Catarina Furtado is a TV hostess, actress and documentary film maker who has been decorated, in 2005, by the Portuguese President at the time, Jorge Sampaio, with the Order of Merit Commendation. In 2000, Kofi Anan, General Secretary of the United Nations at the time, invited Catarina Furtado for the mission of Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA). This mission is performed in a voluntary basis and due to all the work she has been developing in Portugal as well as in other developing countries, it keeps on being renewed. As Goodwill Ambassador of UNFPA, Catarina Furtado has participated in several UN international conferences, where she not only shares her experiences of her work in the field, but also supports and promotes different approaches to the issues related to UNFPA’s mission – like maternal, sexual and reproductive health, family planning, gender equality and the human rights of young girls, young women and women.
She is the co-author of the “Dar a Vida Sem Morrer” (To Give birth without Dying) documentaries directed in Guinea-Bissau, and of the TV series “Príncipes do Nada” (Princes of Nothing) exhibited on RTP channel in 2006, 2010, 2012, 2017 and 2020. She has also starred in several campaigns against discrimination.
In 2012, Catarina Furtado founded Corações com Coroa and as Goodwill Ambassador of UNFPA she still visits developing countries, meeting with technical and political decision makers, civil society organizations, social media, schools and the local population.
As an actress she has starred in several films, theatre plays and has done voice-overs.
With some regularity she writes opinion articles for the press and she has written three books: “Os Meus Olhos de Afonso” (Oficina do Livro, 2005), “O Que Vejo e Não Esqueço” (Esfera dos Livros, 2015) and “Adolescer é Fácil #SóQueNão” (Porto Editora, 2019).
source: Associação Corações com Coroa
