Consultants

Martha Farmelo (she) Consultants

I grew up in Buffalo, NY (USA), lived in Washington, DC for 20 years and have made Argentina my home since 2001. I learned Spanish while supporting recently arrived Central American refugees during the 1980s, which rocked my world and led me to work in human rights. Over time, I moved from programmatic work to institutional development in several NGOs including the Washington-based Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and the Buenos Aires-based Association for Civil Rights. I was also a program officer for the Inter-American Foundation. Since 2009, I have facilitated organizational strengthening efforts for NGOs in Mexico, Argentina and other Latin American countries. In 2017, I began to use my heart and hands in new ways, teaching at the Mocha Celis, the first school in the world for trans people, and training as a massage therapist. I also became a certified coach to support people disrupting oppression and creating a world based on radical respect, dignity and interdependence. I am trained in Embodied Social Justice, Foundations in Somatic Abolitionism, the Art of Transformational Consulting, and advanced meeting design and facilitation. I consider myself essentially bicultural (U.S.-Argentina) and bilingual (Spanish-English). Consultants

 
 

 

 
 

Martha Farmelo (she)

I grew up in Buffalo, NY (USA), lived in Washington, DC for 20 years and have made Argentina my home since 2001. I learned Spanish while supporting recently arrived Central American refugees during the 1980s, which rocked my world and led me to work in human rights. Over time, I moved from programmatic work to institutional development in several NGOs including the Washington-based Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and the Buenos Aires-based Association for Civil Rights. I was also a program officer for the Inter-American Foundation. Since 2009, I have facilitated organizational strengthening efforts for NGOs in Mexico, Argentina and other Latin American countries. In 2017, I began to use my heart and hands in new ways, teaching at the Mocha Celis, the first school in the world for trans people, and training as a massage therapist. I also became a certified coach to support people disrupting oppression and creating a world based on radical respect, dignity and interdependence. I am trained in Embodied Social Justice, Foundations in Somatic Abolitionism, the Art of Transformational Consulting, and advanced meeting design and facilitation. I consider myself essentially bicultural (U.S.-Argentina) and bilingual (Spanish-English).

 

Martha Farmelo

Grew up in Buffalo, NY (USA), lived in Washington, DC for 20 years and has been based in Argentina since 2001. She learned Spanish in college and while providing support to recently arrived Central American refugee families in Washington during the 1980s. She has more than 25 years of experience in leading and facilitating institutional development processes for NGOs in Latin America and the U.S. Before becoming a full-time consultant in 2009, she combined senior programmatic and management positions in several NGOs including the Washington-based Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and the Buenos Aires-based Association for Civil Rights. She also served on the foundation side as a program officer for the Inter-American Foundation. Her thematic expertise is in human and civil rights. In recent years she has assisted several Latin American NGOs in diverse institutional strengthening projects including board development and leadership transitions. She has a Masters in Public Affairs from Princeton University, a BA from Georgetown University and training in the Art of Transformational Consulting and in advanced meeting design and facilitation. Martha is also a certified professional coach with an explicit emphasis on social justice. She lives in Buenos Aires and has a 22-year-old son, Camilo.

 
 

Victoria Wigodzky (she)

Victoria was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina until her family emigrated to the United States in the early 1990s where she completed her academic training and spent the first several years of her career. She has worked with dozens of NGOs in Latin America and the United States—as senior management, program staff and a grant maker—with a focus on institutional strengthening and with thematic expertise in human rights, democracy and citizen security. In 2011 she moved back to Argentina to become the Director of Institutional Development at the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), a flagship human rights organization. Before then, she was a Program Officer in the Open Society Foundations’ Latin America Program and a Program Associate at the Inter-American Dialogue. Her current work focuses on organizational transformation (culture, relationships, structures and operations), centered on organizational assessments, board development, team management, strategic planning, among other areas. Victoria has a Masters in Public Affairs (International Relations and Development) from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University (Comparative Areas Studies, French and Judaic Studies). She has a background in performing arts, and training in the Art of Transformational Consulting, Bold Moves and Systems Change, Embodied Social Justice Certificate, and advanced meeting design and facilitation (including virtual and creative problem-solving facilitation)..Since August 2017, she lives in Washington, DC with her husband, Jon, and their two children, Sofía (12) and Noah (11). Consultants

