Cândida Silva

Cândida was born in the Portuguese countryside and grew up with a connection to nature and an awareness of community interdependence and the beauty of mutual support. Later on, this care for others, on a wider scale, led her to pursue a double master’s degree in international relations and development cooperation. After learning about project management and global dynamics, Cândida began working in West Africa, where she spent five years coordinating peacebuilding projects with multiple themes, notably natural resource management.

With a growing awareness of both the links between peace, climate, and natural resources, and the challenges of operationalisation on the ground, she became increasingly interested in integrating conflict and context sensitivity into international interventions, particularly around climate.

Cândida was lucky enough to combine the rich programmatic experience with, more recently, advocacy work in Brussels, where she engaged with EU and international stakeholders in multiple meetings and conferences (including COP29) to promote the integration of peace in the climate discussions, and vice-versa.

With this background, she is excited to coordinate GPPAC’s Climate-Sensitive Peacebuilding work and hopes to have a positive impact, working alongside colleagues and members of the network.

Why Cândida works at GPPAC…

She believes that the answer to most questions is: empowering local stakeholders to act and jointly find solutions to their shared challenges.

Cândida’s favourite place in the world…

Praia da Escadinha, in Bubaque, where calm waters meet palm trees and fishermen tend to their boats as the sun sets in splendour.