Enhancing Analysis and Research-Based Advocacy in an Era of Open Data
Enhancing Analysis and Research-Based Advocacy in an Era of Open Data
Goran Buldioski is the director of the Open Society Foundations’ Think Tank Fund. His expertise encompasses strategic planning and capacity building for NGOs/ policy research centers; organization and project management in the nonprofit sector, and development of democratic and participatory policy change in Eastern and Central Europe (CEE). Goran holds graduate degrees in public policy from the Central European University – Hungary and in organizational behavior from the George Washington University – USA. Before joining the Open Society Foundations, he has worked for the Council of Europe, the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation and the National Youth Council of Macedonia. His articles and research papers addressing think tanks, policy relevant research and democratic transition in CEE have appeared in the European Voice, Sharp! Magazine, the Turkish Policy Quarterly, LSE_UNDP Development and Transition Newsletter, and the International Journal for Not-for-Profit Law.
Hedvig Morvai-Horvat is the Executive Director of the European Fund for the Balkans. Prior to this, she was director of the Citizens’ Pact for South Eastern Europe, a regional initiative focused on cross border and regional cooperation of local communities and NGOs in SEE. She began her civil activism in 1997, as a founder and vice president of the Hungarian Student Association of Vojvodina. She was associated with the Student Union of Serbia and the Novi Sad based Center for Multiculturalism, coordinated the Carpathian Information Exchange Network – AGORA and later Partnership for Democratic Changes- Novi Sad office, and she was part of the EXIT Festival team. She studied law and communications and followed numerous courses and alternative education programmes. She is an alumna of the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence in the scope of the CoE Network of Schools for Political Studies. She is advisory board member of the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence, of the State of Exit Foundation and member of the Epos Network. In 2006 she was awarded the Winning Freedom („Osvajanje slobode“) Award by the Belgrade-based Maja Marsicevic – Tasic Foundation.
Nathan Koeshall is a Senior Program Officer with the Balkan Trust for Democracy, a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Nathan has 14 years of development experience with a range of international NGOs and UN agencies in the Western Balkans, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia. His primary skill-sets are in post-conflict humanitarian assistance and reconciliation, community-based participatory development, and civil society development with special interests in engaged citizenship, social change and philanthropy development.
Gordana Delić is the Director of the Balkan Trust for Democracy, a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Gordana has 14 years of experience in supporting civil society in the Western Balkans and Slovakia through grantmaking, policy work, conferences, study tours and fellowships. Prior to assuming leadership of the BTD, Gordana coordinated its grantmaking in and between Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia.
Ivana Howard is senior program officer for Europe at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), where she manages the democracy assistance program to Southeast Europe. Prior to joining NED in 2005, Ms. Howard supported several USAID-funded development projects around the world and worked for the United Nations Information Center in Washington, D.C. Her previous experiences include training U.S. soldiers deploying to the Balkans, as well as supporting the the NATO peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina immediately after the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords. Ms. Howard serves as a leading resource for policy analysts, academics, and decision-makers in Washington on political developments in the Balkans. She has testified in the U.S. Congress, authored several articles, and made a number of appearances in the leading international media, including NPR, PBS, Voice of America, Al Jazeera English, and BBC Radio. Her book Mistakes Donors Make: Civil Society and Democracy Assistance in the Balkans was published in Serbia in 2011. Ms. Howard received her Master of Public Administration from Bowie State University and MA in Democracy and Human Rights from the University of Sarajevo and University of Bologna. She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Jadranka Jelinčić is Executive Director of The Fund for an Open Society – Serbia. As an active member of civil society over two decades, with the Center for Anti-War Action and the European Movement, and as a representative of the Fund for an Open Society, Ms Jelincic has been a leading campaigner for peace, democracy and human rights. After gaining a PhD in International Public Law from McGill University, Ms Jelincic held posts in government as Adviser to the Committee for Foreign Relations of the Parliament of the SFRY and then a Foreign Policy Councilor to the Prime Minister of the SFRY. She authored a number of articles and studies related to the international and European affairs, democratization and Europeanization.
Masa Đordjević is program manager in charge of the Think Tank Fund’s capacity building in policy research through fellowships and internships. She also oversees TTF grant portfolio in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro. Her expertise ranges from capacity building for policy analysis to public participation in decision-making to local strategic development and urban politics. She previously worked with the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative of the Open Society Foundations. She holds a BA degree in Sociology from the University of Belgrade, a MA degree in Sociology from Central European University in Warsaw, and a PhD degree in Political Science from the Central European University in Budapest.
Susan Treadwell is deputy director of the Human Rights and Governance Grants Program, the principal grantmaking program at the Open Society Institute, Budapest. She joined the Open Society Foundations (OSF) in 2003 and manages the program’s funding in the Western Balkans, which consists predominantly of institutional support to human rights watchdog NGOs using advocacy and strategic litigation to promote systemic reform. In addition to fundamental rights concerns, Treadwell’s substantive focus is on promoting freedom of information and accountable governance throughout Eastern and Central Europe and the former Soviet Union by promoting best practices and knowledge sharing. Treadwell received her BA in political science and international relations from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MA in human rights from the University of Essex. Prior to joining OSF, she was a researcher for the Mental Disability Advocacy Center, where she conducted fact-finding missions and authored a multi-country advocacy report on inhuman and degrading treatment of people with mental disabilities in psychiatric and social care institutions.
Ms. Dobre is and expert in social assistance, local social policies, disabled persons. Education: London School of Economics.
Agron Demi is the Executive Director at GAP. In this position he was elected by GAP’s Assembly of Members, in the meeting of 15 October 2010. Agron is part of GAP from March 2010. Before he was elected Executive Director, he worked as policy analyst and was Director of the GAP’s Political Development Department. He has nearly completed his MA studies for Political Science at the University of Prishtina. He also holds a BA in Public Administration, as well as a BA in Social Work. Before joining GAP, he also worked for the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and as a Legislative Assistant for both the Parliamentary Committee on Health, Labor and Social Welfare and the Parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finance, at the Assembly of Kosovo.
