Hello, I'm glad to see you're interested in getting to know me better.
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Contributing to creating a world with greater equity and more respect for nature moves me.
In my professional practice as a facilitator of participatory processes and a researcher, I aim to foster communicative spaces of openness and collaboration for social change and greater environmental harmony.
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I believe that the participation of a greater diversity of voices and perspectives in the co-creation of solutions, in decision-making or in the evaluation of processes contributes to achieving more coherent, inclusive and sustainable results.
Photo: Camila Rocha
Foto: Sara Cuevas
Education
In 2022, I completed a Master's degree in "Power, Participation and Social Change" at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK, with full scholarship from the Chevening Award. In my studies and in the action research that resulted in my dissertation, I sought to understand how participatory processes can enhance the transition to an inclusive, fair and nature-friendly development model.
I graduated in Social Communication with an emphasis in Public Relations at PUC Minas. I have a postgraduate degree in Social Innovation Management from the Amani Institute, with a Diploma in Social Innovation from the United Nations Mandated University for Peace (UPEACE).
Experience
I have experience with projects that aim to:
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mobilise actors and foster connections between people from one or more organisations and groups;
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promote participatory research into a given reality;
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the development of actions by companies in communities impacted by their operations;
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enable decision-making by including diverse perspectives on an issue;
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the definition, deployment and alignment of strategic priorities;
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co-create policy recommendations;
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monitor and evaluate impact;
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develop teams in facilitating collaborative spaces.
Learn more about projects I have been involved in here .
Over the past eight years, I have studied and applied different approaches and methods for creating communicative spaces and facilitating groups, including action research, the Art of Hosting, Nonviolent Communication, Theory U, Thinking Environment, Dragon Dreaming, Sociocracy, Visual Thinking, Design Thinking and phenomenology. I co-facilitated learning spaces on Theory U for four years, co-hosted two editions of the Art of Hosting training and facilitated different trainings on group facilitation with CoCriar, the consultancy of which I am a partner.
More about me
I'm from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil where I've undertaken collaborative projects to support small local producers, independent artists and entrepreneurs engaged with the city. I have lived in São Paulo, Brazil's most populous city; in rural Brumadinho (MG); in Alicante, on Spain's Costa Blanca; and in the progressive city of Brighton, on the UK coast. I don't feel suffocated by the mountains of Minas Gerais. I haven't yet lived on the coast of Brazil, but there's still time.
Foto: Willian Gomes
About this website
Besides the gallery with relevant projects in which I have been involved in my trajectory, here I will publish content - reflections, proposals and stories - that I consider may inspire more conscious and sustainable views on how we relate, produce, consume, and live. I hope that what feeds my thoughts may generate ideas in you as well.
If anything you saw here makes you want to talk more, write me at brunaviafre@gmail.com.