Bea Varnai has a background in social sciences and development studies. She is passionate about community-driven processes shaping contemporary city-making: community-led housing, cooperative funding models, innovative partnerships in area development, civic participation and peer-to-peer cooperation and learning. As a program coordinator at the Swiss and France-based non-profit urbaMonde, she liaises with CBOs, NGOs, social movements and activists in Europe, Latin America and Africa, and coordinates the international Co-Habitat Network. She is currently based in Dakar, Senegal, where she supports the Senegalese Federation of Inhabitants, a federation of the urban poor and an affiliate of Slum Dwellers International, in implementing a program of community-led and incremental neighborhood upgrading. Previously, Bea has done research on local development and local economy (Agenda21 Geneva), organized training sessions on innovative municipal finance for local governments (the Global Fund for Cities Development  - FMDV) and international peer exchanges for urban planners and developers (Caisse des Depôts et Consignations).