
María Jesús Iraola
Safeguards Specialist
María Jesús works as an independent consultant and has been collaborating with AAE for the past 6 years, particularly in the safeguards department. She has experience contributing to projects that involve governments, NGOs, civil society, academia and international donors and organizations such as World Bank, UN bodies, GCF, GEF and IUCN in Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa.
Her main areas of work are social and environmental safeguards and standards (e.g. Cancun, WB, IUCN, GCF/IFC), risk assessment, due diligence assessments, Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment (SESA), the development of Environmental and Social Management Frameworks and Plans (ESMF and ESMP), stakeholder engagement with a youth focus, green jobs and country support on GCF projects (development of documents). Moreover, she is a communication advisor and photographer for AAE.
Maria Jesus has a MSc in Environment Politics and Society from University College London and BSc in Environmental Geography from Uruguayan University (UdelaR). She also completed an internship at the Universidade do Estado de Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) and has completed additional trainings, e.g. “Forests and transparency under the Paris Agreement”, and “Environmental and Social Framework Fundamentals”.