Davide Capecchi

See my LinkedIn profile here.

Facilitator, evaluator and programme leader | Education, youth and civic participation in cities | Transnational exchange and learning, capacity building for local authorities, evidence of change

I support public authorities and civil society in moving from strategy to delivery. I do this through structured peer learning, participatory methods and learning-oriented monitoring. I have over 24 years of experience leading and facilitating multi-country programmes in education, youth policy, social inclusion and civic participation. This work has covered the EU, the Western Balkans, the Eastern Partnership and other regions.

My current assignments:

• Senior Key Expert on Capitalisation, Capacity Building and Networking for the EU DEAR Programme (DG INTPA, GOPA Worldwide Consultants). I support civil society organisations and local authorities across Member States through peer learning, networking and knowledge capture.
• Leadership Workshop Facilitator for the GIZ programme Leadership for Health System Strengthening (L4HSS, 2026-2028). The programme runs year-long leadership cycles for senior government decision-makers in nine countries.
• Expert Evaluator, Rapporteur and Vice-Chair for EACEA and the Erasmus+ National Agencies of France, Luxembourg and Cyprus. I have assessed over 300 applications from 16 calls (Erasmus+, European Solidarity Corps, CERV) and moderated consensus meetings.
• Member of the PeaceNexus Foundation Western Balkans pool of consultants, working on organisational development of civil society partners.

What I offer an Action Network

• Activation stage and Baseline Study. I plan and conduct partner visits and interviews with elected representatives, civil servants and local stakeholders. In these visits I assess political commitment, delivery capacity and local context. I then synthesise the findings into a Network Roadmap with a customised exchange and learning programme. My evaluation work focuses on these same questions of feasibility, institutional commitment and risk. At KAICIID I led partner selection and programme design in four regions.

• Transnational exchange and learning. I design and facilitate network meetings, peer reviews, study visits and hybrid formats. I also produce pre- and post-meeting notes that link transnational learning to local work. I facilitate in English and French, and I also work in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and German.

• Local level support. I coach URBACT Local Group coordinators and support Action Labs. This includes stakeholder mapping, co-design of actions, action canvases and SMART tables, and the review of assumptions and risks during delivery.

• Evidence of change. I help cities document change at individual, institutional and city level with a proportionate mix of indicators and qualitative evidence. I also support Mid-term reflection and adjustments of actions. I redesigned the monitoring, evaluation and learning system for a EUR 13 million portfolio at KAICIID.

• Knowledge capture and dissemination. I produce Network Journals, articles and the Actions Playbook, with attention to what can be transferred and what depends on local context. At the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership I coordinated the Handbook on Quality in Learning Mobility and three Youth Knowledge Books.

Selected experience

• Team Leader and Education Coordinator, Union for the Mediterranean Med Youth Lab 2025 (OTB Europe). I designed a blended curriculum for young civic innovators from 14 countries and coordinated a team of trainers. I also mentored teams working on climate adaptation, peacebuilding and education-to-work transition, with an on-site phase in Tirana.
• Chief Programme Officer, KAICIID International Dialogue Centre, Lisbon (2022-2025). I led a 28-person team and a portfolio above EUR 13 million. I supervised more than 12 grant schemes with over 200 grants, including She for Dialogue for women-led organisations and schemes addressing antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred in European communities.
• Secretary General, European Federation for Intercultural Learning (2020-2022). I led 18 EU and Council of Europe funded projects on intercultural learning and Global Citizenship Education.
• Programme Manager, Research and Youth Policy, EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership (2014-2020). I managed a EUR 7 million joint programme across 47 states and coordinated the Pool of European Youth Researchers and the European Knowledge Centre on Youth Policy. I also ran regional peer-learning seminars for national and local policymakers in the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership. I was an expert in the Council of Europe Youth Policy Review of Serbia.
• Director, European Youth Information and Counselling Agency (2007-2014). I led 23 EU-funded projects and delivered capacity building for public authorities in the Western Balkans and the Caucasus. I developed quality standards and training materials for youth information services in more than 20 countries. I also directed a six-module advocacy programme for over 50 youth organisations in North Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina (IPA).

Thematic expertise

My thematic areas are education and lifelong learning (formal, non-formal, blended and digital), youth policy, youth information and civic engagement. I also work on social inclusion and social cohesion, including with minorities and women-led organisations. Further areas are intercultural dialogue, participatory governance, social economy and Global Citizenship Education.

On the URBACT cross-cutting themes, I have worked on gender equality through grant schemes for women-led organisations, on green transition through a climate adaptation track, and on digital transformation through online and blended learning, including a policy MOOC with over 9,000 participants.

Geography and languages

I have worked in over 40 countries. I have worked continuously with civil society and public authorities in the Western Balkans since 2007. I have also contributed to regional policy events and training in Kyiv, Odesa, Chișinău, Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Yerevan and Baku.

My languages are Italian (native), English, French and Spanish (C2), and Portuguese and German (C1).

Education

• PhD candidate in Management and Organisational Behaviour, ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon. My research is on trust in organisations across cultural settings.
• Executive MBA in International Arts Management, University of Salzburg
• Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management, Johns Hopkins University
• MA (Laurea) in Philosophy, University of Milan
• Public Policy Analysis, LSE (2025)
• Evaluating Social Programs, MIT (2025)

Methods and tools

Participatory design of strategies and action plans; facilitation of stakeholder co-creation processes; supporting peer exchange and local learning journeys for cities and local authorities; curriculum design across online and onsite settings; integrated monitoring, evaluation and knowledge capture for implementation and policy impact.