María is the Global Director of Operation and Country Manager and Representative of i-APS in Colombia. With a BA in Political Science and a MA in Social Development from the University of Sussex, she has served as a project manager for capacity building, training, monitoring and evaluation, research and TPM activities. Maria has managed over 22 projects/contracts and a team over 49 experts. She is overseeing work and project management unit across 11 work locations/countries. In Colombia, Maria has extensive experience helping national organizations to design and implementing poverty eradication projects in the areas of community leadership empowerment, land use planning and community ecotourism.