Our team
Maria Luria Roig
Head of the Service for EU fundraising and fund management. Political scientist with over 18 years of experience at the Barcelona Provincial Council. Master’s degree in Programme and Public Policy Evaluation and a Master’s in Advanced Public Management.
Oriol Plana Bonada
Manager of the Service for EU fundraising and fund management. Sociologist specialized in the fundraising and fund management within the departments of the Barcelona Provincial Council.
Eugenia Mestres Andreu
Director of the program for the promotion of the strategy Next Diba. With more than 20 years of experience at Barcelona Provincial Council, she also holds a master's degree in public management and administration.
Patricia Gómez Viñas
Local Cooperation Officer. Political scientist specialized in the fundraising and fund management within the departments of the Barcelona Provincial Council. Master’s degree in Internationalisation, with an interdisciplinary perspective on municipal realities in a globalised world.
Maite Escribano Fonfría
Local Cooperation Officer. Graduate in Environmental Sciences with a Master’s degree in Territorial and Urban Studies, she supports local authorities in the fundraising and fund management. Member of the Network of Environmental Authorities of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.
Miguel Madrigal López
Local Cooperation Officer. Economist with over 20 years of experience in Public Administration, specialised in supporting local authorities in the fundraising and fund management. Postgraduate degree in fundraising and fund management of European funds.
Alba Casadellà Almar
Local Cooperation Officer. Political scientist specialised in fundraising and fund management for local authorities, as well as in project communication. Member of the National Network for Communication on European Funds of the Spanish Ministry of Finance.
Raquel Guardiola de la Concepción
Administrative Assistant. Previously worked in the private sector for 20 years, carrying out administrative assistant tasks in various companies.
In the last quarter of 2020, the Barcelona Provincial Council launched the Next Diba strategy following the approval of the extraordinary NextGenerationEU funds, created by the European Union to respond to the economic and social impact of COVID-19. At that time, the Provincial Council did not have a specific service to support municipalities in managing these resources. This led to the creation of a new unit dedicated to ensuring that all local councils, regardless of their size, could access European funds in an effective, equitable and impact-oriented manner.
The strategy was structured around two main pillars:
- Support for local authorities in the province
- Support for the different departments within the Provincial Council itself
Next Diba began with a small team, which has gradually expanded and become more professionalised over time, along with its services. Initially focused on NextGenerationEU funds, the service has since evolved to also include support for other types of shared-management European funds, including ERDF (European Regional Development Fund), the European Social Fund, and others.
The distinctive value of the Next Diba Service lies in its organic, proximity-based and trust-driven model: a unit that works side by side with municipalities and with the different departments of the Barcelona Provincial Council, with the aim of:
- Strengthening the positioning and influence of local governments in European Union funding processes.
- Providing effective, high-quality support for the acquisition and management of European funds.
- Ensuring clear communication, accountability, and rigorous, evidence-based analysis of results and impacts.
Unlike fragmented models or those based solely on information dissemination, Next Diba provides continuous legal and technical support, ensuring the formulation of viable projects and their sound implementation. With the deployment of the service, new, more transversal working systems have been introduced, both in terms of the nature of the projects and the way their management is organised.
A multidisciplinary team has been consolidated, with complementary professional profiles that enable the service to cover a broader range of funding opportunities and provide more comprehensive and specialised responses to the challenges of managing European funds. In addition, new procedures and internal guidelines have been created, along with renewed governance structures, specific documentation, indicators, and control systems that ensure proper monitoring of the entire European funds management cycle within the institution.
The service operates under a transferable management model, designed to be useful for other institutions seeking to strengthen their capacity in European funding. With a commitment to sharing knowledge and best practices, Next Diba contributes to strengthening multilevel governance by promoting coordination, strategic alignment and institutional robustness in accessing and managing European funds.