- Erica Gerretsen holds a Master in Business Administration from Université Paris Dauphine and a Master in Urban planning and local administration of Sciences Po in Paris. She has been working for the European Commission since 1995, in external relations. She is a French and Dutch national. - She has been posted in EU Delegations in Slovenia prior to accession and in Benin as Economic advisor. - She has been working in the European Commission Directorate General in charge of international development cooperation (DG DEVCO) since 2003, mostly on Africa. She has been deputy Head of Unit for West Africa in 2012 and then became Head of Unit of the Central Africa region in 2013. She shortly led the Unit in charge of financing for development and development effectiveness in 2016. - In 2016, she was appointed Head of Unit in DEVCO A4 "Budget Support, Public Finance Management and Domestic Revenue Mobilisation". - In 2021, she was the Acting Director for the newly established Directorate in charge of “Sustainable Finance, Jobs and Growth, an Economy that works for the People” of DG INTPA for International Partnerships. - She is currently Head of Unit in DG INTPA E1 “Macro-economic Analysis, Fiscal Policies and Budget Support and Deputy Director in DG INTPA E “Sustainable Finance, Investment and Jobs; Economy that works for the People”.

Ms Stefania Giannini was appointed UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education in 2018, becoming the top UN official in the field. She provides strategic vision and leadership in coordinating and monitoring the Education 2030 Agenda, encompassed in Sustainable Development Goal 4. During her term, she has given fresh impetus to multilateral and bilateral partnerships; increased focus on education’s ethical role in providing learners with the skills to respond to 21st century challenges and on the responsibility of universities in achieving the SDGs. She affirmed UNESCO’s leadership in the COVID-19 response through global evidence, guidance, policy dialogue and collaboration with all partners, including through the Global Education Coalition. In 2022, she led the landmark Transforming Education Summit convened by the UN Secretary-General, which propelled education to the top of the political agenda. With a background in the Humanities, Ms Giannini has served as Rector of the University for Foreigners of Perugia (2004 – 2012); Senator of the Republic of Italy (2013 – 2018) and Minister of Education, Universities and Research (2014 – 2016).

Cristina Gutiérrez Hernández has a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Valladolid (1984-1990). She also has postgraduate certificates in “Tropical Medicine” from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (1994), and in “Development cooperation management projects” from the Complutense University of Madrid (2001). She has over 25 years of professional experience in humanitarian aid and development assistance in NGOs, multilateral organizations and Spanish Cooperation in the Balkans, North Africa and Sub Saharan Africa. From 1996 to 1999 she worked for the NGO “Médicos del Mundo” and for the Andalusian School of Public Health on several health projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). In 2002, she started working for the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), first as a project manager at the Technical Cooperation Office for the Balkans (located in Sarajevo). In 2005 she became General Coordinator of this office, where she worked until 2010. She was designated General Coordinator in Morocco (2010-2014) and later in Mozambique (2014-2018). Since September 2018 she is the Director for Humanitarian Affairs at the AECID.