Meet Lola Garcés Calabria, Director, Institutional Partnerships
Lola Garcés Calabria is CIVIC’s Director of Institutional Partnerships. In this role since September 2024, she leads a team that is responsible for developing CIVIC’s funding portfolio with institutional donors globally -cultivating strategic partnerships that further CIVIC’s mission.
Based in Brussels, Lola also plays a leading role in CIVIC’s policy engagement with the European Union and EU Member States, and currently serves as Acting Head of Office.
Lola is a peacebuilding professional with 15 years of experience working as a trainer and practitioner, program manager and business development specialist. She has lived and worked in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Prior to joining CIVIC, she worked with Search for Common Ground in a variety of roles. With a background in Track II mediation, Lola has also worked in backchannel diplomacy on US-Iran relations, Syria and Western Sahara; designed program and country strategies in over 20 countries (spanning thematic areas including mis/disinformation, security sector reform, P/CVE, women and youth); and led the development of expansion strategies into Somalia and Mozambique.
She has an MSc in International Relations and African Studies from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and an MA in Translation and Interpretation from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
