Legislative Fellows Profiles
Barbara Salles Brasilia, Brazil • • • •
Expertise: Social Policy Home Organization: Federal Senate of Brazil Host Organization: Indiana State Senate Host City: Indianapolis, IN
Ms. Salles has four years of experience in the legislative field, with particular expertise on education and social issues. Currently she serves the Federal Senate of Brazil as a Legislative Assistant for Senator Ana Amélia Lemos. In this capacity, she is responsible for monitoring, analyzing and developing policy strategies at two Senate Committees: the Social Affairs Committee and the Education Committee. Previously, Ms. Salles worked in the Legislative Affairs Unit at NK Advisory and Consulting, a government relations consultant firm in Brazil specializing in health issues. The thread that ties her experiences together is a commitment to creating and developing conditions to advance issues of social welfare through policy and practice. As a volunteer, Ms. Salles has coordinated a clothing distribution program for a nonprofit that provides layette sets to young families in need.
Paola Aldana
Bogotá, Colombia • Expertise: Corporate Contracts • Home Organization: Fundación Nueva Vida Para Todos • Host Organization: Ready Nation • Host City: Washington, DC Ms. Aldana is a lawyer involved in social work since 2005. She is a volunteer of the New Life for Everyone Foundation (Fundación Nueva Vida Para Todos), which seeks to improve the quality of life of children and youth living in Bogota’s slum district. Ms. Aldana provides pro-bono legal advice to the Foundation in such areas as corporate and business law, negotiation of contracts and joint ventures, and other legal matters that the organization faces. She has also helped develop and strengthen the social programs that the NGO provides. Ms. Aldana has served on the Board of Directors since 2007. In response to her continued active participation in the Foundation, in 2013 the Council of Founders appointed Ms. Aldana as an Associated Adhesive, an honorary title that allows her to participate in the Council of Founders with the same capacity as its original members. Professionally as a lawyer, Ms. Aldana specializes in infrastructure projects. She sees infrastructure development as a multidisciplinary approach to improving the economy with new jobs and developing the surrounding communities.
Legislative Fellows Profiles
Claudio Alencar Recife, Brazil
Marcelo Moreira
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
• Expertise: Participatory Budgeting • Home Organization: Pernambuco State Legislative Assembly • Host Organization: Indiana State Budget Agency • Host City: Indianapolis, IN
• Expertise: Government Efficiency • Home Organization: Minas Gerais State Secretariat for Civil Affairs and Institutional Relations • Host Organization: Legislative Services Agency • Host City: Indianapolis, IN
Mr. Alencar is a Budget and Public Policy Analyst for the Pernambuco State Legislative Assembly where he has also served as a Legislative Advisor. He has experience in monitoring government expenditure and managing participatory budget initiatives. Mr. Alencar is also the author of a book titled, A Guide for Citizens: Pernambuco Public Budget.
Mr. Moreira serves the Minas Gerais State Government as the Advisor for Strategic Management and Innovation. He supports the Secretariat for Civil Affairs and Institutional Relations in designing and managing projects aimed at improving state governance and relations with civil society, quality improvement in legislation and decree drafting, and increasing Secretariat efficiency.
With nearly 20 years as a civil servant, Mr. Alencar previously served as Chief Coordinator of the International Finance Program for the Pernambuco State Department of Tourism and Chief Coordinator of Macroeconomics Programs for the Superintendency for the Development of the Northeast (Superintendência de Desenvolvimento do Nordeste). During his Fellowship, Claudio will examine some of the challenges that Indianapolis is facing with public budgets.
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Prior to his current position, Mr. Moreira served in other civil service capacities for the state government of Minas Gerais. He was a Project Coordinator and International Trade Analyst for the State Secretariat for Economic Development. During his Fellowship, Mr. Moreira will assess how the local government in Indianapolis is providing its citizens with more opportunities to participate in the decision making process.
Legislative Fellows Profiles
Monica Cardenas
Ivan Moraes Filho
Bogotá, Colombia
Recife, Brazil
• Expertise: Freedom of Expression • Home Organization: Centro de Cultura Luiz Freire • Host Organization: Free Press • Host City: Washington, DC
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As the Communications Coordinator of Centro de Cultura Luiz Freire for the last ten years, Mr. Moraes has lead campaigns to increase support for community radios, production groups and newspapers, as well as educate the public regarding legislation regulating media ownership. He is also the author of books with short stories and hundreds of articles about human rights.
Ms. Cardenas is a Legal Advisor with a specialty in public economic law. She supports the mission of Colombian government agency, Organizaciones Solidarias, to assists the development of the solidarity economy in the country – including co-operatives and mutuals. Ms. Cardenas provides legal counsel for the drafting of international agreements.
Since 2009, Mr. Moraes has also been involved in a television show titled Pé na Rua (Foot on the Street), which focuses on historically excluded segments of society and provides a platform for citizens to speak their minds on public television. Mr. Moraes joined civil society after a career with traditional commercial media groups. During his Fellowship, Ivan will provide a policy analysis comparing media ownership and public media in Brazil and the United States.
Expertise: International Agreements Home Organization: Organizaciones Solidarias Host Organization: Indianapolis Governor’s Office Host City: Indianapolis, IN
Ms. Cardenas has experience in the private sector as an Administrative Director for Almagrario S.A., for which she focused on corporate contracts. She has also served as a Legal Advisor for such entities as the Environmental Services EU and Comisión Colombiana del Océano, as well as Junior Legal Advisor for the local government of Cota, Cundinamarca and the University of Santo Tomás Legal Office. During her fellowship she is interested in observing how best practices are shared among organizations and across countries, especially in terms of advancing the third sector.
Legislative Fellows Profiles
Astrid Melendez
Sergio Peñaloza
Medellin, Colombia
Bogotá, Colombia
• Expertise: Environmental Advocacy • Home Organization: Alexander von Humboldt National Institute of Biodiversity Mr. Peñaloza is a lawyer with experience in public policy and environmental research. He is currently a researcher and analyst for the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Research on Biological Resources, which is the biodiversity research branch of the National Environmental System (Sina). Mr. Peñaloza is specifically working on issues regarding sustainability of the páramo ecosystem, a neo-tropical, high-altitude eco-region located along the Andean mountain range. The region is populated by mostly indigenous people and peasants, and is essential to the country’s water supply. He regularly works with scientists and environmental experts to brief the Colombian National Congress on environmental sustainability. Mr. Peñaloza is one of the key players in charge of making suggestions for technical laws regarding the environment. During his Fellowship he would like to work with researchers and how they convey the importance of certain environmental issues to the state or federal government.
• Expertise: Patient Rights • Home Organization: Antioquia Network for Patient Safety / High Court of Antioquia Ms. Melendez has a background as a legal advisor for the Antioquia Network for Patient Safety where she offers trainings on patient rights and safe practices in healthcare. She also teaches doctors about criminal liability. Her experience in this area, as well as her previous career as a private lawyer, cumulated in her appointment to the High Court of Antioquia for which she is an Associate Judge. Ms. Melendez is no foreigner to US policy around patient safety. A couple of years ago she met with various relevant organizations in Boston and learned that the US and Colombia have rather similar laws in place around patient safety, but implementation is drastically different. During her fellowship, Ms. Melendez would like share her lessons learned from the work and learn about your involvement in the field so she can return to Colombia with suggestions to improve the healthcare system.