Maria Mauersberger is a Social Worker and holds a Master's degree in Social Work from the National University of Colombia, as well as a diploma in social pedagogy from the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt, Germany. In 2021 she graduated from the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Argentina, with a diploma in Gender and Justice in Latin America.
Since 2008 she has been based in Colombia, initially working in intervention projects with street children in the cities of Cartagena and Bogotá. She has been an advisor to the Colombian Vice-Ministry of Justice on penitentiary issues and also consultant to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for the development of a penitentiary model for former combatants of the National Liberation Army (ELN) in the framework of the peace process. She has been a 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 reinsertion programs for members of illegal armed groups deprived of their liberty. She currently works at the German Embassy in Bogota and is the legal representative of the Fundación Mujeres en Paz Colombia, which works for the fulfillment of the human rights of women, leaders and population in vulnerable situations.
At the same time she completed a Diploma in Human Rights with the UN and is registered as a UN volunteer.
Maria is the author of several published articles on human rights and social work with the population deprived of liberty, leaders and women victims of the armed conflict in Colombia. In events in Colombian and German universities she sensitizes students and professors about social work and action-research in conflict contexts.