Colombia

Juan joined HALO in 2017 in the municipality of Chaparral, Tolima. He started as an NTS Assistant and later became accredited as an NTS Supervisor, Deminer, Leader and Technical Supervisor for manual and mechanical clearance. He was part of the quality and training team, in which he supported the trainings as an instructor for one year. Between 2019 and 2020 he worked as an Operations Officer in Cauca and Valle del Cauca. He currently works as a Location Manager in Nariño and Putumayo.

Diomar joined HALO in June 2014 as a Non-Technical Survey (NTS) Assistant. In 2015, he was accredited as Supervisor and Senior Supervisor of NTS, and in August of the same year, he started working as NTS Manager. He served as Location Manager in Antioquia during November 2017 and February 2023, and is now the department’s Strategy Manager.

John Carlos is one of the Colombia programme’s longest-serving staff, having joined in 2013. He started his HALO career as a Non-Technical Survey Assistant (NTS), before working as a Leader, Supervisor, and Operations Officer, as well as being a member of the Quality Management team. As of January 2019, he has been a Location Manager. John Carlos has accreditation in NTS, clearance, and primary medical intervention. He received EOD level III+ training in Somaliland.

Lina joined The HALO Trust in June 2014, working as a deminer for 7 months before becoming Team Leader, Supervisor and then Operations Officer in locations across Colombia including Antioquia, Tolima, Cauca, Valle del Cauca, and Meta. She has been Location Manager since October 2018 and was the first Colombian woman to have held this role. Lina has also visited the Somaliland Programme for EOD level III+ training.

Oli is the Programme Manager for Colombia, where he began his HALO career as Programme Officer in March 2017. He has since held a number of positions including Monitoring and Evaluation Officer and Deputy Programme Manager. He has also spent time on the Somaliland, Afghanistan and Kosovo Programmes. Oli is a fluent Spanish speaker with an extensive knowledge of Colombian culture. He is a Graduate in Music and Philosophy from Leeds University.

Natalia joined The HALO Trust in May 2016 after living for a year in New York. Previously, she worked as a journalist for the Colombian radio station Blu Radio, part of Caracol Television. She studied Social Communication at the Pontifical Xavierian University in Bogotá. As well as organising events and visits to HALO’s operations for donors, media and stakeholders, she is responsible for managing HALO Latin America internal and external communications, including producing HALO publications and managing relations with different entities. From January 2019 she took on the role and Latin America Communications and Public Relations Officer.

Karol is a public accountant with a degree in International Financial Reporting Standards from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She joined the HALO in 2016 and has worked as an Accounting Assistant, Finance Monitor, and Deputy Director of Finance. Karol is currently responsible for the budget and accounting information and the preparation and presentation of all financial statements.

Sean joined HALO as Programme Officer in November 2019. Originally from the United States, Sean completed his M.A. in Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies from the Pontificial Xaveriana University in Bogotá and holds a B.A. in International Relations. Prior to working with HALO, Sean worked in local politics in the United States.