Livia Maurizi is an international cooperation professional with solid experience in designing, managing, and developing partnerships in complex and highly fragile contexts. Trained as an economist, with a Master of Science in Violence, Conflict and Development from SOAS – University of London, she has built her career by weaving together analysis and field action, guided by a clear choice: to put her skills at the service of people — especially those whose voices are systematically denied.

Over the course of her career, she has worked in Italy, Africa, Latin America, and Asia, collaborating with international organizations, United Nations agencies, and NGOs. She began her professional path within the multilateral system at the World Food Programme (WFP), in the Government Donor Relations division, where she worked on the analysis of funding flows and government donations and contributed to the organization’s strategic planning and three-year budget. This experience gave her a structural understanding of the mechanisms that make humanitarian response possible — or impossible.

She later worked in Latin America, where she managed and implemented activities related to microcredit, enterprise development, advocacy, and education, working closely with Indigenous communities and local staff. This phase was crucial in consolidating her focus on participatory processes and on the role of communities as protagonists of change rather than passive recipients of interventions.

She then served as Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Officer for UNFPA in South Africa, focusing on private sector engagement, innovation in fundraising mechanisms, and the strengthening of institutional relationships. In this role, she contributed to the development of partnership strategies aligned with national priorities and the organization’s programs, balancing vision, sustainability, and impact.

It was during these years that her commitment to a form of cooperation that “does not come from above, but is built as a responsible presence” took definitive shape. This approach would become central to her subsequent experience in Afghanistan — a context in which change cannot be imposed, but must be accompanied. As she explains in her account of NOVE’s activities in the country

“You cannot enter by force, nor can you think you can change everything immediately. You have to enter differently. With care. With listening. Accepting that real change takes time, trust, and many small steps that from the outside seem invisible.”

Her connection with NOVE Caring Humans began in 2015. Joining the organization as a Project Officer, she worked on projects focused on women’s empowerment, training, social inclusion, and support for migrants, both in Italy and especially in Afghanistan. In this role, she coordinated institutional and local partners, managed dialogue with public and private donors, developed impact monitoring tools, and contributed to shaping the organization’s growth strategy. Over time, this commitment evolved into increasing responsibility, culminating in her appointment as Director of NOVE Caring Humans, supporting governance and leading the operational and strategic development of its activities.

In Afghanistan, Livia plays a direct role in defining and sustaining what she herself describes as

“silent work: a daily action made up of listening, constant presence, and patient negotiation in a context marked by invisible but deeply rooted taboos. There are no shortcuts here: every initiative must move with caution, because crossing certain limits does not only risk the failure of a project, but can endanger the people involved.”

Her work, therefore, focuses on building trust, carefully reading unspoken boundaries, and identifying small operational openings — often imperceptible from the outside, yet decisive for women’s lives.

After the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, Livia took part in some of the organization’s most complex and countercurrent decisions: staying and reorienting activities. At a time when many organizations suspended their operations, NOVE’s work continued through constant dialogue with local authorities, involving requests, clarifications, and negotiations that did not compromise the organization’s core principles.

For Livia Maurizi, cooperation is not a neutral profession, but an ethical and conscious choice — one that entails exposure, responsibility, and acceptance of the emotional strain of working in crisis contexts. It is work that means, first and foremost, placing oneself at the service of people.

“We don’t break down walls”

she says, summarizing the philosophy that guides her work at NOVE,

“we dig through them from the inside, patiently, until the light begins to filter through.”