Meet Alice Beccaro

About Myself: I am Alice, I am Italian, married with a Colombian and I have a son, Ludovico, who just turned one-year-old in April this year. I live in Bogota in an old house, that my husband and I restored five years ago.  

My work at the Peacebuilding Fund in Colombia: For the last twelve years, I have been working for the United Nations, and in the last three years, I have been lucky to join the Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Sustaining Peace in Colombia, where I coordinate a very highly committed team of professionals. The Peacebuilding Fund is one of our donors, so we closely work with them, especially with Harald Thorud, our great focal point. Additionally, we also help PBF with the other projects and proposals they have in Colombia with the UN or NGOs, similar to a PBF secretariat.

Peacebuilding in the time of the Coronavirus: Because of the lockdown, activities in the field have been very limited both for UN and civil society organizations. During these times, we have a great responsibility, not only to keep the communities safe and not spread the virus, but at the same time, keep supporting peace implementation.

Peace can`t be a victim of the Covid-19! Therefore, we have encouraged innovative ways to implement our work. It is hard, but we had some successful cases, for example, the Jurisdiction for Peace and the Commission of Truth - transitional justice mechanism - have received in virtual sessions the final reports on human rights violations during the conflict, presented by the victims' organizations that we supported.

My work situation these days: This is my eleven-week working from home. It has been quite hard because I need to juggle between my job and motherhood! Because of the pandemic, I am also supporting the Resident Coordinator's Office with everything related to the 'Duty of Care' we have toward all UN personnel, more than 3,000 here, and therefore the amount of work and hours have increased.

My daily routine these days: My husband and I both work, and quite intense. So, I take care of Ludovico during the morning and work during the afternoon, and whenever he decides to nap. And, we both work during the night, usually until very late, like tonight!! So it has been exhausting!!

But, the fact that I can play during the morning with our son, it makes up for the few hours of sleep! We are also very lucky because our house has enough space for the 5 of us as we also have 2 big dogs and a garden. Actually, our garden is the place where I find peace, whenever I play with Ludovico or when it is sunny and I can work outside.