Biography
Ester Asin Martinez took the position of Director for WWF’s European Policy Office on 1 October 2018.
A lawyer and political scientist by education, and an experienced advocate, Ester has been working for civil society organisations leading their engagement with the EU for nearly 20 years. Prior to joining WWF, Ester worked with a number of global and regional NGOs - Save the Children, CARE International, and the European Confederation of Development NGOs CONCORD- in leadership, senior advocacy and resources mobilisation roles. As part of her work on development, humanitarian matters, migration and human rights, Ester set up and developed the “Aid Watch “initiative in CONCORD which effectively influenced the ODA debate. She successfully lobbied to increase EU humanitarian funding for education in emergencies. She led the coalition of organisations who advocated for better protection of migrant children, which resulted in a dedicated Commission’s initiative in the form of a Communication on Children in Migration in 2017.
She has worked for the European Commission in West Africa, and started her career in Brussels with the European Consumers Organisation (BEUC).
She has held elected mandates as Board member in VOICE, the Humanitarian NGO network. She co-led the engagement of CONCORD in the so-called “Structured Dialogue”, a multi-stakeholder process with the Commission, Member States and other civil society organisations to review the EU’s strategy and work with civil society organisations in development. Ester has also acted as the rotating chair of the Green 10, the informal network of environment NGOs, at the time of the last European Parliament elections in 2019
Ester is a Spanish national. She holds degrees in Spanish Law, a DEA (Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies) in EU Law, and an M.A. in European Political and Administrative Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges.