Hi! My name is Emanuela, I’m 24 and I’m from Italy. I hold a Master’s degree in Cooperation between the EU and Developing Countries from Strasbourg University (France) and a Bachelor’s degree with honours from the University of Catania (Italy). I first became interested in development cooperation and development economics while writing my Bachelor’s thesis about experiences of civil economy in Sub-Saharan Africa and the “Economy of Communion” project. After obtaining my Bachelor’s degree, I started a journalistic collaboration with an Italian magazine dealing with this project. In order to gain deeper understanding of the functioning of a civil economy-oriented business and of its impact in the context of a developing country, I worked for two months as an intern with Bangko Kabayan, Inc., a rural bank based in the Philippines. This experience also enabled me to further my knowledge about microfinance. During my Master’s course, I also had the opportunity to collaborate with AMSED, a French NGO, on a project for women’s empowerment in rural Algeria. After that, I worked for five months as a research intern at UNU-CRIS, a UN research institute based in Belgium. My research revolved around the post-2015 UN development framework. I decided to enrol in MESCI because I want to gain deeper understanding of the economic factors that come into play in development processes. I am convinced that the knowledge and skills I will acquire here will be essential for my future as a development cooperation practitioner.