Doing the Right Thing

When she was 13, Giovanna Li Perni dreamed of changing the world by making the right choices. And she puts the accent on the word “right,” as we sip our coffee. Today, as head of Private Partnerships and Philanthropy for UNHCR in Italy (the United Nations refugee agency) in Italy, she is responsible for handling major donations to support projects for people who have been forced to flee their countries because of conflicts or persecution. This means providing resources and tools to people who have lost everything. She tells us: “I’m a Sicilian from Vittoria, near Ragusa. I always knew that I wanted to travel the world. When I was a little girl, I joined the Scouts. It has been an incredibly powerful school of life that broadened my horizons. I owe part of who I am today to that experience: it allowed me to understand the meaning of teamwork and how to lead a group of people.”

After graduating in Economic and Social Sciences from Bocconi University in 1995, Li Perni moved to Milan, where she continued to volunteer as an AGESCI scout (the Italian Association of Catholic Scouts and Guides). She spent her final year of university in Buenos Aires, where she wrote her thesis on the social costs of structural adjustment programs in Argentina. It was there that she confirmed her desire to work for the poorest of the poor. “I wanted to use my skills to serve poor people, not big business.” To accomplish this, she started her fieldwork. So she further refined her education with a Master’s in Development Economics at the University of Swansea, where she started a research project on Italian aid in Albania. “With an approach somewhere between researcher and journalist, I interviewed dozens of people, from EU officials to NGOs. I asked tons of questions, especially the awkward ones,” she laughs. 

In 1997, she was in Sarajevo working with an NGO helping women displaced from Srebrenica. “I stayed in Bosnia for four years, where we set up two multi-service centers offering legal, psychological and medical assistance and business training. I remember these women who had suffered unspeakable things... when they realized that we really wanted to help them, they warmed up to us.” 

In 2001, she decided to return to Italy, to Rome, but that wasn’t easy. “In Bosnia I ran several centers throughout the country (we also opened centers for young people, not only for women), I negotiated with local leaders, I coordinated 60 people, whereas in my own country I was considered and treated like a young nobody.” Then she applied to the United Nations and was selected, but turned down the post. “I was getting married, and working for the UN would have meant moving. So I asked them to put my position on hold.” In the meantime, she obtained a Master’s degree in Peacekeeping and Security Studies at Roma Tre University. 

Then she was called to fieldwork again. She flew to Russia with another NGO for a program to stop violence against women in the Kaliningrad region from 2005 to 2010. “During one of the first missions, I found out that I was pregnant and that the pregnancy was high-risk: I had to stay in bed and I was admitted to the Kaliningrad hospital, known as the ‘abortion factory.’ The nurses, who are harsh with everyone, were kind with me because I was the only patient who wanted to have my child. They showered me with love, even though we had no common language to communicate and I was a foreigner.” A month later, Li Perni was transferred to Italy and safely gave birth to her daughter Sara. Motherhood also gives her an extra boost at work. “I went back to work right away and I can say that Sara has been with me since she was a child. Partly out of passion, partly out of character, I have always included her in my world and my work,” she adds.

Work that has evolved from collaboration to fundraising. In 2008, Li Perni was Head of Major Donor & Legacy at UNICEF, and in September 2013, the call came from UNHCR. She said yes with enthusiasm to work for the cause. “Today I am no longer in the field. At first, that was difficult to accept, but I know that I’m working so that the people who are out there have the resources to do well.”