Karla Tijero, PLACE’s Program Manager of the Arts, Culture & Society Hub, reflects on growing up between Sweden and Peru. This journey transformed questions of identity, belonging, and structures from abstract theories into a lifelong commitment. From her roots in community-based projects to leading the Artivism Alliance today, Karla’s experiences have fundamentally shaped her understanding of what it means to create space for others to lead.

This article explores how structure and care can coexist in program management. Karla challenges the idea that project delivery is just about compliance and budgets, instead showing how human-centered systems, trust, and collective movement-building are the true backbones of lasting impact. For Karla, lived experience is not simply something to be represented: it is a vital source of knowledge, leadership, and innovation.

Voice of Transformation, Karla Tijero

Growing up in Sweden with parents from Peru meant that questions around identity and belonging were never abstract to me. From an early age, I experienced how people can move through the same society differently depending on how they are perceived. As I later studied migration, discrimination, and human rights, I finally found the language and analytical tools to understand experiences and questions that had long shaped my perspective and understanding of myself. These experiences became the foundation of my commitment to understanding and challenging the structures that shape who is heard, who belongs, and who has the opportunity to participate fully in society.

I would say that it has become a commitment and that has guided every step of my professional journey. Whether working on anti-racism initiatives in Sweden or managing international programmes today, I have been motivated by the same belief: lasting social change happens when people can tell their own stories and lead change within their own lives and communities, on their own terms. At the same time, I believe that meaningful participation is possible when we also challenge the structures that continue to create barriers for the communities we work alongside. For me, these two goals are inseparable.

My first experiences working in community-based projects brought these ideas further into practice. Meaningful change is not only about identifying problems but also about creating opportunities for people to exercise agency, build confidence, and shape solutions themselves. This perspective fundamentally shaped my understanding of leadership. Before, I saw project management primarily as a way of organising activities and delivering outcomes. Over time, however, I realised that the way a project is designed can either reinforce existing power dynamics or create space for participation, trust, and shared ownership. Supporting participants as they developed their own initiatives and leadership showed me that leadership is often less about directing others and more about creating the conditions in which others can lead.

This understanding continues to shape my work today as Programme Manager at PLACE Network, where I coordinate and lead the Artivism Alliance programme and other initiatives dedicated to socially engaged arts.

The Artivism Alliance brings together artists and cultural practitioners with lived experiences of migration and forced displacement across Europe and Africa. Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to lead the programme’s evolution from a leadership development initiative focused on individual participants into a platform for collective movement building. 

At first glance, much of my role revolves around coordination: managing partnerships, budgets, reporting requirements, participant engagement, and programme delivery. Yet one of the most important lessons I have learned is that coordination itself is a form of leadership. Bringing together participants, facilitators, experts, and partners across different countries requires much more than organisation. It involves creating clarity in complexity, building trust between people who may never have met before, and ensuring that everyone feels able to contribute meaningfully to a shared process.

One of the most powerful moments in this journey was our first Artivism Alliance residency. It reminded me that care is not separate from impact. Creating an environment where participants felt seen, supported, and able to take creative risks allowed trust to grow in ways that formal programme structures alone never could. Over time, I believe that trust will become collaborations, and those collaborations will become collective action. Witnessing this potential with an amazing group of people and socially engaged artists has reinforced my belief that building community is not a by-product of the work—it is one of its most meaningful outcomes and pillars. 

Working with the Artivism Alliance has also fundamentally expanded my understanding of how social change happens. My academic background introduced me to advocacy through legal frameworks, policy reform, and institutional change. While I continue to value these approaches, working alongside artists with lived experiences of migration and forced displacement has shown me the transformative potential of socially engaged art.

Perhaps the greatest lesson I have learned is that lived experience is not simply something to be represented. It is a source of knowledge, leadership, and innovation. The artists I work alongside are not only sharing their stories; they are using those stories to challenge dominant narratives, influence communities, and imagine new possibilities for social change. Their work has reminded me that changing systems is not only about changing policies; it is also about changing whose voices are recognised as experts, creators, and leaders.

Another important reflection from my work is that structure and care can coexist.

Programme management is often associated with compliance, monitoring frameworks, budgets, and reporting. Yet, I have come to believe that these systems are most effective when they are designed with people in mind. Following up with participants, adapting support to emerging needs, creating spaces for feedback, and building relationships based on trust are just as important as meeting deadlines and delivering outputs. Human-centred systems do not weaken accountability; they strengthen it.

Looking ahead, I hope to continue building programmes and partnerships that combine strong organisational foundations with meaningful participation and collaboration. I want to contribute to creative ecosystems where artists, activists, and communities are not only supported to deliver projects but are trusted and recognised as leaders who shape narratives, influence conversations, and imagine alternative futures together.

My work is driven by the belief that people should have the opportunity to define their own stories and contribute to change on their own terms, and my role is to help create the conditions where that becomes possible.