Nicolas Martin Alesso

Nicolas Martin Alesso

Argentina

I was born in a small town in Argentina, the son of a rural worker and a rural school teacher. I was the first in my family to earn a college degree. Today, I seek to impact the youth of my country, Latin America, and the world through education. My work aims to answer one fundamental question: How can I help communities to achieve their potential?
Academic research on international conflict and leadership, Capacity building, and management are my greatest passions as a professional. I work to generate competencies, skills, and training so that young people -especially the underprivileged- can have a better chance of accessing a prosperous and sustainable future. My goal is to empower their lives through education, so that they can become agents of change for their communities and their countries, committed to citizen participation, with skills to create and with minds to innovate. My long-term goal is to help societies and the world to be more just, equitable, and safe.
I have studied English and International Relations (nowadays, finishing my MA). This discipline has given me a complex and precise vision of the world system, its dynamics, and its challenges. Collaborating with social projects and volunteers allows me to see the daily reality of people, to know their problems, their hopes, and the invisible walls that do not allow them to develop their full potential. Having worked as a teacher at all levels of education has permitted me to know first-hand the needs, challenges, and hopes of youth in an ever-changing world.
I have been awarded scholarships in competitive programs granted by organizations from different countries, such as the United States (Fulbright, University of Arizona, Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative -U.S. State Department), Portugal (Ubuntu United Nations – IPAV), Argentina (Federación Universitaria Río de La Plata, Catholic University of Salta, Fulbright, Government of the Province of Santa Fe), to mention a few.
My research interests are peace-building and nation-building. I have published several articles. Through these, I have been invited to be a member of research centers in two of the most prestigious universities in Latin America regarding international relations. At both, I collaborate as a researcher and volunteer in the editorial and communication teams. Having written a chapter for an e-book launched in 2020 and learning from senior researchers are my greatest achievements in this area.
As a member of the Eurasia Chair and a university professor, I have the opportunity to get to know different cultures and ways of understanding history and the world. In the same way, the aforementioned scholarships have led me to meet people from different parts of my country and the world and allowed me to know their challenges, learn from their experiences and collaborate with them to solve problems. On this, my last experience was to train rural teachers in Peru on post-pandemic competencies through an NGO program with the support of the United States Embassy in Peru and YLAI.
During my life, I have been a volunteer in different educational initiatives. In my town, I took part in the design of a school support project for underprivileged children, and a kindergarten. Also, I was part of the team that designed the project for the first tertiary institution in the region (in which today I am the academic coordinator). In addition, I am a member of a local NGO that helps teenagers and young adults with addictions. Finally, but not less important, I was selected as an application reader for the Young African Leaders Initiative’s Mandela Washington Fellowship, where I was able to learn about the reality and challenges of Uganda, through the voice of young leaders who day by day strive to transform the country.
In educational management, I work on three projects. First, I am the Academic Coordinator of the aforementioned higher education institute. In this part-time position, I analyze and propose the undergraduate options that would be open next year, manage institutional projects, develop courses, seminars, and talks for different sectors of society and types of audiences, coordinate the teaching team, and organize institutional activities towards society. From 2017 to these days, I proposed undergraduate courses that became the most successful in terms of graduate students that found a job. Besides, I managed an agreement between my institution and a University, releasing the first two graduate courses in the city’s history. Organized on-site and virtual courses, seminars, and talks targeting different society sectors, reaching 1500+ attendants.
Furthermore, I work remotely as Academic Director of an educational project called School of Political Training based in Buenos Aires. This non-partisan project aims to train leaders in the field of political and citizen participation, through tools such as economic management, political communication, team management, financial literacy, use of technology, and paradigms such as integrity and leadership as a service and by example. At EFOP, I manage the educational projects and their adaptation to virtual teaching environments, teaching and management teams, and two joint ventures. In 2019, the project shifted from in-person format to virtual learning. In two years, we have reached more than three hundred students interested or committed to their communities and countries in Latin America and Spain, which allows us to generate a direct social impact. Additionally, we have reached 1000+ attendants in virtual masterclasses.
Finally, I have developed two projects for the teaching of English in primary schools located in rural or semi-rural communities in the north of my province. These projects were designed for the Ministry of Education of the Province of Santa Fe around these axes: language teaching, the use of ICT, and the transmission of the global citizenship paradigm from the place where they live, so we preserve the local identity while valuing diversity in an enriching world. One of these projects allowed a primary school in a semi-rural community to have English from first to seventh grade for the first time in the north of my province, empowering children with skills that help them build a better future and possibilities. The next objective is to generate virtual international education experiences, connecting students, teachers, and administrators of the Ministry with schools in other countries. As first steps, we will establish alliances with schools in Colombia and the United States – in this case, institutions with projects for English Language Learners.
My goal is to empower their lives through education, so that they can become agents of change for their communities and their countries, committed to citizen participation, with skills to create and with minds to innovate. I understand this initiative as defined by its phrase “Peace starts with individual action, and my actions will inspire others.” In my years of working in education, I impacted the lives of thousands of young men and women, young adults, and hundreds of children in my community, Argentina and Latin America through capacity building. Today, many of them impact their communities in different areas, causing peace, development, and prosperity.