E-Mail sandra.mendez@ecopartner.ch
Based in Uttwil, Switzerland
LinkedIn Sandra Méndez-Fajardo
Degree
Civil Engineer and PhD in Engineering, Javeriana University | Colombia
MSc in Engineering, University of Los Andes | Colombia
Areas of Expertise
Solid Waste Management including municipal, organics (with emphasis on composting), C&D, and WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electrocic Equipment). Special experience in the design of socio-technical systems, systems approach in the design of policies and solutions, and local empowerment. With his doctoral thesis, she gave methodological advice on the systemic design of the National Policy for the Sustainable Management of WEEE in Colombia.
Countries of working experience
Colombia, Switzerland, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador
Languages
Spanish (Native), English, German (basic)
Career
Sandra has more than 25 years of professional experience as a professor, researcher, project director and consultant at the Javeriana University in Bogotá. In 2006 she started to develop projects in Colombia in which different participatory methods were applied and through their combination evolved as the concept of systemic design. Between 2009 and 2012, she led the design and implementation of the social program PROSOFI of the Javeriana University. This program aims at involving the community, public and private institutions, NGOs, schools and other universities, with the main goal of enhancing community development. The implementation of systemic methods from the very beginning has resulted in the development of several projects on solid waste management, stream and river conservation, social entrepreneurship (small and medium businesses), risk management (e.g. to face landslides or floods), among others. From 2014 to 2015, she had the opportunity to support and advise the National Committee for WEEE management in the design of the National Policy on WEEE Management in Colombia, applying the systemic design.
She She has been living in Switzerland since 2016, and has been working with Ecopartner since 2018 leading projects in Latin America and the Caribbean with different Swiss organisations, including the World Resources Forum, Repic, Jugendhilfe Weltweit Don Bosco, Skat Consulting and Skat Foundation.
…outside the office
Sandra enjoys painting landscapes, animals and abstract images always playing with materials, colors and textures. She has been integrating art, meditation and activities in nature to get inspired in her daily life.
CV Sandra Méndez