CIP Secretariat

Mona Soboda

Mona Swoboda works at the Organization of American States (OAS) Secretariat of the Inter-American Committee on Ports (CIP), where she designs, implements, and manages high-impact port development programs and technical assistance projects.  With special emphasis on logistics, security, disaster risk management, digitalization, as well as sustainable and inclusive policies, she creates synergies between international public and private industry leaders. Mona leads all the CIP’s technical assistance projects, including most recently in Belize, Barbados, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. She is also responsible for the CIP private sector outreach initiatives to promote public-private collaboration and foster efficient stakeholder and inter-agency coordination. She is also the lead of the CIP’s gender equality activities. 

Prior to joining the CIP Secretariat in 2014, Mona engaged in international development projects with the German Development Agency (GIZ) in Paraguay, the German-Honduran Chamber of Commerce (AHK) in Honduras, as well as the Technical Cooperation Section of the OAS Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI). 

Mona graduated from the University of Berlin, Germany, with a Master’s Degree in Interdisciplinary Latin American Studies with a Major in Sociology and Gender Studies and specialization in International Development. She holds a Double Major BA in Social Anthropology and North American Studies from WWU Münster University, Germany. She is fluent in German, English, and Spanish, with working knowledge in French. 

Mona is passionate about women’s empowerment in the port and maritime industry. She has published several chapters in books, as well as articles in journals on this and other port sector-related subjects.