Portugal

Joaquin, director of To the core of things, is a monitoring, evaluation, researcher and programme manager of multimillion regional programmes and projects specialised in human rights, media, gender, community tourism and children/youth.

As the director and principal consultant of To the core of things consultancy firm, I bring over two decades of experience in results-based management, monitoring, and evaluation of international development programs, with a deep familiarity with EU and UNEG norms and standards. Throughout my career, I have developed and refined evaluation systems, policies, and related guidance for various DGs, national authorities, international NGOs and UN agencies. My work spans multiple regions, including Africa, Latin America, and Asia, focusing on human rights, media, gender, and education and youth programs. Notably, I have led strategic consultancies for different EU instruments including EIDHR, the EU social fund and also outside the EU for UNESCO and OHCHR. These consultancies focused on monitoring, evaluation, and reporting functions of international organizations including the assessment of these functions of UN agencies, OECD, the Council of Europe and the European Union.

My methodological expertise includes mixed-methods approaches and quasi-experimental designs that emphasise client and partner ownership, coherence with learning curves, and pragmatic solutions. These tools, developed under the Creative Commons IP from To the Core of Things, include research guidelines, organisational capacity assessment, modular reconstruction and adaptation of theories of change, stakeholder network maps methodologies, case study guidelines and approaches, outcome harvesting through Most Significant Change stories and implementation of machine learning approaches to development cooperation programmes.

The principles I apply in all my works are ownership of the works and the processes by the client and partners (through a strong participatory approach); alignment with latest trends in the field (including ICT4D, statistical techniques and humanistic considerations); coherence with the learning curve of the clients, and; pragmatism, proposing solutions in line with the interests, philosophy and capacities of the clients and its partners.

Key relevant work that reflects this range of skills and passions include ROM reviews for multi-country EU programmes, consultancies for UNESCO (evaluaitons, periodic reporting consultancies or MEAL system TA). Also for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) I have developed as well another strategic consultancy assessing their in-house monitoring and reporting function plus other programme and country evaluations. Other donors, include USAID, with consultancies carried for US Internews setting up the methodologies, managing seven multicultural teams and producing seven research products for their Rooted in Trust programme and leading several programme evaluations. Some other relevant examples of my works are the evaluation of an agriculture cooperative based project in Ethiopia funded by NORAD, the evaluation of a community radios programme in Zambia funded by the Netherlands; the research manager position for ECORYS and also academic publications in the Journal of Multidisciplinary Evaluation.

For more information visit https://tothecoreofthings.consulting; check our track of projects.

Twenty years' experience in the development sector covering governance, rules of law and access to justice, safety and security, social cohesion, youth engagement. Currently leading the Governance and Peacebuilding Portfolio for UNDP Kosovo, working with institutions for a better future for the people of Kosove.

Investigative Journalist and Project Manager. Current position: International Partnerships at Maldita.es Foundation. I am coordinating cross-border projects focused on analyse and combating disinformation in different areas of Europe and Latin America. Before, I coordinated the European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN) project, led by Maldita.es
Foundation. I have previously worked as a fact-checker and investigative and data journalist in different sections of Maldita.es. I have also been a researcher in the Spanish report of the Global Disinformation Index. I hold a master's degree in Investigative Journalism, Data and Visualisation, a MA in International Journalism at Liverpool John Moores University and I have worked in different media outlets focused on the Spanish-speaking population in the United Kingdom, where I lived for almost seven years.

Cristina Costa, MD, MPH, is a Consultant Doctor in Public Health working at the Department of Health Promotion and Non-Communicable Disease Prevention at the Portuguese National Institute of Health (INSA), with a focus on HIA, health policy research, and the evaluation of public health programs and plans. She currently coordinates the Technical Working Group for the evaluation of the Portuguese National Health Plan (Plano Nacional de Saúde 2030) at INSA. She is also a guest lecturer in health evaluation at the University of Porto. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and is currently a PhD candidate in Epidemiology at the National School of Public Health (ENSP-NOVA). She has participated in national and international research projects funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), the European Commission, and the COST Association, particularly in the fields of impact evaluation and systems thinking. She is an active member of the Portuguese Association of Public Health Doctors (ANMSP), the European Public Health Association (EUPHA), and the European Evaluation Society (EES).

I am passionate about education, educational guidance and experiential learning. As founder of the Mon Choix Ma Carrière initiative, I help young people, particularly girls, to discover their talents, develop their skills and choose promising careers, particularly in the STEM fields.

With my initiative, I have already reached over 800 young people through workshops, conferences and practical programmes. My commitment is based on the values of integrity, tolerance and collaboration. I have also coordinated pan-African projects such as Together for a New Africa, promoting co-leadership and sustainable development.

I am particularly interested in issues relating to innovative education, gender equality, youth, digital technology and professional integration. My aim is to transform Mon Choix Ma Carrière into an EdTech start-up to put technology at the service of guidance and education in Africa.

Ambassador of Hungary in Ecuador