Mauricio O. Ríos has more than 15 years of experience in the communications field. He currently is a Communications Officer with the World Bank’s Transport unit. Prior to joining the Bank, he worked on both sides of the communications industry, first as a journalist covering Latin American politics, and then as a PR consultant for a wide variety of public and private sector clients. Mauricio’s interests include the use of national communications strategies to facilitate the insertion of developing countries in the globalization process, alternative processes of dialogue to improve the participation of civil society in public decision making processes, and the application of conflict transformation methods as tools for peace building and development. Mauricio published dozens of newspaper and website articles on a variety of development topics for various media and World Bank web sites. He recently also co-authored various articles for International Gas magazine.  He also co-authored a chapter “Appreciative Inquiry as a Tool for Conflict Resolution” in the book Positive Approaches to Peace building: a Resource for Innovators.  Mauricio has a BS in Journalism from the William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas. He also holds a graduate degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from the Bolivian Diplomatic Academy, and a Master’s degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University. Mauricio was born in La Paz, Bolivia, at 13,000 feet above sea level!