Cristina Garcia is the Regional Director for HIAS in Latin America and the Caribbean supporting, overseeing and connecting HIAS regional response to the displacement situation in 11 Latin American Countries where HIAS has more than 1,000 staff and around 60 field offices.

Cristina is a humanitarian professional with more than 18 years of experience in both humanitarian response and development work in America, Africa and Asia. During that time she has led and managed programs in various contexts. She has managed in displacement settings such as the Sahrawi refugee camps in Western Sahara and the Venezuelan displacement crisis. As well as heading peace building and human rights strengthening programs in the Philippines and Colombia, Cristina has successfully worked with UNHCR and other UN agencies, donors such as Spanish Aid-AECID, and international NGOs including MSF Switzerland and TGH-France.

Specifically trained to provide general protection as well as the prevention of gender-based violence in emergency situations, Cristina has led in a number of emergency humanitarian interventions including those responding to the 2003 Algerian Earthquake, Guatemala’s Hurricane Stan disaster in 2005 and Typhoon Haiyan that hit the Philippines in 2013.

Cristina is a passionate advocate for refugees and holds a Master’s Degree in Human Rights with a specialization in International Refugee Law from the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), a Diploma in Humanitarian Aid and Development Cooperation from Bioforce in Lyons and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Management from The University of Alcalá.