Governance
of the Fondation de Monaco

Tell us about your background and your arrival at the Cité internationale.

After having worked as a consultant for management and strategic communications in Monaco, specialising in appreciative investigation and systematic analysis from 2004 to 2009, and named as a diplomat in 2010 in charge of multilateral questions first in Geneva and then in Rome, I arrived at the Cité internationale as the director of the Fondation de Monaco on the 23rd of August 2021.

Appointed to the permanent mission of Monaco for the UN in Geneva from 2010 until 2014, I ensured the follow-up on the work of the Human Right’s Council, the Economic Commission of the United Nations for Europe as well as issues of disarment, the environment and telecommunications. From 2014 until 2021, I was appointed by the Ambassador of Monaco in Italy as the permanent Deputy Representative to UN agencies for food security headquartered in Rome, such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation the World Food Programme. I worked in closed collaboration with the Monegasque International Cooperation Directorate to strengthen the Prince’s government’s support for three-year-long programmes in response to the aims of the United Nations’ 2030 sustainable development programme. I also followed up on the work of the International Centre for Studies on Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM). Active participation in the Cultural Commission of the Group of Francophone Ambassadors, organisers of the annual Francophone days in Italy, allowed me to honour the Principality’s engagement in this domain.

What do you think it is that makes the Cité internationale a unique campus in the world?

The Cité internationale, recently discovered, presents a richness and diversity which is both cultural and historical via its buildings, its renowned residents and those who will become so, and an international multidisciplinary network that shares values and a future in the service of peace in an exceptional park in Paris, the city of lights. A stay in this place only constitutes a springboard for excellence and is the founder of a chosen professional path.

How does living in your house allow residents to have a different outlook on the world and how is it a spring board for their futures?

The Fondation de Monaco, like the other houses, strengthens openness to the world and others, better collective living, multiculturalism, the sharing of cultures and values, the promotion of empowerment, cooperation, solidarity and tolerance all whilst working towards an awareness of belonging to a common humanity, and towards the vision of a sustainable future built together.

If you had to sum up the Cité internationale in one word, what would it be and why?

The word I’ve chosen is “diversity”, of both the world and its people, reunited in a privileged space that opens up perspectives and options for a life path centred on humanist values shared by all in this unique place.