• Anna Closas, Philosophy, Politics and Economics alumna, former director of the women’s programme at the NGO Light and Leadership Initiative (Huaycán, Peru)

The current situation caused by Covid-19 has prevented Anna Closas Casasampera, a Philosophy, Politics and Economics alumna (class of 2018), from being in Huaycán (Peru), carrying out her work as director of ‘Women Entrepreneurs’, the women’s programme run by the NGO The Light and Leadership Initiative. ‘When the pandemic broke out, I had to come home, to Catalonia, even though I had been hired until the end of the year. For now, I no longer plan to return to Peru, not because I don’t want to, but because right now that South American country is in a very vulnerable situation, and I still don’t know when the programme’s partner schools will be able to open up again’, she explains.

As long as she can, she would like to continue learning and working abroad, because she believes it is very enriching. She admits, however, that she would like to take advantage of the sudden change in the state of affairs to find someone local to take over her position at the NGO. She thinks such a person would be much more familiar with the business world in Huaycán, a very particular district: ‘It is a place on the outskirts of Lima founded by a community of migrants from different provinces of Peru, looking for better living conditions. It is home to a great diversity of ethnicities, religions and customs, but has no clear identity.’

In fact, she currently no longer works directly with the NGO, after spending two months winding up the programme, drawing up documents and reports, improving the class content and learning material and preparing the trainings. She did all this to facilitate the work of the next programme director, if it is someone else, once the health situation makes it possible to relaunch the initiative. In the meantime, during the lockdown, she has been researching and analysing human rights abuses in Europe during the Covid-19 crisis, especially in the areas of gender and migration, for the Quaker Council for European Affairs.

Anna moved to Peru in early 2020, after completing her master’s degree in International Conflict Studies at King’s College London. Captivated by the Light and Leadership Initiative proposal, she was ready to embark on a new stage in her life: ‘From the start, I was strongly drawn to the organization’s philosophy and its relationship with the community: its financial transparency, its communication policy, with which it protects participants, and its goal of creating jobs.’

“You have to be flexible, creative and very organized, and it can sometimes be hard to find the right balance.”

The ‘Women Entrepreneurs’ programme aims to provide the women of Huaycán with the tools and skills they need to achieve stability and financial independence. Anna was responsible for communication and promotion, accounting, content and curriculum development, and recruiting staff and participants, amongst other things. ‘I was virtually running the programme by myself. You have to be flexible, creative and very organized, and it can sometimes be hard to find the right balance’, she says. She explains that education in Peru remains a national challenge, and the gender situation is even worse.

With regard to the bachelor’s degree programme in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at UPF, she says, ‘My experience, like that of everyone on the programme, is very particular. I think the best thing it gave me was the opportunity to study at a variety of faculties and universities.’ She thinks the degree programme equipped her with a multidisciplinary vision and the conviction that the world cannot be viewed from just one perspective: ‘Complexity requires interdisciplinarity.’

Photo gallery

Anna Closas in Huaycán and in her daily life in the women's programme. The last three photos have been donated by the NGO The Light and Leadership Initiative