PEOPLE

Oriano Otočan

Oriano Otočan is at his 3rd mandate as President of ALDA, representing the Region of Istria, Croatia, since 2016. Since 2005, he served first as a Member of the Regional Government, and afterwards as Director of Department in charge of international cooperation and European integration in the Region of Istria. His duties included the activities of bilateral and multilateral inter-regional cooperation, coordination of EU programs and projects, development of human resources and informing citizens of the Euro-integration processes.
Thanks to his experience in working in a region that has reached an enviable level of tolerance and respect for minority rights, experience in local development, interregional cooperation, work of international organisations, knowledge of Euro-integration process and with his knowledge of the current political reality of Southeast Europe he is actively contributing to the further development of ALDA as an exceptional and unique European organisation which in its work involves individuals, local and regional public authorities and civil society. From 2014 to 2019 he has been working in the European Parliament as Policy advisor and MEP Head of Office.
In 2014 he was awarded the Officer of the Order of the star of Italy, assigned by the President of the Republic of Italy for the particular attention and the strong activity in developing good relationships and important cooperation.

Alessandro Perelli

Alessandro Perelli is ALDA’s Vice President and a member of the Governing Board, representing Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region, Italy.
Since 1980 he was working at the Regional Council and since 1999 at the International Relations Department of the Council where he has dealt with projects and international cooperation agreements until August 2017. Since 2000, when the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region joined ALDA, Mr Perelli followed the associative life on behalf of the region within ALDA, being part of the Governing Board, where he is acting since 2016 as Vice President.
He is particularly concerned with the Mediterranean area and the creation of the new Local Democracy Agencies in Tunisia and Morocco. Also, Mr Perelli followed the activities of the Agencies in Verteneglio, in Croatian Istria and Gyumri in Armenia with which the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region is associated and Niksic in Montenegro with which the Region he represents is a leading partner.
He participated in the preparatory work of the newly established Balkan Network for Local Democracy (BNLD) by carrying out promotional activities of ALDA as ambassador organising conferences including one in Lecce with the presence of local authorities and associations and one at the University of Trieste together with the Serbian Youth Association.
Also, on behalf of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region, Mr Perelli has joined the National Consultative Commission on the new cooperation law and of the National interregional working group, dealing in particular with the issue of the accession of the Western Balkan countries to the European Union and the creation of a single market, continuing the cooperation with the Serbian Chamber of Commerce even after his retirement.
Moreover, Mr Perelli carried out political activity as a municipal councillor and councillor of Trieste, with which he still cooperates by writing foreign policy articles for the newspaper Avanti! online. He is also president of the Cultural Association “Socialisti liberali triestini”.

Francesco Zarzana

Francesco Zarzana is ALDA Vice President and a member of Governing Board, representing Progettarte Association, based in Italy.
He is a journalist, writer, playwright, director and president of the cultural association in Modena, Porgettarte, which is a partner of ALDA since 2005.
Mr Zarzana has an experience of collaboration with ALDA for more than 10 years, giving support to the growth and the development of ALDA. His work for the culture is a value to the construction of a best future as well as providing care of migrations, gender equality, rights.
He believes in a common goal, which is the growth of democracy.

Nataša Vučković

Nataša Vučković is ALDA Vice President and member of the Governing Board, representing Center for Democracy Foundation (CDF), Serbia.
Since 1994 she works on head position at the CDF – Founder, Secretary General and Executive Director. She has a great experience in overall management in non-profit organizations. She has great experience in financial planning, fundraising and cooperation with key donators for the organization, but also for design/implementation and evaluation of projects.
Topics that interest her the most are democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights, European integration and European values, human rights and socio-economic rights. Ms Vučković represents CDF in the National Convention of the EU (NCEU) as a coordinator of the Working group for Chapters 2 and 19 (migration of workers and employment and social policy).
She got a long experience in governmental and regulatory branch, since being a member of National Parliament, Republic of Serbia, as well as, member of Committee on European Integration, Committee on Judiciary, Foreign Affairs Committee. Moreover, she was a president of the Committee on European Integration.
Nataša Vučković also was a member of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France for Turkey. She has published articles and analysis and has lectured and hold trainings at various institutions and organizations, including Regional School for Public Administration (ReSPA), particularly in the field of EU integration of the Western Balkans, rule of law, human rights, parliamentary procedures, as well as in the non-profit management.

Andrea Rilievo

Andrea Rilievo is a member of ALDA’s Governing Board, representing Società Cooperativa Sociale Studio Progetto, Italy.
He is a member of ALDA for 9 years. Studio Progetto has been working for 30 years in the province of Vicenza, in the north of Italy, proposing social projects for disadvantaged people, mainly dealing with job placement and building several social services.
Besides social services Mr Rilievo in the last 9 years took part in developing an internal department that is currently working with European funds, mainly with Erasmus+ and Europe for Citizens programs.
Mr Rilievo sees that the values and vision of social cooperation, a model of business centered on nonprofit development and on human beings and social inclusion as the main pillar on which build the growth of our community.
Mr Rilievo believes that the more that society will evolve quickly, the more will be productive, effective, stable. In this scenario, the will and know-how to propose and generate adequate social services, and projects that include people in need, will be a key-element, in the local context but even more so in the European community, tracing a route of sustainable and inclusive growth.
As an expert in this field, he put all his knowledge and experience at disposal of AlDA’s growth by deeply representing the Italian context in this field with sharing his experience of building projects at European level, focused on social services, and fragility.

Anzhelika Pylypenko

Anzhelika Pylypenko is the delegate of the Local Democracy Agency of Dnipropetrovsk region (Ukraine), and member of ALDA Governing Board.

Dobrica Milovanović

Dobrica Milovanović is a member of ALDA’s Governing Board as individual member from Serbia from 2004. He also was a vice-president of ALDA (2004-2012), member of Council of Europe Congress (2005–2010, 2012-2017) as a rapporteur on Local and Regional Democracy in Belgium and as a congress observer in a number оf еlection observation missions. Moreover, he has 6 years of experience as deputy mayor of Kragujevac, 4 years of experience as President of Kragujevac City Assembly and 4 years of experience as Vice-President of Kragujevac City Assembly.
He has been involved in ALDA activities since 2001 when LDA for Central and Southern Serbia was open. Since 2004 when Mr Milovanović was elected as part of ALDA’s Governing Board he dedicated himself to ALDA mission, attending all the Bureau and Governing Board meetings and taking responsibilities for many activities such as: representing ALDA at the meetings, conferences, forums, all around, participation at LDAs assessment missions, coordination and implementation of some ALDA/LDA projects.
He believes in active promotion of ALDA/LDAs mission throughout Western Balkan countries, enlargement of LDAs and ALDA network by lobbing for new members. He is ready to strengthen local authorities’ capacities by promoting decentralization and participation of local stakeholders and civil society in decision making process as well as to promote positive development of civil society, sustainable socio and economical development and citizen participation through the work of ALDA and LDAs.

