Born in 1978 in the Flemish town of Knokke – Heist. He grew up in Lekeitio, where she currently lives. She studied Economic Law at the University of Deusto. In 2006 she obtained the post of General Administration Technician at the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and worked in the Women and Family Service until 2015.

From 2007 to 2021 she was a councillor in Lekeitio Town Council, and for the last six years she has been deputy mayor and political responsible for Social Policies, Women and Equality and Citizen Relations, Internal Municipal Organisation and Human Resources.

In March 2021 she was appointed Provincial Councillor for Sustainability and the Natural Environment and since July 2023 she has been Provincial Councillor for Social Action.

Yara is a social anthropologist with expertise in gender, care, economic justice, migration and public policy. She holds an MA from Oxford University and a BA from the American University of Beirut. She has worked for the Government of Mexico and as a consultant for various international agencies and academic institutions, including the International Development Research Centre of Canada and Columbia University. She has published research, articles and reports on gender justice and civil society strengthening.

Itinerary
Graduate in Psychology. Street educator, community intervention team coordinator and project manager at the Agintzari Association (1988-1992). Research on “The professional profile of the social educator in the Basque Country” for the EDE Foundation (1993-1994). Coordination of the Social Consultancy Area of the EDE Foundation, from its creation in 1995 to 2009, and of the Third Sector Observatory of Bizkaia from its creation in 2006 to 2019, always combining coordination work with direct work as a social consultant in social services, and also in childhood and youth, working with the three levels of the Basque public administrations, both in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa and in the Basque Country as a whole, and with organisations in the third social sector.

Since July 2019 I have been working as a social policy advisor in the Department of Equality, Justice and Social Policies of the Basque Government.

Outstanding activities
Technical assistance to the Basque Government in the drafting of the laws on volunteering, social services and the third social sector in the Basque Country, as well as in the drafting of the Decree on the Portfolio of Benefits and Services of the Basque Social Services System and the 1st Strategic Plan for social services in the Basque Autonomous Community, including the Social Services Map and the Economic Report, in all cases, until their approval. Technical assistance in the drafting of other decrees in the field of social services and in the drafting of the Strategy for the Promotion of the Third Social Sector in the Basque Country.

Strategic planning and organisational design processes with the Provincial Councils of Bizkaia (social action) and Gipuzkoa (youth), with the City Councils of Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa (social services) and with a large number of third social sector organisations and networks.

Research and teaching activity, and publication of books and articles in the field of social intervention, social services and social education. Member of the Scientific Committee of the journal “Educación Social. Revista de Intervención socioeducativa” until July 2019.

Member of the Executive Committee, in charge of institutional communications with partners (local authorities, prefectures, ministries, etc.) and operators.
Responsible for helping to draw up, implement and supervise the monitoring of the Regional Health Project, in consultation with all professionals and users, with a view to ensuring efficiency and transparency; participating in health democracy.
His functions include coordination between the “headquarters” of the Regional Health Agency and the 12 departmental delegations.

Joana Revilla, coordinator of Gizatea, Association of Insertion Companies of the Basque Country, has a degree in Business Administration and Management, and in Market Research and Techniques.

Her professional career in the last 15 years has been linked to the third social sector, highlighting her experience in entities in the field of sheltered employment and social and labour inclusion of people in vulnerable situations.

Since 2018 she has been working at Gizatea, contributing to the promotion of insertion companies in the Basque Country and strengthening the sector.

Nurse by training, with a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Brighton, a Master of Science from the University of Montreal and a PhD (Research Proficiency) from the University of the Balearic Islands – Toronto.

My interest to continue studying and training has allowed me to live diverse professional experiences both in the world of clinical practice and in the world of teaching, undergraduate and postgraduate, as well as in research.

Currently, and for the last 7 years, she has dedicated her work to management, and for the last 4 years she has been especially focused on social and health care coordination in the Araba Integrated Health Organisation, for which I am a social and health care reference, as well as the Social and Health Care Coordinator for the territory of Alava on behalf of the Health Department.

She is a Graduate in Nursing, has a specialisation in Mental Health Nursing and has a Master’s Degree in Bioethics and multiple and varied continuing education.
She began her professional career as a General Nurse at the Txagorritu Hospital in Vitoria-Gasteiz more than 42 years ago (1981). In 1984, when the Acute Psychiatry Unit was opened in the other hospital in the city, Hospital de Santiago Apóstol, she joined the unit as a specialist mental health nurse. Later, in the early 90s, she moved to the Txagorritxu Hospital where she worked initially as a Paediatric Nurse and later as General Supervisor in the afternoons and evenings.
Since November 1994, she has been a lecturer at the University School of Nursing in Vitoria-Gasteiz, her area of knowledge being Mental Health Nursing. At the same time, since 1998, when the Teaching Unit for the Speciality of Mental Health Nursing in Osakidetza was accredited, she has been Head of Studies in Specialised Health Training for 20 years. member of the National Commission for this speciality, at the proposal of the Ministry of Education.
Over the years, she has also collaborated in many teaching activities in postgraduate courses and in the Osakidetza Continuing Education Programme; and she has participated in different forums for the dissemination of knowledge. Currently for the last 8 years (2015), she has been the Director of the University School of Nursing of Vitoria-Gasteiz of Osakidetza / Basque Health Service, a teaching centre attached to the University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea.

Graduate in Social Work from the University School of Social Work in Donostia and qualified Social Educator, with a Diploma in Guidance, Supervision and Coaching from the Navarra Mitxelena Association in collaboration with the Institut Für Beratung und Supervision de Aquisgran, R.F.A., Degree in Sociology from the Pontifical University of Salamanca and Master’s Degree in Governance and Political Studies from the University of the Basque Country EHU.

With regard to her professional career, she was a volunteer for five years in the free time service of the Gorabide Association, she started working as a social educator in the Kale Dor Kayicó Association (1990 -1992), then for three years she worked as a representative and dynamiser in a youth movement (92-95) in Madrid. When she returned to Bilbao she worked as a social educator in Agintzari, S. Coop de iniciativa social (96-97) and later she worked in Cáritas Diocesana de Bilbao (1997-2008), carrying out functions of coordination, institutional representation and dynamisation of voluntary work.

She currently works for the Provincial Council of Bizkaia (since 2008). Initially as a Social Worker in the Dependency Guidance and Assessment Service, later as a Social Services Inspector and currently as a Technician in the Long-term Care Transition Plan.

European Doctor in Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society (UPV-EHU), Master in Higher Education (U. de Palermo/UNESCO), Lic. in Sociology (UBA).

Senior Researcher at GIZALAB (Centre for Social Policy Innovation), CEO and Senior Researcher at SOCINNOVA (Social Innovation Excubator).

Areas of work: social policies, innovation in social services, social innovation and higher education reform.