2025 Graduation Stories: Antonella Di Ciano

Driven to help reshape regional governance in Latin America, Antonella Di Ciano enrolled in the Duke Master of International Development Policy (MIDP) program to strengthen her ability to confront environmental crime and build resilient systems grounded in climate justice, peace and gender equity.

“Coming from Venezuela, a country deeply affected by political repression and humanitarian crisis, I was especially motivated to explore how conflict-sensitive development approaches can support peacebuilding and institutional resilience,” she says.

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Antonella’s background includes serving as the regional programme officer for the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, where she led initiatives on illicit economies across Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Panama. She also co-founded Proyecto De La Mano, a Venezuelan NGO that combats malnutrition and food insecurity in rural communities.

At Duke, she built a strong foundation in public policy analysis and systems thinking. She tailored her studies to focus on Peace and Conflict Resolution and earned a Graduate Certificate in International Peace and Conflict Transformation from the University of North Carolina. “This focus has allowed me to analyze regional challenges in Latin America through a lens that centers justice, dignity, and local agency,” she says.

Additionally, she gained hands-on experience with Python, R, Stata and QGIS for development economics, policy evaluation and spatial analysis. She also developed expertise in thematic coding, NVivo, stakeholder analysis and participatory research methods.

For her master’s project, she explored strategies to strengthen regional monitoring and enforcement mechanisms to address illegal mining in the Amazon Basin. Her research on the ecocide unfolding in the region and advocacy to protect the rainforest and its vulnerable communities led her to speak at the 2024 World Economic Forum and TEDxDuke.

Outside her studies, Antonella served as co-president of the Sanford Latin America and Caribbean student organization, interned at the New York University Center on International Cooperation, and was a teaching assistant for the Policy Analysis of Development course.

Working with the Duke Center for International Development (DCID), she organized the Women in Development Talk series, which she credits as one of the most meaningful initiatives during her time at Duke.

“This series brought together Sanford faculty, current students, alumni and development practitioners to share insights across diverse areas like conflict resolution, tech policy and applied economics,” she explains. “It honed my ability to build platforms for knowledge-sharing and elevate underrepresented voices in global policy conversations.”

A Community of Meaningful Relationships

Antonella’s favorite aspect of the MIDP program is the close connection with faculty. “You’re never just a number in a classroom,” she says. “Professors genuinely care about your ideas, your background and your contributions to the learning environment.”

One of the most meaningful connections she formed was with Professor Natalia Mirovitskaya, who taught her to approach public policy with rigor and clarity. The professor’s support through challenging moments – particularly during the Venezuelan electoral crisis on July 28 – left a lasting impression. “I’ll never forget how she kept up with the news and always checked in on my family and wellbeing,” Antonella reflects. “Her care reminded me that mentorship can be both intellectually rich and deeply human.”

Another key mentor has been Professor Kerilyn Schewel. Through her guidance, Antonella embraced qualitative research methods and adopted a more nuanced, people-centered approach to her work. “Professor Kerilyn’s teaching and class materials were transformative,” she says. “Not only did they shape my master’s project, but they also reshaped how I view my role as a development practitioner.”

Antonella also credits the role her classmates have played in creating a supportive community. “Peer support has been the heart of my experience here,” she shares. “From late-night study sessions to sharing meals and life milestones, the Sanford community has truly felt like a family.”

“One of the most special bonds I’ve formed was with a classmate from Afghanistan who had a baby during the program,” she recalls. “I was honored to be there on the day of the delivery and now I’m lovingly known as the baby’s ‘madrina,’ a connection that made me feel like I’ve gained an extended family across continents.”

“These friendships are the kind of support that stays with you long after graduation.”

Turning Insight into Impact

After graduation, Antonella will join the Igarapé Institute in Brazil as a regional coordinator. She will continue her focus on the Amazon rainforest, working at the intersection of environmental crime, gender and organized crime across the region. “This role allows me to combine academic rigor with real-world impact, bringing my research to life through practical policy engagement and collaboration with frontline communities,” she says.

Her long-term career goal is to help shape regional policy frameworks in Latin America that promote peace, climate justice and systemic reform in the face of crises like the one unfolding in her home country.

“The MIDP program prepared me to work across silos, navigate complexity and advocate for solutions that respond to crises like the one my own country, Venezuela, is facing, while building bridges across the region,” she says.

Q&A

What has been your favorite class and why?

My favorite class was Challenging the Status Quo: Alternative Visions of Development with Professor Kerilyn Schewel. The course invited us to reimagine development beyond GDP, exploring frameworks such as the Capability Approach and Doughnut Economics. It was deeply transformative and aligned with my professional interests in inclusive governance, environmental justice and the power of alternative development paradigms.

Has your perspective on your chosen field changed throughout your studies?

Absolutely. My perspective has shifted from focusing solely on individual programmatic interventions to understanding the importance of systems-level change. I’ve come to see how rigorous data analysis is essential, but also how numbers alone can’t fully capture the lived experiences, inequalities and structural barriers that define human development. I now approach development challenges with a more holistic lens, recognizing the value of frameworks like Doughnut Economics, which account for ecological ceilings and social foundations. I've also embraced human-centered design as a way to ground policy in the realities and agency of the people most affected. This multidimensional view has reshaped how I think about impact and justice.

What is one of the most valuable lessons you learned during your time at Duke?

These are challenging times for the development field and much has changed since I first entered the program. Every day, we see new and more complex obstacles emerge, some driven by political shifts and funding uncertainty that limit the work of international cooperation and development. But if there’s one lesson I take with me, it's that development is not defined by institutions alone, it’s shaped by the people who lead it. At Duke, I was surrounded by a global community of individuals deeply committed to equity, justice and change. That sense of purpose is what continues to inspire me.

What advice would you give to incoming MIDP fellows?

Be ready to learn, and equally ready to unlearn. One of the most enriching aspects of the MIDP program is how much you can grow by listening to your professors, staff and peers. We often arrive with convictions shaped by our prior experiences, but true growth comes when we allow those ideas to be challenged. Stay open, curious and humble. You’ll leave with not just more knowledge, but also a deeper understanding of how to contribute meaningfully to the field.