Valentina joined AEIDL in January 2018 as a Policy Adviser for the ESF Transnational Platform as a freelancer. She has 20 years’ experience in EU project management, policy advice and advocacy, and team and project leadership, in EU institutions, NGOs, social economy organisations, local authorities and vocational training institutions, in Brussels and Italy.
In Brussels, she worked at the European Parliament as a Political Adviser on employment and social affairs for the Greens/EFA political group and for seven years as a Policy and Advocacy Adviser at the Social Platform. She was one of the experts for the European Economic and Social Committee’s opinion on the European Pillar of Social Rights and a member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on Social Entrepreneurship (GECES).
In Italy she was Head of the European Office of Caritas Ambrosiana, where among other things she was the transnational coordinator of two large EQUAL projects on the social economy (“Agenzia di Cittadinanza” and “Finanza In”). She also worked as project manager in local authorities, vocational training institutions, social cooperatives consortia and consultancies in Milan, in the framework of 15 EU programmes.
As a Policy Adviser at AEIDL, leveraging on partnerships and collaboration, her goal is to develop innovative approaches to improve policies and practices, and push forward social progress and sustainable development.
She graduated in Political Science and has Masters’ Degrees in EU Law and in EU Project Planning and Management.
Valentina’s mother tongue is Italian, while she is fluent in English and French, and operational in Spanish.