Swissocial

Swissocial – Center for Social Impact Ltd was founded by Juan J. Alarcon and Gerald Piunti in March 2013.
CEO & Founder

Juan J. Alarcon

Juan J. Alarcon has a Master’s degree in Economics (Barcelona, 1976) and in Financial Investment (Geneva, 1978). He has also a Diplome for Development Cooperation – NADEL of the ETH (Zurich, 2002) and he completed the Advanced Management Program of the IESE Business School (Barcelona, 2008).

  • From 1980-1985 he was the financial director of an international trading company in Geneva.
  • From 1985 -2018, J. Alarcon has been the project director of the Limmat Foundation, and has directed more than 450 social projects in 40 different countries.
  • He has lectured at numerous seminars in developing countries for managers and project developers from NGOs and development cooperation institutions.
  • In 2002, he developed the methodology of the Socio-Economic Welfare Index (SEWI), applying and improving it within the Limmat Foundation.
  • From 2012-2021 he was a Lecturer for Impact Evaluation at the CEPS (Center for Philanthropy Studies) at the University of Basel.
  • Since 2013 he is the CEO of Swissocial and is responsible for all operational activities.
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SENIOR CONSULTANT

Dr. Juan Carlos Otero

Juan Carlos Otero is a Doctor of Medicine from the UCV (Caracas), and is a specialist in general surgery. He has a diploma in Good Clinical Practice from the Ethics Committee at Harvard University. He was CEO of Turnkey Medical Systems, a company delivering more than 120 health and pharmaceutical projects around the globe. In the non-profit sector, he was co-founder and Managing Director of “Salud y Familia” (Caracas) and “I Baluardi” (Italy).
 
He has a longstanding record of medical scientific research, with more than 40 international publications, and has attended many congresses as a guest speaker. He is a reference point in post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD).
 
Within Swissocial, he is a Senior Consultant and has largely contributed to the development of the matrix of indicators for primary childhood projects.

Our collaborators

Meet the team with whom you will work
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responsible based in finland

Gerardo Falcón

Gerardo Falcón is a social and environmental sustainability specialist. He holds a
master’s degree in Sustainability and Energy from Aalto University (Finland) and a
bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering from Tec de Monterrey (Mexico). Additionally, he
holds diplomas in the fields of Social Projects Design, Ethics and Entrepreneurship,
and Youth Leadership.

He has working experience with multinational firms is in the fields of decarbonization
technologies, corporate responsibility, and project management. He has worked pro-
bono in the non-profit sector coordinating and designing community-related projects.
Gerardo is currently based in Helsinki, Finland.

Within Swissocial, he is he is a consultant and responsible for development in Latin
America and Northern Europe.

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responsible based in kenya

Joyce Muthoni Riungu

Joyce Muthoni Riungu holds a master’s degree in environmental, resource and development economics from the University of Winnipeg, Canada. She also has a bachelor’s degree in economics and statistics from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.

After completing her undergraduate studies, she worked at Crystal Hill Ltd, a consulting company carrying out training, monitoring and evaluation of governmental TB, malaria and HIV/AIDS prevention programmes in Kenya. Further, she worked with the UN Environment Programme’s Green Economy Initiative in projects promoting south-south cooperation and partnerships to develop and implement more sustainable economic development strategies. She has also worked as a research assistant with Nottawasaga Institute on impact assessment programmes (Biovision Africa Trust’ sustainable agriculture education program, KEPSA/World Bank Youth Empowerment Programme, and UN-Habitat and Kiambu County Government youth needs assessment among others).

Within Swissocial, she is a researcher and responsible for managing Swissocial impact evaluation projects in Kenya.

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responsible based in colombia

Santiago Mejía

Santiago Mejía has a bachelor in International Business from EAFIT University – Medellin, Colombia with experience in Project Management. He has led teams in different cities in Colombia, developing projects that have allowed him to contribute to the development of the regions. He is the CEO of DIES Consultora (www.diesconsultora.com).

Within Swissocial, he is a researcher and responsible for managing Swissocial impact evaluation projects in Colombia.

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responsible based in SPAIN

María Alarcón

She holds a Master in Communication (Journalism) from the Complutense University of Madrid (1985).
She has also a Master in EOQ Quality Systems Management in the service sector (2007), and is a certified Quality Evaluator of the European EFQM- Mode.

From 1985 to 2000 she was chief editor of the Luis Vives publishing house, directing and coordinating the edition of more than 700 books on knowledge and children’s literature.

In 2003 she created her own consulting firm in education quality management, with which she has conducted 80 internal audits and evaluations in primary and secondary schools in Spain.

Since 2009 she has also collaborated with several Latin American NGOs active in the field of training for the development and implementation of their quality processes. Within Swissocial she is responsible for impact evaluations of educational projects and business development in Spain.