowerment of women globally and creating linkages between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Women, Peace and Security framework. As a young female leader in a male dominated universe, Catarina is a joyful warrior for women’s rights and women’s participation in peace talks.

 

Catarina has worked for different diplomatic missions in many capacities, ranging from economic/trade to public diplomacy. In her previous role as Trade & Investment Adviser, she was appointed the Overseas Gender Champion for Europe, leveraging Gender Equality across the 100+ countries that integrate the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

 

In addition to her papers, Catarina is a speaker and panelist using her voice and social media platforms to raise awareness to the principles of sustainable peace.