HOW IT ALL STARTED
Juliana, Gabriela and Isabel, three #women from different worldwide cultural backgrounds, met at a personal and professional development training for facilitators back in 2021. Their paths crossed at a time when, after some years of working with other entities, they all felt it was time to be in charge of directing the potential of their own work. They started seeding their collaboration and they immediately knew that something powerful would sprout from that shared endeavour: PAPAYA was funded at the beginning of 2024.
WHAT WE WANT
To create opportunities for people to grow, discover themselves, and build an multicultural community of changemakers, enabling the development of impactful educational experiences tailored to the needs and aspirations of individuals.
THIS IS Us
GABRIELA BRANEANU
Gabriela has been involved with social projects for more than 8 years. With background studies in Psychology and Nutrition and Dietetics, Gabriela finds non-formal education as the ideal playground to share the knowledge, experience and skills that she developed throughout the years. Passionate about working with groups, she focuses on creating a safe and friendly environment for people to get inspired, discover themselves, grow and become changemakers. For the last years, she has been working as a project manager and trainer on EU-funded projects with various organisations from Europe.
Isabel McLean
Isabel is a Spain-based freelance educator working in teaching, training and facilitating. The experience with intercultural exchange programmes from a young age, and her strong interest in understanding and designing learning processes, have led her to where she is now. Isabel is active in the field of non-formal education and International Voluntary Service (IVS) since the year 2017. In the past years she has led and been involved in the creation of a number of projects in and outside of Europe, mostly working with topics such as entrepernership, leadership and communication. Isabel believes in the powerful value that social service and intercultural learning brings to our society and the world. The empowerment of youth through non-formal programmes and international volunteering is her passion.
Juliana Constain
International facilitator and trainer with over 10 years of experience working with Impact driven purpose organizations. She guide individuals and organization through workshops, community building and self-development to find their purpose and to learn from an experiencial perspective. Passionate about fostering innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership and exploring the world, Juliana specializes in creating spaces for connection, empowerment, and problem-solving through creative and non-formal education techniques. She firmly believes that education through play and experience is a powerful tool.