Emir Coric

Emir Coric is an ALDA Governing Board member representative of the Municipality of Centar, which has been member of ALDA since 2016. In these years of cooperation, together with Municipality of Centar ALDA has implemented several projects, namely the project RECOV. Moreover, many initiatives in Skopje in the interest of young people from North Macedonia and Balkan Region were implemented successfully.
Mr. Coric is a young and dynamic person working in the Municipality of Centar. As contact point for the cooperation with ALDA he has brought up many initiatives for involvement of the municipality in European programmes. He is motivated to engage in international projects and discuss global issues and their implications on local level.

Irina Sahakyan Vetter

Marta Sys

Marta Sys is a member of the Board of the Merkury Foundation located in Lower Silesia Region of Poland since 2010. She was responsible for applying for sources,  implementation of social projects aimed on labour market, youth and building civil society as well as international cooperation. She is involved in many actions on local and regional level  dedicated to civil society building eg Lower Silesia Youth Forum (4 editions), Lower Silesian Citizens Congress (5 editions). On local level, Marta is involved in NGO’s fairs (5 editions) as well as events dedicated to volunteering, such as „ Power of Help” (2 editions), she is also involved in social economy building proces in Poland as coordinator of innovative project financed by EU initiative EQUAL called „Muflon Partnership”. Marta is a lawyer and career counselor and member of the Board of ALDA since March 2023 as well.

Maurizio Camin

Maurizio Camin is at his second mandate in ALDA’s Governing Board representing Associazione Trentino per i Balcani, Italy.
He has more than 10 years of experience in dealing with International Cooperation as coordinator of the Association “Trentino con i Balcani”, that works mainly in Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia and Albania on mandate of Trento Autonomous Province.
In the last period Maurizio Camin has been a member of the ALDA’s Board where he has tried to represent the issues of the Balkan Region, but also taking care of the needs of other territories. Thanks to this experience he could see how much ALDA and the Agencies for Local Democracy effectively have done and are still doing on the field in order to promote participation at the local level.
He believes that this issue is really important in a time so difficult and plenty of sorrow as the present is and he deeply convinced of the need to keep working to break fences and barriers, self-referential attitudes engaging to build spaces of dialogue and participation among territories, people, institutions and communities creating network of knowledges and development through concrete and shared actions.
He also believes in the importance of creating relations able to involve communities and citizens, what is the essence of International Cooperation.

Roger Lawrence

Roger Lawrence is ALDA Treasurer and a member of the Governing Board as individual member from the United Kingdom, representing Wolverhampton City Council.
Indeed, Roger Lawrence led Wolverhampton City Council from 2002-2019, Council of the year 2017 (MJ), Council Leader of year 2018 (LGIU). Mr Lawrence remains an elected councillor with regional roles for transport and asylum/ migration issues. He is also a non-exec Director of Birmingham Airport Holdings. Roger holds a doctorate from the University of Bristol in European Regional Policy (cross border relations in Central and Eastern Europe).
Mr Lawrence is supporting ALDA and act as Treasurer since 2008. He has a strong feeling of the need to support our vibrant and resilient leadership and it’s record of innovation evidenced by ALDA+ and ALDA med while not neglecting our original mission in the western Balkans and Eastern Partnership.
His participation in ALDA is based on this vision of a strong E.U. working with our neighbors and building the capacity of both local government and civil society. He also supports ALDA’s commitment to sustainable development goals.

Shorena Khukhua

Shorena Khukhua is a member of ALDA’s Governing Board, representing Kutaisi City Municipality, Georgia, working as a head of foreign relations and international projects department.
She is a Civil Servant and invited lecturer. Within her work she has gained a rich experience in working with state, international, local and NGO sector. Kutaisi City Municipality is a partner of ALDA since 2006. During these years ALDA together with Kutaisi City Municipality actively cooperated in different spheres, planned and implemented several projects, sharing experience and best practices
Due to Ms Khukhua’s work she is responsible for the international affairs of the city as well as International Projects. Coordinating the issues such as civil society participation, citizens involvement in decision making process, formatting advisory board and organizing population forums.
Ms Khukhua believes that citizens’ involvement in the activities of local self-government in Georgia is one of the most important issues in Georgia today. It has an important place in the process of self-governance reform. It is noteworthy that local self-governance is the closest institution with citizens, the best level for citizens participation, because every decision affects the daily lives of citizens. She believes that together with ALDA it is possible to promote good governance and citizens active participation in local level which will raise support to the democratic institutions in Europe and neighborhood.

The Congress

The President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, or his/her representative, makes part of ALDA Governing Board as a statutory member.

Thibaut Guignard

Mayor of Plœuc-L’Hermitage, a rural new commune since 2014, Thibaut Guignard, a 42-year-old Breton elected official, is committed to supporting rural areas and Europe.

Endowed with expertise in rural development, European fund management, and the implementation of projects dedicated to local territories, Thibaut Guignard presides over Leader France, the national federation of rural territories engaged in the European rural development program Leader.

Since January 1, 2023, Thibaut Guignard has been presiding over ELARD, the European Leader Association for Rural Development. ELARD is a European association that represents nearly 2,600 territories in 29 countries, including those in the vicinity of the European Union, which have adopted and are implementing the LEADER methodology for local development by local actors.

Driven by his European convictions and a desire to promote the interests of European rural areas, Thibaut Guignard is dedicated to developing decentralized cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe. In this capacity, he leads the France-Poland working group within the French Association of Councils, Communes, and Regions of Europe (AFCCRE).

With a dynamic and European vision of rural areas, the Breton elected official also co-chairs the European Commission of the French Mayors’ Association and serves as an alternate member of the European Committee of the Regions.

Since March 2, 2021, Thibaut Guignard has presided over the French Delegation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CPLRE).

Ahmet Allouch

Ahmed works as an advisor at the Tunisian National Constituent Assembly. Having been active in civil society through many NGOs, Ahmed is currently thevice-president andproject manager at “Youth Without Borders,” a Tunis based NGO aiming to supportyouth engagement in society. Ahmed is a specialist in the youth field with a focus on sports management. He also is a national and international election observer and election observer trainer.

