CIVICUS Board Elections 2022

Abigail Freeman

Paulina Ibarra

Paulina Ibarra is a gender, open government and human rights advocacy and practitioner expert with 20 years of professional experience with particular emphasis in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. She is currently a Vital Voices Fellow working on the issue of gendered disinformation and online political gender-based violence. She is the Executive Director of Fundación Multitude, member of CIVICUS; an elected member of the External Consulting Group of the Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism - Inter-american Development Bank; and first elected Chair of the International Steering Committee of the Community of Democracies. Most recently, she was selected to be part of the Steering Committee for Promoting Respect for Human Rights of the Summit for Democracy.  

Paulina has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications and Political Science from Marymount University and a Master Degree in Communications from Georgetown University.  She is fluent in English and Spanish, with a basic level of Portuguese and French. 

Throughout her professional experience she has worked closely with civil society in multiple areas (including indigenous people’s communities) such as gender issues, transparency and participation. 

As a member of the CIVICUS Board of Directors Paulina will put her experience working closely with the Private and Public Sectors, Civil Society Organizations, Multilaterals, and her record of successful strategic planning and implementation, including creative thinking to make strategic adjustments to work plans, in order to contribute to strengthen citizen action and civil society.  Moreover, considering her strong commitment to achieve a across-borders community of informed, inspired and committed citizens engaged in confronting the challenges facing humanity, Paulina will advocate as part of the Board of Directors on engaging and building strong relationships with key internal and external stakeholders, such as funders, media, government agencies, and civil society groups, to coordinate effective multi-level efforts. 

  1. Favouritequote by someone who inspires me

“Closing the gap between women and decision-making starts with empowering women economically and with training. We don't know yet how to solve the issue of the media, because disinformation and fake news make women victims and discourage them from politics, and politics is the only channel to get to parliament where laws are made, and we need women making laws”. 

This quote by H.E. Dr. Joyce Banda, first female President of Malawi, motivates my work through the Women’s Observatory Against Disinformation and Fake News.  ​​

  1. What skill are you most proud of or want to learn? ​​

The skill I’m most proud of is empathy, being able to understand other people by seeing things from their point of view and putting myself in their position. This comes from an important learning experience from my father: your engine in life must be finding ways to help others.  

  1. What is your vision for civil society? 

  My vision for civil society is that every citizen has the right to advocate and defend their interests, and those of their community, in order to create a community of engaged, inspired and informed citizens across the globe that share the strong commitment to face the most pressing issues of our time.  In that framework, my vision to create a thriving civil society is to build capacities and create opportunities for citizens to increase their participation in decision-making. To achieve the well-being of our societies, and stop the democratic backsliding that threatens the globe, citizens' voices must be heard. 

  1. What lesson(s) have you learnt from failure? 

Rather than calling those situations failures, I prefer to see them as learning experiences. If a stated goal is not accomplished, we should evaluate the whole process  to identify the factors that led to those outcomes. Based on that, responsive measures should be taken to return to the planned path, making adjustments to the working plans where necessary, and also it is important to systematize each planning and implementation process to take them into consideration in the future. This applies to work life and also our private lives, because plans and unexpected results are part of both spheres. 

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