Gioel Gioacchino (2012 - 2013)

Italy

The belief that intercultural dialogue is a powerful instrument for international development is at the centre of Gioel's work.
Gioel grew up in a small town in central Italy, but soon left to explore the world. In 2007, she studied conflict resolution aboard the Scholar Ship, a passenger ship hosting students from all over the world on a four-month trip around the world. This was a true intercultural experiment that profoundly impacted her vision. 

In 2008/09, Gioel received a grant to study and work in Germany for a year and spent a month in Nablus, Palestine, delivering a Cultural Dialogue workshop with Project Hope.

Following that project, she co-founded Recrear – a platform to support young people in launching their own initiatives, experimenting with innovative approaches to development. Two years later, in 2011, she was elected executive director and since, then her “life has been packed in a suitcase.”   

Recrear’s projects have taken Gioel to Palestine, the Dominican Republic, Canada and Bangladesh. In the past year, she worked as a research associate for the International Institute for Trade and Development in Bangkok, Thailand, and for the Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar in Quito, Ecuador. As part of her research in Ecuador, she spent two months travelling around the Esmeraldas province with 100 Voices, a Recrear project aimed at exploring the participation of youth in community development. 
Gioel holds a BA in International Studies from the University of New Orleans and an MPhil in Development Studies from Cambridge University.

Believing that Recrear is an organization with the right attitude, human resources and energy to deliver increasingly sophisticated projects, Gioel will be devoting her Sauvé Year to developing a model to ensure Recrear’s financial sustainability while continuing to focus on the organizations’ programs and vision.

“Our edge is being and working with young people and we want to capitalize on this. Recrear’s mission is to create an intercultural platform of entrepreneurs, students, consultants and professionals to energize the international development debate and to support young people who are implementing and testing their innovative projects. I intend to develop and implement a business plan to ensure Recrear’s financial sustainability by designing a mechanism for companies to invest in innovative, youth-oriented development programs. More specifically, I plan to create a program that allows companies to outsource their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding to facilitate young people’s international knowledge transfer through Recrear’s projects.”

Gioel loves writing and photography and is an active member of Cowbird, a small community of storytellers.

In addition to her native Italian, Gioel speaks English, German and Spanish and hopes to improve her French while in Montreal.
 

Mother Tongue

English, German and Spanish

Country of origin

Italy

Country of Residence

Italy