Claire Breschard

After graduating in a BA in English Language, Literature and Civilisations and a BA in History, Claire spent 3 years in Northern Ireland, where she graduated in a pluridisciplinary Masters in Conflict Transformation and Social Justice from The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen’s University Belfast. While undertaking a research internship for a Belfast law firm specialised in human rights, she realised the importance of connecting research to societal needs. This experience in a post-conflict zone has taught her a lot about the importance of community-building and local democracy in fostering quality societal change.

A strong advocate of democracy and intercultural bridges, she has been involved in different civil society organisations in France and Ireland in various fields, namely in assistance to refugees and asylum seekers, education to social entrepreneurship, and CSO development through skilled-based volunteering.

Through her position of Head of Research and International Relations at the French Institute for Civil Society Organisations, she developed a sound understanding of CSO knowledge needs. She has conducted a national survey on CSOs’ needs and organised several working groups on more specific issues: CSOs and democracy in Europe, Associative Governance and Participation, CSOs’ contribution to local territories, to name a few. She has designed several research calls for proposals aimed at meeting CSOs’ needs, helped researchers disseminate their research findings in formats suited to practitioners, and organised multiple events aimed at providing a space for dialogue between CSOs, their private and public stakeholders, and researchers.

Elif Avci

Participatory processes and Youth Engagement Advisor at the Istanbul Development Agency, will cooperate with the Association for the activities carried out in Türkiye. Elif Avcı holds 3 master’s degrees in Human Rights Law, Political Marketing, and Peace, Resilience, and Social Justice. She started her career as psychologist at TOÇEV and later worked as a Social Policy Specialist at Şişli Municipality. She served as Secretary General at Şişli City Council. After completing a Rotary Peace Fellowship, she joined the social policy team for the Istanbul Mayoral candidacy campaign. She worked in Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality as Social & Cultural Policy Coordinator and NDI Turkey as Program Manager. Avcı co-founded and chairs Local Monitoring Research and Implementation (YERELİZ) and currently advises the Istanbul Planning Agency on participatory policies and youth engagement. Her work reflects a strong dedication to inclusive cities and rights-based policies in collaboration with various civil society organisations.

Ibrahim Ndagijimana

With over 15 years of experience in the area of Governance, Leadership, Peace and Conflict transformation, Political studies and decentralisation, Ibrahim Ndagijimana exercised high level responsibilities in the management of local government and worked as a coach for Districts organisational performance under Rwanda Governance Board in the framework of the Rwanda Decentralisation Support Program, supported by the Belgian Technical Cooperation/BTC/ENABEL).

He has a Master’s degree in Public Administration and Management, Master’s degree in Peace and Conflict transformation together with other relevant trainings and he possesses an excellent proficiency in Kinyarwanda, English, French and Swahili.

Inna Volkova

With the outbreak of the war of aggression against Ukraine, Inna took on the role of Head of the Coordination Headquarters to Odesa Rayon Council on the receipt and distribution of the humanitarian aid (Odesa, Ukraine). This experience highlights her commitment to serving her community during challenging times.

Since 2019, Inna has been an active Member of the Odesa Rayon Council, where she continues to contribute to local governance, civic initiatives and international cooperation. Her journey in the sphere of public service began in 2011 when she started working as an Assistant on international issues to a Member of Parliament, a role she continued in the VI, VII, VIII, and IX convocations until 2022. During this period, she gained valuable insights into the intricacies of international relations and parliamentary affairs, shaping her expertise in the field.

Her perspective was enriched through international experiences, including an internship at the German Federal Foreign Office in the framework of  High Level Experts Programme (HLEP) in Berlin and Brussels in 2019. This program allowed her to immerse herself in public institutions in Germany and the EU, where she gained practical insights aimed at implementing European expertise in Ukraine.

Inna holds a Master’s degree in International Law with honors and has earned a Ph.D. in law, reflecting her dedication to academic excellence and continuous learning.

Kirsi Verkka

Kirsi Verkka is currently working as a participatory budgeting development manager for the City of Helsinki. She believes that renewing democratic processes, harnessing collective intelligence and deliberation are key aspects towards more democratic and sustainable societies. Her key areas of expertise are participatory democracy, digital participation and project management. 

Kirsi’s background is in the field of education, with a focus on sustainable development, youth participation, teacher training and curriculum development. Her educational background has equipped her with a systemic approach to democracy innovation and citizen participation. She brings a wealth of experience in utilising various development methods, including network management, service design, experimentation, and co-creation.

Kirsi excels in conceptualisation, communication, and marketing of development work, ensuring effective dissemination of ideas and engaging stakeholders in the process. With a focus on empowering individuals and communities, she aims to drive positive change through collaborative efforts and meaningful engagement.

Maddalena Alberti

Maddalena Alberti is an expert in the field of migration, with over 10 years of experience, specialising in the reception and integration of refugees and asylum seekers. Currently she is the executive director for “Associazione ADL Zavidovici”, a non-profit organization that focuses on international cooperation projects and the reception and protection of asylum seekers and refugees in the Province of Brescia.

She graduated in Arabic and Hebrew languages in the University of Venice and specialized in the relationship between migrations and international cooperation in the University of Bergamo. Additionally, her expertise extends to ethno-clinical mediation, and also completed studies in the management of social enterprises with a particular focus on non-profit organizations dealing with migrants in the Università Cattolica di Milano.

Previously she was engaged with the Trento-based association “Trentino con i Balcani” where she served for a two-year mission in Kosovo. She also worked for several Italian municipalities as an expert in migration, designing services, processes and building multi-stakeholder relationships with migrant citizens, as well as promoting inclusion processes and dialogue between local authorities, institutions, and citizens with a migratory background.

Maite Arrondo

Maite Arrondo is an expert on innovation in housing policies. Nowadays she works for the `Housing and Renovation Institute of Barcelona Municipality´ where she supports the international social and affordable housing agenda through international networks, events organisation such as the European Housing Research Conference or the International Social Housing Festival and EU projects. Currently, she is the coordinator of the “Network of Cities for Collaborative Housing” (NETCO) on behalf of Barcelona Council. Besides, she also collaborates with HOGARSÍ Foundation, where she supports the international agenda stakeholders like the UN Homelessness Working Group and at the European Housing First Hub among others.

A passionate advocate of the interplay between homelessness and housing policies, she has expertise in gender mainstreaming and human rights based approach into public policies. She has wide experience working as urban expert in EU projects and programmes, and has collaborated with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, European Research Centre or the European Federation of Organisations to End Homelessness among others. At the end of the day, she is the proud mum of a little girl and finds great joy in live music, yoga and cycling, and traveling.

