Ainara Fernández

Spain Program Manager, Built Environment, IHRB

Expertise

Ainara combines a strong foundation in business economics with extensive experience in urban public policy and sustainable development. She is skilled at leveraging research to build multistakeholder coalitions, driving collaboration between different types of actors and across sectors. Her work aims to support efforts that advance and protect people's rights–particularly the right to adequate housing and the broader "right to the city."

Current Work

Ainara works to strengthen human rights considerations in business practices and policy decisions shaping the built environment in Spain and in the wider region. She seeks to identify practical levers to ensure that Spain’s ecological transition supports social justice. Engaging with businesses, investors, civil society organisations, and public authorities, she focuses on promoting meaningful collaborations to co-produce knowledge, learn from each other and do joint advocacy across local, national, and European levels.

Before IHRB

Before IHRB, Ainara worked at United Cities and Local Governments, a global city network, coordinating research and advocacy on housing rights, inequalities, and local action. She has also worked as an economist in social finance and a cook. She holds an MSc in Metropolitan Urban Governance from SciencesPo (Paris) and a Bachelor’s degree in International Business Economics from Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona).