During her time at Georgetown, Flavia Carbonari (CLAS ’07) had the opportunity to meet the head of social inclusion at the World Bank. She later interviewed him for a paper and, just before graduating, she began working at the Bank herself. Over the years, she became an international development specialist with a focus on social development, gender, peace, and security. In 2013 she moved to Argentina, becoming an external consultant for the World Bank while also leading research for NGOs, research institutes and think tanks in Brazil and the US. She has worked in more than 20 countries in Latin America, Africa, and East Asia. She also worked from 2016-2019 as a special advisor to the National Secretary of Planning, Coordination and Capacity Building at the Ministry of Security of Argentina. She became a non-resident fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in 2018, and a Technical Advisor to the Halving Global Violence Task Force at the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies in 2020.

About her time at CLAS and SFS, Flavia, who worked as a journalist in Brazil prior to the MA, stated that her professional career “took a major turn after joining CLAS. The program allowed me to combine my passions for research and writing, international relations, and social issues, leading me to international development. It gave me the knowledge and skills needed to understand, analyze, and navigate complex governance and social contexts, and to be able to engage with different actors in order to inform and improve public policies. My time at CLAS also provided incredible networking opportunities, such as the one that led me to the World Bank, where I have been since leaving Georgetown.”