Senida Mesi

Senida is an Albanian politician and professor. She served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Albania from 13 September 2017 to 17 January 2019. Now she is a member of parliament. Mesi lectured at the University of Shkodër “Luigj Gurakuqi” until she was elected to Parliament in 2017. In 2015, Mesi was elected a member of the municipal council for Shkodër. During the 2017 parliamentary elections, Mesi ran as a member of the Socialist Party. On 25 June 2017, Mesi was elected a member of the Parliament of Albania for Shkodër. In August 2017, Edi Rama announced that Mesi would be the next deputy prime minister of Albania. Expert on civil society local governance, she will be the point of contact for the Western Balkans area. 

Tamara Ehs

Tamara Ehs is a political scientist and consultant for democratic innovation from Vienna. She works with municipalities, ministries and parties in Austria, Germany and the Centrope region to foster citizens’ participation.
Tamara is the scientific advisor to the State Councillor of the Baden-Württemberg State Government on issues of citizen participation, to the European Capital of Democracy, and a member of the Commission for Dialogue Processes at the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Protection and Innovation. Moreover, she is involved in diverse forms of political education, especially for first-time voters, and taking part in several COST-Actions (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) as her consultancy is based on scientific research.

Antonella Valmorbida

Antonella Valmorbida, Secretary General of ALDA since 1999, has a senior experience in promoting local democracy, empowerment and participation of civil society, and good governance in Europe, in the Balkans, in Eastern Europe, and in the Mediterranean area. She is a European senior consultant on local development with a focus on the implementation of participatory processes for urban regeneration. She manages a network of 300 members mainly composed of local authorities and civil society groups, in over 40 countries in Europe and beyond.
Antonella Valmorbida was President of the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) and Member of the Advisory Board of Urban Foundation for Sustainable Development, Armenia. After 6 years as President of EPD, she is now part of the Board. She has been Chair of the EPAN working group of CONCORD until 2016, Chair of the Committee on Democracy and Civil Society of the Conference of the INGO of the Council of Europe from 2008 to 2011, and she was the coordinator of the subgroup on local government and public administration reform of the Civil Society Forum for Eastern Partnership. In 2012-13, she was board Member of CIVICUS – the World Alliance for Citizens Participation.
Antonella Valmorbida has an academic career at the university of Padova, Italy, and published two books on the involvement of citizens at the local level to promote democracy as well as various articles. Antonella Valmorbida is a French and Italian native speaker and she is fluent in English and Russian.

Marco Boaria

Marco Boaria has an experience of over 20 years working in the international field.

As far as project development is concerned, he has been working in different sectors using many different European programmes (and not only!), cooperating with different Directorate Generals (DGs) of the European Commission.
He has been working as project coordinator, with particular focus on democracy, participation, youth and as external supervisor of European projects developed by public and private entities. He regularly carries out training activities, directly promoted by ALDA and in collaboration with several European training agencies (i.e. SALTO centres, youth national agencies, etc. ), as well as with other public and private clients. Its specialisation as a trainer is primarily focused on the following areas and topics: project cycle management, European funds, participatory methods, non-formal education, youth.

Marco was a member of the Steering Committee at the European level for the European Year of Citizens in 2013 and participated as an elected member in the Steering Committee of the European Alliance of the European Year of Development, set up within in Concord, the European Platform of development NGOs, in 2015.

Since 2015 he is the CEO of “GEIE Europa”, an European Group of Economic Interest participated by ALDA and the Municipality of Monfalcone (Italy), active in the frame of the European Territorial Cooperation.

He contributed to the creation and is the CEO of ALDA+, a benefit corporation company owned by ALDA promoting trainings and technical assistance worldwide to different stakeholders such as local authorities, civil society, and many more.

Abdelaziz Bouslah

Abdelaziz Bouslah is the Director of ALDA Tunis Office and the Regional Officer for Africa in the MEA Department. He joined the European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA) in March 2019. Before that, he was a consultant for the Euro-Med France Network, where he liaised with the EU delegation in Tunisia. He also worked as a project manager for the Tunisian Association for Management and Social Stability (TAMSS), focusing on entrepreneurship and job creation for marginalised communities in Tunisia.

He is an expert in Project management, Local governance and enhancing citizens’ participation and dialogue with national and local authorities. 

As for civil society activities, Abdelaziz is a member of the steering committee of the Euro-Med France Network, a former member of the advisory group of the UNESCO Networks-Mediterranean Youth Networks Tunisia and a former logistics officer at the International Debate Institute.

Abdelaziz is a native Arabic speaker, fluent in French and English, and has conversational skills in Italian.

Adrien Licha

Adrien Licha joined ALDA in February 2022 as coordinator of the Secretariat Office.

Fully convinced that sustainable development has to be reached at the local level, he has been a local government advocate since 2012, both in his professional and private life.
In previous positions he had the chance to work along many local governments from the Middle East and Western Asia, as well as with European national associations involved in decentralized cooperation. Being based in Istanbul for 5 years, he has gained extensive knowledge of local governance in Turkey and contributed to the recognition of the importance of local governments hosting Syrian refugees. During his stay in Turkey, he managed to learn Turkish and he is currently learning Arabic.

His research areas include local governance, participatory processes and city diplomacy, with a particular focus on Turkey and the Middle East.

Originally from France, he is member of the twinning committee between his home town, in the South of France and the city of Troyan, in Bulgaria. After moving to Belgium, he became Vice-President of the Consultative Council on European Affairs of the commune of Ixelles, which aims at raising awareness on European policies at the local level and promoting social inclusion. More generally, being a part of the international municipal movement has allowed him to observe the diversity of local democracy all around the world.

Aladdin Alrifai

Aladdin is an experienced EU Projects Manager and Coordinator with a proven track record of leading successful initiatives in Sports, Youth Empowerment, Civic Engagement, Sustainable Development, and other youth-related areas. Over the past 3 years, he has effectively managed and coordinated multiple projects with EU and global partners. With a strong background in Business Management and Development spanning 9 years, Aladdin has acquired valuable expertise across various sectors and fields. He holds two MSc degrees, one in Leadership and another in Marketing, reflecting his commitment to lifelong learning and professional growth. Aladdin speaks fluent English, Arabic, and good French.

Alessia Marzotto

Alessia works as a Junior Project Manager in the Civic Engagement thematic hub for ALDA and she is based in the Vicenza office. Alessia holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, International Relations and Human Rights from the University of Padova (Italy) and she has a Language High School Diploma. She speaks English and Spanish fluently, and she has a good level of German.

