Despoina Papadopoulou

Area of Expertise:

• Administration, Management, Finance/Accounting, Procurement
• Fundraising, Business Development, Grants Writer
• Human Rights, Law, Migration, Conflicts, Justice
• Monitoring, Evaluation, Policy, Research, Analysis

Professional Experience:

What makes my profile unique is a blend of competences and attitudes. Having specialized in Project Cycle Management (and having applied it both for programming and implementing/monitoring projects) I am capable of translating institutional strategies and visions into programs of action, division of competences, indicators of achievement, etc. Moreover, I believe in the economic and human effectiveness of humble-based team work. My secret for success is that while I am strict on methodology, I gladly leave the merit to others; I am also capable of enabling a wide participation of stakeholders and channel this participation into a structured program of actions. Having worked across fields, disciplines and countries, my preference is towards collaborative work; learning and sharing knowledge, testing ideas and approaches and conceptualising strategies is my natural habitat.
I am proficient in low to high-level organizational skills. Having organized several international conferences, I have extensive experience in delegate registration, managing tours, and preparing conference documentation. I also have extensive experience managing organizational finances, including preparation of financial offers for all company departments, project monitoring and delivery. I am adept at large-scale project management, including: managing timelines, budgets, fundraising, tracking deliverables, quality assurance checks, defining project progress, and articulating problems, solutions and evaluation tools. Additionally, I have experience organizing and conducting case study simulations and experiential learning. Finally, I am a skilled negotiator, able to accurately represent constituencies’ claims to management, actively prevent disputes, foster reconciliation, and provide advice and constructive feedback on job performance.
I have gathered relevant working experience first at the UNESCO Centre for Women and Peace in the Balkan countries and then in an Italian law firm specialized in labour law. I am now the Manager of the International Development team of a Nazareth-based NGO (AlManarah), having special consultative status with ECOSOC. I am also member of the management board of BETA, the only NGO organizing a Model European Union at the European Parliament. My experience spans from employment (specifically labour law, national contractual agreements and cooperation with ILO) to social inclusion (focusing on women, minority groups and migrants) and youth participation. My experience with youth targets the need to provide learning and experiential opportunities for young people; enabling them to enrich their political consciousness, strengthen their access to European funding, international advocacy and to improve the management structures within Youth NGOs, thus enabling a more active participation.