In the run-up to the next IYNF international event “D-e-zign it” the organisation has the pleasure to announce the new Secretary General. As a final result of a long search the choice has fallen upon Esther Vallado.
Born in the beautiful green land of Asturias (Spain), Esther boasts a long-standing experience in the environmental field and now she will have the task to lead the IYNF Secretariat.
It will not be easy to replace the previous Secretary General Adriana Harnuskova who, through firmness and involvement, led the organization in the last years. Touchable results achieved are the heavy burden that the new entry has been inheriting.
After all life is a challenge; let us run into the future trying to have behind-the-scenes look of Esther.
Qualified as an Environmental Scientist and Natural Resources Management Technician, Esther has been boasting an enduring passion for nature since her childhood.
In the course of her career, she worked for the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) in Brussels as a project officer, for WWF-Spain as an environmental instructor and for the Regional Government of Asturias as an environmental adviser to the Green Party.
Esther also has experience as volunteer local group leader with WWF, and as a volunteer project promoter for Young Friends of the Earth Europe and 350.org. She is member of Friends of the Earth Spain, the Global Youth for Biodiversity Network and cooperates with several local NGOs which work on nature conservation and sustainable mobility.
In 2012 she founded a nature conservation NGO: Biodiversa, based in Asturias, Spain, which works at international level on environmental education projects targeted mainly at youth. This got her the recognition of “Outstanding Entrepreneur” by Félix Rodriguez de la Fuente Foundation for her “outstanding environmental education work”.
From that moment Esther also started to develop her career as a freelance non-formal education trainer specialised in environmental issues, which lead to her inclusion as a senior member of the IYNF pool of trainers in early 2015.
At IYNF, with which network she started to collaborate in 2013, she will be responsible for organizational development, management and steering, human capital (HR), policies and regulations, fundraising, members and partners affairs, external representation and cooperation.
Pursuing the belief of Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh “We need to wake up and fall in love with the Earth. Our personal & collective happiness & survival depends on it”, Esther is ready for the new “green” challenge.
The final aim will be to give substance to the words of one of her favorite writers, Eduardo Galeano: “Mucha gente pequeña en muchos lugares pequeños harán cosas pequeñas que transformarán el mundo”.