Maria Mauersberger studied Social Pedagogy and Social Work at the University of Applied Sciences in Erfurt, Germany. At the end of her studies she did her internship at the Youth with a Mission Foundation “El Refugio” in the city of Cartagena in 2008, working with street children. That first experience defined her vocation and commitment to social intervention in contexts of inequality and poverty.

In 2013 she was hired as an advisor to the Vice-Ministry of Justice in prison affairs, being in charge of designing social reintegration programs for persons deprived of liberty with a gender approach. At the same time, she completed a Master’s program in Social Work with emphasis on Family and Social Networks at the National University of Colombia and later completed a Higher Diploma in Justice and Gender at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) in Argentina.

Maria has worked on various projects, including her work as a Consultant for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for the development of a prison model aimed at former combatants of the National Liberation Army (ELN) in the framework of the peace process (2017); Consultant for the Organization of American States (OAS) Mission to Support the Peace Process in Colombia, developing public policy proposals for the design of social reintegration programs for members of illegal armed groups deprived of liberty (2018).

She is currently working with her Foundation Mujeres en Paz Colombia, supporting peace building and the fulfillment of the human rights of women victims of armed conflict and violence.

Through interviews with vulnerable populations, which are reflected in audiovisual documentaries in different regions of Colombia, and concrete projects in the territory, on human rights and violence prevention, she sensitizes society, seeking to transform the complex situation of this population.

In lectures at different universities in Germany and Colombia and publications on the subject of human rights and leadership, she has impacted a wide audience. At the same time she is working at the German Embassy in Bogota.

In her vocation to support and protect women victims of violence, she joined in 2018 the group Veeduría para el Cumplimiento de los Derechos y las Garantías de las Mujeres y Niñas in the municipality of La Mesa, Cundinamarca.