Jenny Arias joined GGGI Colombia country program as Regional Technical Senior Assistant on April 13, 2020.  In this role, she will be responsible for providing technical advice to GGGI’s subnational team and relevant sub-national counterparts of Nariño for the identification and development of Green Growth opportunities, particularly as they pertain to a more sustainable use of land and forests, and deforestation reduction.

Jenny has nine years’ experience of working with the government, the private sector, international cooperation organisations, NGOs and indigenous authorities in Colombia. Her professional career has focused on designing and implementing environmental policies at the national level as well as leading projects to promote community-based conservation with small farmers and indigenous communities in areas of socio-environmental conflict.

In her last role, Jenny worked for the mining exploration industry, ensuring the implementation of socio-environmental and supporting the implementation of the peace agreement in Colombia through public-private agreements. Prior to this, she worked for the United Nations Development Programme in Colombia, coordinating and participating in national initiatives, such as the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), the expansion of the policy proposal to protect traditional knowledge systems and the creation of a National Marine Protected Areas System.

Jenny holds a bachelor’s degree on Biology from the National University of Colombia and a MPhil on Conservation Leadership from the University of Cambridge (UK).