 
 

Victoria Wigodzky (she)

Victoria was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina until her family emigrated to the United States in the early 1990s where she completed her academic training and spent the first several years of her career. She has worked with dozens of NGOs in Latin America and the United States—as senior management, program staff and a grant maker—with a focus on institutional strengthening and with thematic expertise in human rights, democracy and citizen security. In 2011 she moved back to Argentina to become the Director of Institutional Development at the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), a flagship human rights organization. Before then, she was a Program Officer in the Open Society Foundations’ Latin America Program and a Program Associate at the Inter-American Dialogue. Her current work focuses on organizational transformation (culture, relationships, structures and operations), centered on organizational assessments, board development, team management, strategic planning, among other areas. Victoria has a Masters in Public Affairs (International Relations and Development) from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University (Comparative Areas Studies, French and Judaic Studies). She has a background in performing arts, and training in the Art of Transformational Consulting, Bold Moves and Systems Change, Embodied Social Justice Certificate, and advanced meeting design and facilitation (including virtual)..Since August 2017, she lives in Washington, DC with her husband, Jon, and their two children, Sofía (10) and Noah (8).

Victoria Wigodzky

Was born and raised in Buenos Aires until her family emigrated to the United States in the early 1990s where she completed her academic training and spent the first several years of her career. She has worked with dozens of NGOs in Latin America and the United States—as senior management, program staff and a grant maker—with a focus on institutional strengthening and with thematic expertise in human rights, democracy and citizen security. In 2011 she moved back to Argentina to become the Director of Institutional Development at the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), a flagship human rights organization. Before then, she was a Program Officer in the Open Society Foundations’ Latin America Program and a Program Associate at the Inter-American Dialogue. Her current work focuses on organizational transformation (culture, relationships, structures and operations), centered on organizational assessments, board development, team management, strategic planning, among other areas. Victoria has a Masters in Public Affairs from Princeton University, a BA from Duke University and training in the Art of Transformational Consulting and in advanced meeting design and facilitation. Since August 2017, she lives in Washington, DC with her husband, Jon, and their two children, Sofía (10) and Noah (8).

Simone Haf (she)

I grew up in a small village in the Alps in southern Germany, but nowadays I live in sharp contrast to this landscape: vibrant Mexico City. From an early age, I was very attracted to Latin America and its ancestral cultures. In my mid-twenties, this passion led me to quit my job as a journalist in a local daily newspaper, and begin a Latin American Studies program at Cologne University. In 2001, I arrived in Mexico for the first time for some professional opportunities, and fell in love with the country and its people. Since then I have worked in human rights and social justice issues in Mexico and the region. For example, I have worked in management and communications with the United Nations Population Fund, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ). From 2010 to 2015, I was the Coordinator of Institutional Development at Fundar, Centro de Análisis e Investigación A.C. Since 2015, I have been an independent organizational development consultant for NGOs and my experience includes the design and facilitation of change management and organizational restructuring processes, team and leadership building, conflict mediation, strategic planning processes, governance systems, leadership transitions, meeting facilitation, efforts to support self-care and foster organizational cultures of care, as well as intuitive coaching. More recently, I am increasingly incorporating a psychocorporal perspective in all my projects. This practice has been nurtured by a Masters degree in Organizational Leadership with a focus on humanist and gestalt therapy, specialized studies in Gestalt Therapy and Buddhist Psychology, training as a psychocorporal therapist and yoga instructor, as well as in Embodied Social Justice and Advanced Meeting Design and Facilitation (including virtual). I consider myself a feminist and citizen of the world. Consultants

 

Simone Haf (she)

