Graça Raquel Pinheiro

Country of Origin: Portugal

Current city/country of residence: Porto, Portugal

Field of study: BA in Political Science and International Relations and Merit-Award MA degree in Humanitarian Action, Cooperation and Development.

Why you joined MPY: I applied to join MPY because I am interested in Human Rights, peacebuilding issues, conflict-resolution, and the Nonflict method of peacebuilding was really what got my attention as an innovative and distinguished approach to conflicts (even personal conflicts at a small-scale).

Fun fact about you: I love reading books (especially related with History of my country; Portuguese Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs, and Global Politics), but apart from this more “solitary” activity, I also love outdoor activities, especially taking part in in-person networking events abroad with like-minded youth from my youth-related projects and initiatives I am involved! People used to say I am much more talkative and extroverted in-person.

A summarized field/working experience: I have started my professional career in the field of foreign affairs and political diplomacy back in 2019, as an intern in Consolato Onorario d’Italia in Portugallo, by the same time I was completing my 2nd year as a Masters student in Humanitarian Action, Cooperation and Development. Then in 2020, I started working for the International Organization for Migrations (IOM) in Portugal, and later that year, I was selected, in a very competitive public contest - PEPAC-MNE traineeships - among around 3000 applicants to work for the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs under that prestigious traineeship contract in the field of Political Diplomacy and Consular Support, and I was placed in the Portuguese Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia during the 2021 year. Then, in 2022, I changed completely the trajectory of my professional path and I started doing another professional internship in the consultancy field at PwC, in the Learning & Development area in PwC EMEA region (Europe, Middle-East and Africa). Nonetheless, after having worked both for the public sector and private sector, I learned that both have much to offer in terms of skills, competences and values towards work. Nonetheless, after this short internship experience, my professional focus over the next years will continue to be in Foreign Policy, Cooperation and Development work. Apart from my professional experience, I also dedicate time to other volunteering projects, such as OSCE Perspectives 2030 (where I am developing a Policy Paper to be presented to OSCE decision-makers together with my international team) and my participation as a Youth Panelist (Project Evaluator) in Global Youth Mobilization in the fields of Education and Employment / Career.