Sebastiana A. Etzo

Summary

Sebastiana is an urban health and governance specialist with over 15 years of international experience in designing and leading transnational exchange and learning initiatives. She is skilled in participatory approaches, with a strong focus on health equity, gender, diversity, and inclusion.
She has a proven track record in managing multi-country projects, engaging stakeholders, and informing policy to improve health and social outcomes. Her core strengths include facilitating knowledge exchange across cultures, developing sector-specific tools, and applying co-creation methods to support inclusive and gender-responsive urban development.
Sebastiana promotes multi-sectoral collaboration, bringing together stakeholders from health, social policy, urban planning, and civil society to tackle complex urban challenges in an integrated way.
She has a solid background in health systems and in addressing health and gender inequalities through participatory and inclusive practices. She is experienced in monitoring and evaluating outcomes, and adapting strategies within complex, cross-border initiatives.
She holds a postgraduate qualification in Urban Health from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, building on earlier academic research, including a PhD with a focus on social and local government political dynamics in African contexts.

Key experience includes:

• Leading international projects on health systems strengthening and accountability
• Designing participatory research methods for urban development
• Providing technical leadership on public health, gender, and social inclusion initiatives
• Translating research into practical policy guidance
• Facilitating stakeholder engagement across sectors and cultures