Alessia Masin

Alessia works as Junior Communication Officer for ALDA and she is based in the Vicenza office. She holds a Bachelor Degree in Political Sciences, International Relations and Human Rights at the University of Padova and she is currently writing her Master Degree thesis as she is graduating in International Cooperation and Protection of Human Rights at the University of Bologna. During her academic path she lived and studied in France, notably at Université Paul-Valéry (Montpellier) and Sciences Po Lyon. Passionate about human rights, migration and international law, she worked as project manager and communication officer for different NGOs supporting migrants in distress in the Balkans where she also worked in the field to provide humanitarian and medical support, especially to children. Communication and content creation enthusiast, Alessia fluently speaks French, English and Spanish and has basic knowledge of German.

Alma Bustamante

Alma joined ALDA in 2023 as a Junior Project Developer after an internship in the Programmes and Development Unit. She is currently completing a Master’s degree in European and Global Studies with a Minor in Global Social Policies and Security Issues from the University of Padova, and she holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies with a Minor in Law from the Torcuato Di Tella University.

Before joining ALDA, she worked as a political analyst for a research and advocacy organisation promoting transparent legislative processes and strengthening the civic space. Her career path also includes experience assisting the development of educational programs between Argentina and the USA, as well as experience as a research assistant on development, sustainability and gender equality. She is fluent in Spanish and English, and has a working knowledge of Italian and German.

Andrea Michelini

As a project manager, Andrea brings a unique blend of expertise in partnerships, advocacy, and communications for the UN, NGOs and associations. He has a proven track record in implementing projects, designing awareness-raising campaigns and managing partnerships on EU projects (Horizon, Erasmus+), trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, gender and migration, preventing violent extremism in prisons. Andrea holds a Master’s in History of Sub Saharan Africa at Université Paris I Panthéon – Sorbonne, and is fluent in Italian, English, French, Spanish with intermediate knowledge of Portuguese and Tunisian Arabic.

Anna Ditta

Anna works for ALDA since 2011. In the Programmes and Development Unit, she is responsible for developing projects funded by EU, CoE, UN and other public and private donors, in the promotion of: democracy, human rights, social inclusion, active citizenship, youth, good local governance and decentralized cooperation. This involves: partner search, project and budget drafting, administrative documents collection, and coordination with partners and stakeholders. She also is in charge of developing, managing and delivering training courses addressed to local authorities and civil society organisations on: i) Project Cycle Management; ii) European Funds and Programmes; iii) Methods for mobilising and engaging citizens in their community life. She also delivers training at school (from primary to high school) about EU and its values, participatory democracy methods for CSOs and LAs, facilitation and coaching to improve NGOs’ internal governance. The methodology employed involves the typical tools of the non-formal education (interactive lessons, group dynamics, i.e. world café, Open Space Technology, etc.).

Main training references: Council of Euroope Code of Good practice for civil participation in the decision making process, Tool for citizens by Bosh Alumni Network, Kettering Foundation democratic practices.

Areas of work: EU, Western Balkans, South Caucasus, North Africa. She is responsible of the development of the projects targeting Middle East and Africa area and addressing topics of decentralisation, local democracy, women economic and social empowerment.

Apolline Bonfils

Apolline Bonfils is in charge of ALDA projects implemented in the Mediterranean region.

She holds a Master’s degree in Law of States Rebuilding in Post-Conflict Environments and is interested in constitutional developments, particularly in the Middle East & Africa (MEA) region. She has previously worked with various non-governmental organisations in Tunisia and Lebanon, and carried out substantial research on constitutional writing, decentralisation and transitional justice.
Within ALDA, Apolline is part of the MEA project management area, and has a strong interest in project monitoring and evaluation. She is also in charge of ensuring ALDA’s commitment to French and international networks in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Furthermore, at the local level, she is in charge of ALDA’s French office, based in Strasbourg, which gives her a strategic position to support cities and citizens in participatory development practices. In particular, she participates with the city of Strasbourg in the development of more inclusive processes for citizens.

Beyond these functions, Apolline is very involved in issues related to the electoral administration, and frequently participates in election observation missions.

Bartek Ostrowski

Bartek Ostrowski is ALDA’s consultant for the development of LDAs in Ukraine.
In the past, Mr Ostrowski was Plenipotentiary for International Cooperation of the Wroclaw Technology Park in Poland, Deputy Director of the Polish Institute in Moscow and Counsellor of the Polish Embassy in Russia, Director of the Foreign Relations Department of the Regional Authority of the Lower Silesia in Poland and Director of the Representation of the Lower Silesia Region to the European Union in Brussels. Also, he has experience as a coordinator of grant making initiative at the Batory Foundation in Warsaw.
Moreover, he is an initiator of the LDA in Dnipro, Ukraine establishment, which was opened in 2015. For this initiative he was awarded the Honorary Award of the Chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk Region Council. Mr Ostrowski was, also, the initiator of joining the ALDA of the Lower Silesia region and the city of Wroclaw – the capital of the region.
Mr Ostrowski is responsible for the support the activities of the network in the Eastern Partnership countries, especially developing the LDA network in Ukraine, as well as, support of the implementation by the ALDA network of development aid projects in the Eastern Partnership countries, WB6 and in Russia and support the development of the advisory functions of ALDA+.

Beatrice Frascatani

Beatrice joined ALDA in March 2022. She started working as a Communication Officer and Project Manager and in July 2023 she took over the position of Acting Head of ALDA Communication Department. After obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations at Università ‘La Sapienza’ in Rome (Italy), she decided to continue her studies by achieving a Master in International Relations and Transnational Governance at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (The Netherlands) as well as a a Master in Communication Studies: Media and Journalism in Europe at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium).This chosen study path combines her two greatest passions: communication and political involvement. 

Before joining ALDA, Beatrice concluded a traineeship as a Public Policy Communications Consultant for Political Intelligence, a consultancy agency based in Brussels. In the meantime, she contributed to an Italian Study centre on geopolitics, writing articles on migration and EU relations with third countries. 

Native Italian, Beatrice speaks Spanish and English fluently, and she possesses a good level of French.

Camilla Vedovato

Camilla holds a bachelor’s degree in Linguistic and Cultural Mediation from the University of Padova, where she could take part in the Erasmus Program at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland. 

Passionate about human rights and equality, she volunteered to support refugees and asylum seekers for two years. 

To further deepen her understanding of women’s rights and LGBTQIA+ rights, she is currently graduating with a master’s degree in European Studies and Global Gender Studies at Aalborg University in Denmark. 

