Célia Fernandez, leads all internal and external communications, including social media, and also manages internal administration for Cerise. As part of the SDG Project (LabODD in French), Célia facilitates working groups and gives training on outcomes measurement. She holds a master’s degree in human rights and humanitarian action from Sciences Po Paris. She has 5 years’ experience in project management for NGOs in Morocco, as well as experience as a Quality Manager (ISO 9001 Standard 2015 version). She speaks French and English.
Joana Afonso is Financial Inclusion Specialist at the European Microfinance Platform (e-MFP) where she coordinates the e-MFP Action Groups and is a member of the content team working on the European Microfinance Week, European Microfinance Award and e-MFP research related activities.
Joana has experience both as practitioner and researcher in the financial inclusion sector. She has previously worked as a microcredit officer at an NGO in Portugal and conducted research on client over-indebtedness and impact evaluation methodologies in microfinance, with field work in the Dominican Republic, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, and Ecuador. She is co-editor of the book “Emerging Challenges and Innovations in Microfinance and Financial Inclusion” (2019). She holds a PhD in economics and finance from the University of Portsmouth, UK, and a masters in microfinance from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.
