Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Websites
Languages
Leadership Experience
Publications
Affiliations
Certification
Awards
Timeline
Generic

Yohan Alvarez

Durham,United States

Summary

As a political scientist specializing in Project Management and theologian, I have worked in the public, social, and religious sectors, leading processes focused on developing human and institutional capacities for social inclusion and peacebuilding. I am convinced that social transformation depends on the will of multiple actors and the need to work on building relationships that facilitate consensus, trust, and collaboration for the common good.

Overview

16
16
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification

Work History

Church & Community Agent

Ormond Center, Duke Divinity School
09.2024 - Current
  • Support the work in the Academy of Teaching, Training and Learning, and Translational Research, including recruiting efforts of Church & Community Collaborative, support planning and implementation of Church & Community Collaborative, provide follow-up with Church & Community cohorts, and assistant with data collection and management for Translational Research Projects.

Head Agent Student

Ormond Center, Duke Divinity School
08.2023 - 08.2024
  • Support the work in the Academy of Teaching, Training and Learning, and Translational Research, including pastoral care to other TC Fellows, support for Ormond Center events, and assist with data collection and management for Translational Research Projects.

Graduate Student Intern

Student Action With Farmworkers
05.2024 - 07.2024
  • Design a Relationship and Communication Strategy with Faith-Based Organizations (FBO) in coordination with SAF Staff.
  • Develop a minimum of three (3) listening sessions focusing on FBO (including local churches) in North Carolina on farmworker issues.

Associate Student

Center for Reconciliation, Duke Divinity School
08.2022 - 08.2023
  • Develop the Third Institute for Transformation and Reconciliation to support the AITR Academic Committee, including preparing virtual sessions, organizing logistics, following up with participants, and reporting.
  • Co-write paper on reconciliation, religious actors, and psychosocial support for displaced trauma survivors in Colombia in collaboration with the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).

Research Coordinator

Peace and Hope Colombia
02.2022 - 07.2022
  • Coordinate research on religious and psychosocial support for displaced trauma survivors in Colombia funded by the United State Institute of Peace (USIP).

Professional B Social and Environmental

Empresas Públicas de Medellín E.S.P. (EPM)
04.2014 - 06.2022
  • Company Overview: The EPM Group is among the ten (10) companies with the highest reputation in Colombia, according to the Corporate Reputation Business Monitor (Merco). Likewise, it is among the 100 most important multilatin companies according to the report 'Multilatinas BCG' of The Boston Consulting Group.
  • Develop socio-political risk management in EPM Group projects.
  • Develop agreements with public and private entities and communities organizing within the EPM Group policies and procedures.
  • Technical management of intersectoral agreements to implement building trust and capacity development strategies in communities affected by violence and exclusion*.

* Intersectoral agreements with Demarginalize Consultants, TRUST Consultants, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Ideas for Peace Foundation (FIP), and community organizations (Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, Community Action Boards) for approximately USD 5.139.448.

Research Coordinator

Inter-Church Dialogue for Peace of Colombia / Peace and Hope Colombia
02.2021 - 05.2021
  • Coordinate research project 'Thematic report on reconciliation experiences of FARC's former members at the ETCRs.' Research conducted by the Inter-church Dialogue for Peace Colombia (DIPaz) and Peace and Hope Colombia, funded by the Delegation of the European Union in Colombia and ACT/Swedish Church, within the project 'Moving Towards a Society Ethically Better Prepared for Peace.'

Community Facilitator

Peace and Hope Ecuador
01.2013 - 11.2013
  • Develop the 'Public Diaconía' program focused on the ecclesial communities of Guayaquil-Ecuador by preparing the academic and methodological content, carrying out a formative process, advising ecclesial facilitators, and evaluating the process.

Research Assistant

PRODEPAZ Corporation
09.2012 - 12.2012
  • Support mapping of Information Systems related to Territorial Strategic Processes (i.e., human rights, rural development, children, adolescents, and youth) and mapping stakeholders in Eastern Antioquia to create a Knowledge Management Strategy in the Regional Development, Peace, and Stability Program framework.

Research Assistant

Institute of Political Studies (University of Antioquia)
07.2009 - 10.2009
  • To develop the second phase of the Public Policy on Recreation and Sports in Medellin evaluation process, which includes adapting evaluation instruments and databases, defining cross-referencing variables, and consolidating qualitative information and reports.
  • To build a baseline for evaluating the Public Policy on Recreation and Sports in Medellin, which includes the design and application of instruments for data collection, analysis, and reporting.

Research Assistant

Institute of Political Studies (University of Antioquia)
10.2008 - 12.2008
  • To develop the second phase of the Public Policy on Recreation and Sports in Medellin evaluation process, which includes adapting evaluation instruments and databases, defining cross-referencing variables, and consolidating qualitative information and reports.
  • To build a baseline for evaluating the Public Policy on Recreation and Sports in Medellin, which includes the design and application of instruments for data collection, analysis, and reporting.