During her master’s degree, she joined ALDA Vicenza in September 2022, working as Project Manager Assistant in the Gender, Inclusion and Human Rights Hub where she could put her studies into practice, and she is now Junior Project Manager and Hub Coordinator of this Hub. 

Italian native speaker, she is fluent in English and Spanish.

Cristina Mariani

Cristina joined ALDA’s Strasbourg team in June 2022, and she works as a Junior Project Manager in the Environment & Climate Hub. Passionate about sustainability and environment, she holds a Master’s degree in Local and Global Development from the University of Bologna, and a professional certificate in Project Cycle Management from ISPI.

Her past working experience includes educational projects, communication for the third sector, social work and tutoring with children and youths in vulnerability.

Dafne Sgarra

Passionate about innovation and sustainable development, Dafne is deeply interested in European affairs and funding programmes for the internationalisation and digitalisation of SMEs, youth associations and public institutions.
After a Minor in European Studies at Maastricht University and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations at the University of Turin, she earned a Master’s Degree in Public Economics and Finance – Double Degree programme between Italy and Switzerland.
In 2019 she interned at the Executive Agency for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) of the European Commission, where she was supporting the Evaluation and Monitoring sector and collaborating with the Learning and Development team. After this experience in Brussels, she worked as junior EU Project Manager in Turin and in Venice. Dafne also volunteered at AIESEC Switzerland in 2018 and she is currently a member of the Global Shapers Community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum.
Italian native speaker, she is fluent in English and French.

Ecaterina Popa

Ecaterina joined ALDA in November 2022 as an administrative and communication assistant. Her professional career started as an assistant and evolved to head of the Communication and Consultancy Department of the National Intellectual Property Agency, a position she held for over 10 years.

She has designed and implemented institutional communication strategies, managed social media accounts and websites by writing content, monitoring activities and researching trends, developed concepts for visual and promotional materials, and organised national and international conferences, interactive and protocol events, and science-themed exhibitions. 

She holds degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science and Economics and Marketing, from the State University of Moldova, Intellectual Property Management from the World Intellectual Property Office Academy, and Intellectual Property Enforcement from the European Union IP Office.

Elena Fuerler

Elena has a bachelor degree in International Studies and a master degree in European and Global Studies, with a focus in European Policies, from the University of Padua.

She started collaborating with ALDA through an internship in the summer of 2020 where she became passionate about project development and management. In the last 6 months Elena was also involved in the Project Management department where she implemented activities for two Erasmus + projects.
During her studies and work experience she got passionate about social inclusion and civic and democratic participation.
Elena is now part of the staff of ALDA as Project Developer.

Eleonora Bertin

Eleonora has been working in ALDA since March 2021 supporting Marco Boaria in the development of the services provided by ALDA +.

She holds a degree in Politics and European Integration from the University of Padua with a thesis on the lobbies at the European Level.

During her previous work experience, she has been working as legal assistant in a law firm in Vicenza and as project assistant in Vicenza Municipality’s project called “Cercando il Lavoro” where she collaborated on the implementation of two European projects in the field of Education and on the development of services focused on unemployed people. She has senior experience in office’s management and administration, and she is now responsible for the finalisation of ISO 9001 certification process.

Elisabetta Pinamonti

Elisabetta has been working in ALDA since 2014. During the first years in the Association, she covered the role of Assistant Financial Manager, directly reporting to the Head of the Financial and Admin Department of ALDA. In 2021, she took over this role and in light of her broad knowledge and experience she became the Head of the Admin and Financial Department of ALDA.

She has an in-depth knowledge and an experience in the financial management and in the reporting of projects, both European and non-European ones. In the framework of the over 300 projects ALDA implemented in the past 10 years, Elisabetta went successfully through the audits of the European Commission for projects that received funding by various EU-programmes, such as LIFE, ERASMUS+, Horizon2020, AMIF, EfC, External Actions programmes and so on. She is now Head of Admin & Financial Department.

Elisabetta Uroni

Elisabetta is responsible for the whole communication-related activities of ALDA (institutional communication, projects related information, communication with members). After her graduation in “Mediterranean Languages” at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, with a focus on Serbo-Croatian and Turkish languages and cultures, Elisabetta continued her studies in France, firstly in Paris and then in Aix-en-Provence where she lastly got a Master’s Degree in “International and Intercultural Negotiation” at Aix-Marseille University.
Before starting her adventure at ALDA, she spent a couple of years in Turkey, where she collaborated as project assistant with three youth organisations working to foster the inclusion of disabled people, promoting employment and raising awareness of individual rights in rural areas. She then lived and worked in Paris as behaviour interventionist and then she landed at the Italian and European Chambers of Commerce in Canada-West, in Vancouver, as junior communication and marketing manager. There, she was managing the web and social media presence of the whole organisation, as well as organising cultural events and conferences in partnership with Assocamere Estero and the EU delegation.
Native Italian, she speaks fluently English, French, Turkish and Serbo-Croatian languages.

Ersilia Sapone

Ersilia Sapone joined ALDA as a Reporting Officer in 2022.
She obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration followed by a Master’s Degree in Finance from the University of Udine (IT).

To improve her administrative skills she has done a training course followed by work experience in a real estate and financial consulting firm.
During her previous experience she worked for an accredited professional training institution where she managed various training courses in economic-legal subjects.

“Sapere Aude!” is her motto, while social inclusion and civic participation her main topics of interest.

She speaks fluently Italian and English.

Fabio Girotto

Fabio works as Assistant for the Programme & Development Unit for ALDA+ since 2023. His duties are transversal and touch development of projects, services and documentations. 

He holds a Bachelor in Projectation and Social Innovation at the University of Trento and he’s actually studying Pluralism and Migration Studies at the University of Padua. Prior to joining ALDA he worked as project developer assistant in an italian Third Sector cooperative in Bassano del Grappa and then collaborating with different NGOs in Greece working with asylum seekers and migrants. Based in Vicenza, he’s native italian, speaks English and can communicate in Greek.

Fatma Mnif

Working as an administrative, logistical and financial assistant at ALDA, Fatma has 19 years of experience in administration, including three years working in the non-profit sector. She has a Master’s degree in New Information Technologies, A Master’s degree in accounting and financial techniques, and several certifications in computer management. After starting as an accountant, she took up broader responsibilities running a small IT services company for ten years. The Tunisian revolution was a defining moment for Fatma’s interest in the associative work. Taking up responsibilities in several NGOs voluntarily, she decided to switch careers by working for Handicap International on two EU funded projects in Tunisia. Passionate about Art, communication, and translation. She introduces touches of what she is passionate about in her everyday work, which gives more appeal to her work and meaning to her life.
Fatma follows also the Project “AUTREMENT” – Aménagement Urbain du Territoire pour REinventer les Mobilités et ENgager les Tunisiens: to her “AUTREMENT is not a project, it’s a lifestyle!”.

