Mentor

Carolina Bermúdez

Program Manager, Colombia, Kindred

Carolina is an Anthropologist and Philosopher who has worked with Indigenous groups in Colombia and Australia over the last ten years. She holds a Master of Social Policy from the University of Melbourne. Carolina has extensive fieldwork experience, mostly in the Amazon and she has coordinated several projects focused on education, cultural strengthening and development of economic alternatives for Indigenous groups.

Carolina has developed multiple skills as a social science researcher, using qualitative methods for data collection and analysis. Her research experiences include an exploration for the International Labour Organisation (ILO), identifying barriers Indigenous people face in accessing the labour market in Colombia; she recently developed a case study on ‘Alternatives to coercion’, commissioned by the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry (RANZCP), focusing on a psychiatric clinic in Bogotá.

During the past three years Carolina has been involved in the design and implementation of community mental health and well-being initiatives. She has played an active role in a project funded by Grand Challenges Canada and implemented by OPIAC (Organisation of Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon), which aims to support Indigenous youth from Vaupés in the pursuit of their mental well-being.