Education

Master of Divinity - Theology

Duke Divinity School, Duke University
Durham, NC
05.2025

University Specialist - Project Management

University Corporation God's Minute
Medellín, Colombia
12.2017

Bachelor of Arts - Political Science

University of Antioquia
Medellín, Colombia
06-2012

Skills

  • Problem-solving skills
  • Positive attitude
  • Customer service and care
  • Problem-solving
  • Relationship building
  • Organizational skills
  • Clear communication
  • Critical thinking

Languages

Spanish
Native or Bilingual
English
Professional Working

Leadership Experience

Peace and Hope Colombia*, Medellín, Colombia.

Co-Founder and National Director, Dec 2017 – March 2021.

  • Organization overview: Peace and Hope Colombia is a faith-inspired human rights organization belonging to the Peace and Hope fraternity in Latin America (Perú, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia), the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.
  • Manage programs, projects, and initiatives on reconciliation and victims' rights, the prevention of violence against women, the protection of children, and the public advocacy of the churches in these fields.
  • Develop the Organization's Relationship Plan with Stakeholders, strengthening cooperative and trusting relationships with national and international partners, including churches, faith-based organizations, and other civil society organizations.
  • Consolidate a project management model based on transparent and efficient institutional, administrative, and accounting practices, procedures, and policies.

Publications

  • Balmaceda, N., Martines, A., & Alvarez, Y., 2024, “When Religious Actors offer Psychosocial Support: Empirical Finding among Internally Displaced Communities in Colombia” in Journal of Peacebuilding and Development (In-Process Peer Review).
  • Villa Gómez, Juan David, & Alvarez, Yohan, 2022, “Weaving Humanizing Encounters: Reconciliation Meanings and Practices Amongst Reincorporate FARC Ex-Combatants and Neighboring Communities” in Hallazgos 20(39).
  • Alvarez, Y., Gómez, G., & Hasen, S., 2020, A comparative approach. Memories I International Seminar "Participation of Churches and Civil Society in the Work of Truth Commissions," Asociación Paz y Esperanza Colombia. https://institutopaz.net/publicaciones/una-mirada-comparada/.
  • Alvarez, Yohan, 2018, “Building trust relationships with the stakeholders in business projects and operations” in Revista EPM, 12: 31-7. https://www.epm.com.co/content/dam/epm/institucional/revista- epm-edicion-12-julio-diciembre-2018.pdf.
  • Valencia, Germán & Alvarez, Yohan, 2008, “Political science and public policies: notes for a historical reconstruction of their relationship” in Estudios Políticos, Instituto de Estudios Políticos, Universidad de Antioquia, 33: 93-121.

Affiliations

  • United Methodist Church member

Certification

  • Systems Thinking – Critical Approaches for Peacebuilding, CDA Collaborative Learning Projects, 2023 October
  • Summer Institute for Reconciliation, Center for Reconciliations - Duke Divinity School, 2019 June

Awards

  • THRIVING COMMUNITY FELLOW, 2022, Duke Divinity School, Duke University.
  • HONOR SCHOLARSHIP, 01/01/06, 01/07/08, University of Antioquia.

Timeline

Church & Community Agent

Ormond Center, Duke Divinity School
09.2024 - Current

Graduate Student Intern

Student Action With Farmworkers
05.2024 - 07.2024

Head Agent Student

Ormond Center, Duke Divinity School
08.2023 - 08.2024

Associate Student

Center for Reconciliation, Duke Divinity School
08.2022 - 08.2023

Research Coordinator

Peace and Hope Colombia
02.2022 - 07.2022

Research Coordinator

Inter-Church Dialogue for Peace of Colombia / Peace and Hope Colombia
02.2021 - 05.2021

Professional B Social and Environmental

Empresas Públicas de Medellín E.S.P. (EPM)
04.2014 - 06.2022

Community Facilitator

Peace and Hope Ecuador
01.2013 - 11.2013

Research Assistant

PRODEPAZ Corporation
09.2012 - 12.2012

Research Assistant

Institute of Political Studies (University of Antioquia)
07.2009 - 10.2009

Research Assistant

Institute of Political Studies (University of Antioquia)
10.2008 - 12.2008
  • Systems Thinking – Critical Approaches for Peacebuilding, CDA Collaborative Learning Projects, 2023 October
  • Summer Institute for Reconciliation, Center for Reconciliations - Duke Divinity School, 2019 June

Master of Divinity - Theology

Duke Divinity School, Duke University

University Specialist - Project Management

University Corporation God's Minute

Bachelor of Arts - Political Science

University of Antioquia
Yohan Alvarez