Faty Babou

Faty works at ALDA as Grant Manager for the WYDE Civic Engagement project and she is based in Senegal. She holds a master’s degree in urban geography from the Gaston Berger University of Saint-Louis in Senegal. Prior to joining ALDA; she worked at GGGI on a waste management project in Touba. She is fluent in French and has an intermediate level in English and Spanish.

Fedoua Bouderdaben

Fedoua is a junior project manager in the Middle East-Africa department at ALDA and is based in Strasbourg. She holds a bachelor in Political Science and a master’s degree of International Relations from Science Po Strasbourg. She had the opportunity to do an erasmus exchange in Istanbul and following that experience, she produced a research paper on the end of the ottoman caliphate for her master’s thesis. 

She has previously volunteered and worked in associations focusing on migrant, refugee and asylum-seeker visibility, and on citizen’s appropriation of public space through a citizen-thought urbanism. She also acquired substantial knowledge on the Euro-mediterranean area by doing an internship at the maltese permanent representation to the Council of Europe.

Giulia Albertoni

Working as Financial Officer at ALDA, Giulia has three years of experience in the financial reporting of European projects.

She has a Master degree in Local Development and she worked as project manager in different organisations in Italy and UK. She then developed an interest for the financial reporting and in the last four years she has followed the implementation and financial reporting of different projects, mainly funded by European Programmes, but also by other public and private donors.

As a teenager she hated numbers and maths and now she feels satisfied when everything adds up in the reports, but do not ask the same in her personal life and hobbies!

Giulia Sostero

Giulia coordinates ALDA’s activities in the Middle East & Africa (MEA) area and animates our association’s Euro-Mediterranean networks. She manages EU and non-EU funded projects in the framework of many different programmes, such as ENI, DG DEVCO, Erasmus+ and others, for which she also supports the project development phase. She oversees the development of two Local Democracy Agencies situated in Morocco and Tunisia, by supporting the internal management and sustainability and project development. Along with the team she coordinates, she represents ALDA in international networks and events and has acquired expertise in partnership building. She also contributes to research works and assignments within her field of competence.

She specialised in the Mediterranean area both during her studies and her professional life. She holds a BA in Languages, Cultures and Societies of Mediterranean Asia and Africa, with a major in Arabic, and an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree on Inter-Mediterranean Mediation, which mixed sociology, political science and project management, issued by Ca’ Foscari University (Venice, Italy), Université Paul Valéry Montpellier III (Montpellier, France) and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain). Her Master thesis, which she had the chance to present at the International Sociological Association conference in Toronto (Canada) and at the RN34 European Sociological Association Sociology of Religion conference in Torino (Italy), regarded the concept of radicalisation and its link to Islamophobia, with a case study on the Swedish prevention system.
She previously worked as a legal assistant for asylum seekers in Northern Italy (Vicenza province), taking care of the first reception phase entailing the delivery of information to asylum seekers about their rights, but also individually coaching them to prepare for their interview.

On a side, she is an educator within the Scout movement and coordinates a group of mentors working with youth aged 12 to 16. She often organises and holds workshops for youth and/or adult groups on the topic of migration, asylum and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Since 2010 she has been volunteering in the field of migration and integration, but also disability and homelessness. She took part in and assisted in organising many youth transnational exchanges. She is passionate about music, which she studied and uses as a research and educational tool.

She is a native speaker of Italian and French, and also speaks English, Spanish and Arabic (along with basics of Swedish, Turkish and Hebrew).

Irakli Jgharkava

Irakli Jgharkava serves as the Southern Caucasus and Central Asia coordinator, based in Tbilisi, Georgia. Prior to joining ALDA, Irakli gained valuable experience working with the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) as a programme assistant and consultant, where he contributed to the organisation’s efforts in promoting democracy in the EU’s eastern partnership region. Additionally, he worked as a researcher at the Tbilisi-based think tank, the Georgian Institute of Politics, focusing on research areas such as Georgia-EU relations, media polarisation, information warfare, national security, and nationalism.

Irakli’s academic background spans various disciplines, such as international relations, security studies, and European studies. He holds an MA degree in the Managing Disruption and Violence programme from the Daniel Morgan Graduate School of National Security (Washington, D.C., United States), as well as a Master’s degree in European Public Affairs and Policies from the College of Europe in Natolin. He completed his undergraduate studies in international relations at Tbilisi State University.

Ivana Velkova

Working for ALDA from 2015, Ivana started as a project assistant and progressed steadily to the position of project manager that she holds today. Originally a French professor, with a Masters in Languages, Business and International Trade, Ivana has developed various skills in both governmental and non governmental settings. Her skills in project cycle management, youth work and communication are an added value while implementing projects not only on the territory of North Macedonia but also on regional and international level.

Alongside Macedonian as her mother tongue, she is fluent in French, English and Serbian, and has a moderate understanding of Italian. She is outgoing, friendly and easily communicates with people.

Katica Janeva

Katica Janeva has been working for ALDA for over a decade and has a vast experience on the subject of local democracy, cooperation between local authorities and civil society as well as the decentralisation process.

She is currently Director of the branch ALDA based in Skopje & Western Balkans Coordinator. Furthermore, she is founding member and director of the Balkan Network for Local Democracy focusing on empowerment of good governance in the Western Balkans.

Among other, she also works in the field of Francophonie and is a very active contributor to the International Organisation of the Francophonie.

She also benefited from the Francophone volunteer program and was based at the Francophone University Agency in Cambodia in 2014. Based on her civic engagement she believes that the local approach has great potential for long lasting positive change of the communities and strengthening democracy.

Khrystyna Kvartsiana

Khrystyna is a Project Developer and ALDA Representative in Ukraine.

Her expertise lies in sustainable development policies, democracy, and digital innovations. At ALDA, she develops projects for the EU and other international donor organisations predominantly targeting the EaP region.

Khrystyna started her professional career in the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine on the EU-funded project on Media ownership transparency. Then, she worked in several think tanks on anti-corruption and civil society empowerment.

She consults the Ukrainian NGO Institute for Innovative Governance on e-governance and digital inclusion topics. Her academic interests lie in the critical approach to digital technologies, their potential for improving and threatening democracy and sustainable development.

She holds two Master’s degrees with distinction: one in Political Science with a focus on European Affairs from the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and the second one in Sustainable Development jointly offered by the Sorbonne University in Paris, KU Leuven, University of Padua, and the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.

