Amelie first set foot on the Latin American continent as an exchange student in Montevideo, Uruguay 6 years ago and fell in love with the region and its people. Her career in the development sector started when she volunteered in Buenos Aires, Argentina at an equality and justice NGO where she worked on a project dedicated to providing vulnerable communities with information and access to their rights. After completing her bachelors degree in Spanish and Political Science, Amelie spent two and a half years in Medellin, Colombia where she started off as an English teacher at Federico Ozanam high school and was later chosen to implement the ministry of education’s bilingual strategy “Colombia Bilingue” in the region of Antioquia. In this role, she oversaw the successful implementation of the programme in twelve schools and managed a team of twenty international volunteers each semester. After her Colombian adventures, Amelie dived back into the world of education earning herself a masters degree in International Development at the the University of Amsterdam. During this time, Amelie carried out a research period of three months which culminated in a thesis focusing on bilingual education strategies for quality education in Latin America. Since graduating from her masters degree, Amelie worked for Education International, a global Education trade union federation in Brussels, Belgium where she was a consultant and researcher for the solidarity and development unit.
Amelie was brought up bilingual and considers herself to be a global citizen. Originally from Ireland, she spent most of her childhood in Brussels, and adult life in Latin America. Needless to say, she considers all these places to be her home!