I grew up in a small village in the Alps in southern Germany, but nowadays I live in sharp contrast to this landscape: vibrant Mexico City. From an early age, I was very attracted to Latin America and its ancestral cultures. In my mid-twenties, this passion led me to quit my job as a journalist in a local daily newspaper, and begin a Latin American Studies program at Cologne University. In 2001, I arrived in Mexico for the first time for some professional opportunities, and fell in love with the country and its people. Since then I have worked in human rights and social justice issues in Mexico and the region. For example, I have worked in management and communications with the United Nations Population Fund, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ). From 2010 to 2015, I was the Coordinator of Institutional Development at Fundar, Centro de Análisis e Investigación A.C. Since 2015, I have been an independent organizational development consultant for NGOs and my experience includes the design and facilitation of change management and organizational restructuring processes, team and leadership building, conflict mediation, strategic planning processes, governance systems, leadership transitions, meeting facilitation, efforts to support self-care and foster organizational cultures of care, as well as intuitive coaching. More recently, I am increasingly incorporating a psychocorporal perspective in all my projects. This practice has been nurtured by a Masters degree in Organizational Leadership with a focus on humanist and gestalt therapy, specialized studies in Gestalt Therapy and Buddhist Psychology, training as a psychocorporal therapist and yoga instructor, as well as in Embodied Social Justice and Advanced Meeting Design and Facilitation (including virtual). I consider myself a feminist and citizen of the world.

 
 

Regina Ganem (she) Consultants

I am Mexican and currently live in Mexico City. I understand the work I do as social permaculture; I support environmental and social justice initiatives through the design and facilitation of processes that aim to create beneficial relations with ourselves, our closest community and the environment. I believe in regenerative activism and I am passionate about community building. I am currently an organizational strengthening consultant for civil society organizations dedicated to caring for life and defending human rights. I have collaborated with different civil society organizations for more than 15 years. I held the position of Coordinator of Donor Relations at Fundar, Center for Analysis and Research and collaborated with the same organization in the Institutional Strengthening program and different action-research projects. I had the opportunity to do a Master’s Degree in Ecological Design Thinking in which systemic thinking and the integrality of being (mind-body-soul) and our relationship with our environment are considered as central elements for the design of regenerative human processes. And I was recently trained in Embodied Social Justice. With these learnings I design and facilitate integral processes such as team building, strategic planning, cultivating cultures of care within organizations, identity definition, organizational restructuring processes, fundraising and meeting facilitation. All these processes are implemented with Design Thinking tools to enable collective reflection. I also hold a degree in International Relations from the Universidad Iberoamericana; postgraduate diplomas in Strategic Political Analysis from the CIDE, and Transparency, Corruption and Human Rights from the University of Chile. Consultants

 
 

Regina Ganem (she)

I am Mexican and currently live in Mexico City. I understand the work I do as social permaculture; I support environmental and social justice initiatives through the design and facilitation of processes that aim to create beneficial relations with ourselves, our closest community and the environment. I believe in regenerative activism and I am passionate about community building. I am currently an organizational strengthening consultant for civil society organizations dedicated to caring for life and defending human rights. I have collaborated with different civil society organizations for more than 15 years. I held the position of Coordinator of Donor Relations at Fundar, Center for Analysis and Research and collaborated with the same organization in the Institutional Strengthening program and different action-research projects. I had the opportunity to do a Master’s Degree in Ecological Design Thinking in which systemic thinking and the integrality of being (mind-body-soul) and our relationship with our environment are considered as central elements for the design of regenerative human processes. And I was recently trained in Embodied Social Justice. With these learnings I design and facilitate integral processes such as team building, strategic planning, cultivating cultures of care within organizations, identity definition, organizational restructuring processes, fundraising and meeting facilitation. All these processes are implemented with Design Thinking tools to enable collective reflection. I also hold a degree in International Relations from the Universidad Iberoamericana; postgraduate diplomas in Strategic Political Analysis from the CIDE, and Transparency, Corruption and Human Rights from the University of Chile.

 

Regina Ganem

Regina stewards and promotes environmental and social justice projects through the design and facilitation of processes towards regenerative activism and community building. She is currently an organizational strengthening consultant for civil society organizations dedicated to caring for life and defending human rights. She has collaborated with different civil society organizations for more than 15 years. She held the position of Coordinator of Donor Relations at Fundar, Center for Analysis and Research. She also collaborated with the same organization in the ​​Institutional Strengthening program and different action-research projects. She has a Master’s Degree in Ecological Design Thinking in which systemic thinking and the integrality of being (mind-body-soul) and our relationship with our environment are considered as central elements for the design of regenerative human processes. She also holds a degree in International Relations from the Universidad Iberoamericana; postgraduate diplomas in Strategic Political Analysis from the CIDE, and Transparency, Corruption and Human Rights from the University of Chile. She has experience in fundraising, institutional strengthening and facilitation. She works with creative Design Thinking tools to enable collective reflection.