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	Jfscarpelini
	João Felipe Scarpelini
Status: had a ball facilitating Unicef's workshop at the Global Student Forum today in London!!! looking forward for the follow ups! (2.1 days ago)


Title and Organization:		Institutional Development Manager, Peace Child International
Gender and Age:		Male, 23
Location:		London, London, City of
Country of Residence:		United Kingdom
Country of Birth:		Brazil
Nationalities:		Brazilian Italian
Citizenships:		Brazil Italy
Languages:		Portuguese , English , Spanish , French , Italian



Website:		http://www.twitter.com/jfscarpelini - www.joaofelipescarpelini.blogspot.com - www.fotolog.com/jfscarpelini - www.peacechild.org
Instant Messaging:		To protect the privacy of members, Instant Messaging information is only available to logged in members of TakingITGlobal. Login or Sign up now, it's free!

About Me

Hi my name is Joao Felipe Scarpelini, I’m 23 year old Brazilian-Italian. To talk a little more about myself and my story, although I’m still quite young I have accumulated a lot of experience as an activist and social entrepreneur. I have been working with youth empowerment and social change in different organizations since 1999.

I was involved in volunteering since the age of 7, but in fact it was only after visiting a slum area in Santos city for the first time at the age of 13 that my life has completely changed. That visit appealed to me so much that I felt I needed to do something, I needed to change that, but at the time I was told I would have to wait until I was older to be able to help anyhow. I was told that with my age and no higher education I couldn’t do much for those people.

I decided not to wait any longer and I started with something really small, basically sharing the few skills and knowledge I had at that time. I started teaching English, IT and basic life skills for young people of my age. It didn’t took me too long to fall in love with the work and to start dedicating a huge amount of my time to the community. It was never really planned but I turn out to become one key peer educators and reference connection point for different slum areas, schools and youth groups in the city of Santos and Sao Paulo working on different issues such as sexuality, HIV/Aids, nutrition, basic health care, IT, professional skills, media, etc. My main goal was to engage young people like me and support them to develop small actions to improve their own lives.

It was also at this time that I realised there was a real need for more platforms that would allow young people to take part in decision making. The problems of the city were affecting young people as well. It was quite obvious to me that young people needed to be part of the solution too. After lots of work in lobbying the local government and different stakeholders in the community I helped founding the Municipal Youth Commission in the city of Santos - a platform that allows young people to advice on the youth polices and strategies of the city. Realising the impact and the power of those platforms, I decided to work even harder to create more of those spaces and opportunities in as many places as possible.

Since that I have never really stopped and I have been working as an activist on different campaigns, causes and in various organizations.

In 2002 I have started working for Peace Child International (a British based international organization that works to empower young people and promote youth-led development - www.peacechild.org), first in Brazil - mostly with peer education and than in August 2005 I was transferred to its headquarters in England to become the Institutional Development Manager and PR. At Peace Child, I work with a international team of young people to mentor and support youth-led development projects world wide.

I am part of the YouAct – European Youth Network for sexual and reproductive rights and a founding member of the World Youth Citizens movement. I was a member of the Advisory Board of international youth initiatives such as the Youth Action for Change. And I was appointed last November during the UN-HABITAT World Urban Youth Forum as UN-HABITAT Youth Advisor for Latin America.

I represented young people at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Argentina and in over 30 other youth related international events including CIVICUS General and Youth Assemblies, AIVE conference in Delhi, UN-HABITAT World Urban Forum in China, and in the 3 last editions of the World Youth Congress, etc.

I also work as a correspondent for CAPRICHO magazine, which is one of the biggest Brazilian magazines, specialized in youth issues, and I write for three other international publications and a couple of youth related websites. Since 2006 I moderate the educational forum of the youth initiative of the Inter-American Development Bank and I work as an independent consultant on youth strategies for different bodies, organizations, governments and companies.

I was born and raised in Brazil, although during the 9 years I was working in the field I had the opportunity to experience youth and development issues in a broader global perspective. So far I have worked in 31 different countries in North and Latin America, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Pacific.

I have an expertise on youth-led development, social engagement, project management, media, co-management between adults and youth, fundraising, social responsibility, sustainable and eco-friendly practices, education, policy making, volunteering and also in youth identity, self-esteem, sexuality, marketing strategies, technology and trends forecasting.

If you want to know more about me, or would like some help with your project (or your idea for a project!) feel free to get in touch with me!!! =)

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