Vanessa Sayos del Castillo

A Spanish national, born and raised in Barcelona, she studied political science and business at the Independent University of Barcelona [Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona; UAB] and at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. She went on to earn a master's degree in international relations from the Diplomatic School of Madrid [Escuela Diplomática de Madrid], a postgraduate degree with a focus on political and electoral management from UAB, and a master of fine arts (MFA) from New York University (NYU) where she also obtained a professional certification in project management, as well as a PMP certificate from the Project Management Institute. For over 15 years, Vanessa has worked in project management in the public sector, initially in Spain's Ministry of Economy with reimbursable cooperation funding and later in charge of governance projects with the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). Since 2012 she has been a consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), leading workshops on project planning in the start-up and advanced execution phases and facilitating project management courses using the PM4R methodology for public implementation units and civil society organizations.