Division of labour & donor coordination

A practicing Life Coach and Psychotherapist, Octavia finds herself collaborating with individuals, corporations, initiatives and projects which wish to bring a more holistic, integrated and empowered approach to life. For more than 20 years Octavia has been involved in the sphere of personal development, facilitating self-development and self-discovery workshops across South Africa and internationally.

Facilitating the process of deep connection and exploration within the context of self and wellbeing, Octavia not only joins communities to aid enhance our call to purpose, but also advocates being an active trial participant within the process of life. With deep roots in corporate, Octavia has extensive experience developing creative project scopes and objectives, specifying deliverables, and coordinating efforts.

I am a specialist on EU’s international cooperation, with more than 13 years of experience in the field of social and democratic inclusion. I have worked in various public and private bodies, including the European Commission (DG INTPA), the Italian Government (under Prime Minister Draghi), international and civil society organisations from Latin America, Asia and the EU. My main areas of expertise include social protection and welfare policies, with a special focus on youth, as well as democratic governance.

My academic and professional career echoes my ambition to understand the fascinating socioeconomic mechanisms in developing countries at a microeconomic level, especially on topics related to ICTs, employment and climate change.

My PhD consisted in investigating the digital shift in Sub-Saharan Africa and understanding how it is transforming the business environment. Coordinating a unique mixed survey in Dakar (Senegal) and shedding light on specific effects of mobile phones on economic performances has awakened a great thirst to understand what works and what doesn't help the vulnerable population's in the global south.

This is why, today, I am a monitoring & evaluation specialist at C4ED where I am responsible for designing and conducting impact evaluations as well as disseminating the results. in the past years I have been leading impact evaluations on projects implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, Uganda, Lesotho, The Gambia, Guinea, Benin, Senegal) and Central America (Ecuador, Mexico and Barbados) with a wide arraw of clients (such as the EU, GIZ, Enabel, ITC, UNICEF, GCF) and topics (employment, education, migration, climate change and health).

My aim is to pursue my career in using rigorous tools to raise awarness on what works, for whom and when, shape future policies and improve the efficiency of the resources invested in development.

I am a Political Scientist and Internationalist, with native Spanish and fluent in English (CPE/C2), with over 10 years of experience in providing consultancy services in the field of international development cooperation to the European Commission and the EEAS, either running or monitoring (including the Results-Oriented Monitoring/ROM approach) a wide range of interventions.

- Currently employed at the Delegation of the European Union for the Pacific as Programme Manager in the Economic Cooperation, Investment and Agriculture Section.
- Over12 years of public sector and international development cooperation experience in different capacities at divisional, national and regional level.
- Expertise in the field of public sector management, rural development and overall government machinery, development cooperation, strategic planning, public policy formulation, and contract/project management (state and donor funded).