She speaks Ukrainian, English, French, Italian and Russian.

Linda Dal Bosco

Lina has been working in the ALDA’s Admin & Financial Department since 2015. After working as assistant to the Head of the Department for projects reporting in the frame of DEAR actions, as well as of mostly public and private donors, since 2021 she became Paying Manager and General Accountant.

She studied administration and management. She benefits from over 20 years of experience in administration/management assistant positions in Italy and abroad.

As far as her linguistic skills are concerned, she speaks fluently Italian, English and Spanish.

Lizeth Lopez

Lizeth joined ALDA in 2023 as Junior Project Manager in the Environment & Climate Hub after an internship in the Project Implementation Unit. Based on the Vicenza Office, she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of Manchester (UK). She is currently finishing her master’s degree in Local Development at the University of Padua (IT).

Her past working experience includes the implementation of social development programs for small-scale farmers in Ecuador. Her interests involve corporate social responsibility, circularity and sustainability.

Lizzy Catherine Galiazzo

Lizzy works in the Programmes and Development Department of ALDA as developer of projects funded by the European Union and other public and private donors, in the fields of good governance, human rights, social inclusion, active citizenship, youth, environment and sustainable development. More specifically, Lizzy is involved in the drafting of projects within the context of the indirect funds such as projects funded by the Italian government and regional administrations. Over the last 5 years, Lizzy has acquired a consolidated capacity and expertise in the writing and management of projects for medium and small enterprises based in Italy. She holds a master’s degree in Oriental languages with a focus on ancient languages such as Sanskrit. She is proficient in Italian, English and she has basic knowledge in Hindi and French.

Luisa dal Prà

Dal Prà Luisa is a Project manager for ALDA Italia APS and she is the coordinator of the Alta Via della Grande Guerra (AVGG) DMO where she manages the project’s communication, promotion and development and she coordinates events and relations between administrators and economic stakeholders; she is also in charge of the project H.I.L.L. (Habitat in Living Landscape); project Carpaneda Chiama – in Vicenza, organization of participatory events. She collaborates in the definition and the drafting of the SISUS project for the Pedemontana Urban Area and the definition of partnerships for Europei projects in different programs.

Manal Snidi

Manal is Junior Communication Officer at ALDA, based in the Brussels office.
During her Bachelor Degree in International Studies in Trento (Italy), she took part in an Erasmus programme at the Goethe University in Frankfurt. She then did the Master in European and International Studies at the School of International Studies in Trento, focusing on international law, human rights, and EU policies.
Right after, she started her journey in ALDA in 2022, where she firstly was working as advocacy and communication officer, and now fully under the Communication Department.

Native Italian and Arabic, she speaks fluently English, French, and German.

Mariaelisa Aloi

She works as Event Manager in the Vicenza office of ALDA since 2022. She has a Master’s degree in International Studies from the University of Turin, where she was also a student of the Scuola di Studi Superiori dell’Università di Torino, the school of excellence of the University. After her studies, she had experiences in Italy, Croatia and Sierra Leone, mainly in the project development and management sector. She is native Italian, but thanks to the experience gained abroad she is also fluent in English. Moreover, she has an intermediate level in French, German and Spanish.

Martina Dus

Martina works as an Accounting and Financial Officer. She has a degree in business administration and she is attending a master’s degree in Vicenza of “Management and business strategy”.

Thanks to her studies she got passionate about sustainability, especially as far as business sustainability concerns. She speaks Italian and English.

Matteo Parisen Toldin

Matteo is the HR Manager of ALDA. He is in charge since april 2020 and he has 10 years of experience in Human Resources of non-profit organizations.

He has previously been working for over 9 years as head of the office in an association of private schools, and before he has been working as a consultant for 2 years in a payroll service. At the beginning of his career, he worked as an accounting officer in a lead Italian bank.

He holds a Master’s Degree in “Administrative Science” from the University of Trieste and in 2018 he obtained a Master’s Degree in “Human Resources Management” at Fondazione CUOA.

Italian native speaker, Matteo speaks English fluently and has a good knowledge of German.

Milena Dimitrovska

Milena is a project Development Officer at ALDA office in Skopje. She has been working with ALDA since 2017 and has more than 10 years of experience with project management and development. She workson developing projects funded by EU programes such as: IPA Instrument, Horizon, CERV, Erasmus+ and others, including non-EU donors programs. She is also engaged in following tender services published by the European Commision. She follows programmes and tenders that are related to: local democracy, Western Balkan civil society development and EU integration, regional cooperation, environment and other related topics.

Regarding education, she has an executive MBA from the University of Sheffield and York College and a Masters’ Degree in Democracy and Human Rights from the ERMA Programme. Previously, she worked in the public and private sector always as project manager and developer.

Nadia Di Iulio

Nadia holds a double master’s degree respectively in Tourism Economics and Management and European Project management.
With over 4 years of experience in the management of European funded projects, Nadia has coordinated European projects working in different areas, from urban resilience to civic participation, culture and education, and she has experiences in different European programmes, such as Interreg Italy-Austria, Erasmus + KA2, Europe for Citizens and Creative Europe.

She gained consolidated competences in the implementation of European projects, activities planning, time management, organization of events online and offline, partnership coordination, reporting and financial tasks, project communication and dissemination.

Creative, versatile and enthusiastic, but at the same time: concrete, reliable and attentive to detail. Organization, communication and result orientation have always characterized her way of work. She likes working in a team, sharing ideas, bringing together skills and notions, as well as an opportunity for growth and expansion of her own network.

Nadia is Italian native speaker and fluent in English.

Nadia Vigolo

Nadia joined ALDA as a Reporting Officer in 2024 and she is based in the Vicenza office. 

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies and a Master’s Degree in International Cooperation and Development from the University of Trieste. 

She worked as a communication and fundraising officer in different NGOs and volunteered in Mumbai, India, thanks to the Italian National Civic Service. Beyond her professional background, she is keen to discover new places and cultures. She is passionate about nature and loves spending time in the mountains and trekking. She is fluent in English and French and has a basic knowledge of German. 

Natalia Karmanova

Natalie joined the ALDA Team in 2022. She obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow.

She has worked in different fields and has various experiences in working as an employee, but also as self-employed while also managing a small enterprise she founded while living in Moscow. The main work experience is related to business projects, legal and financial documents, accounting, and the digital sphere.

Nicola Zordan

Nicola began his role as a junior project manager at the ALDA Skopje office in July 2022. He holds a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Research and Studies on Eastern Europe, a joint degree program with the University of Bologna, Saint Petersburg State University, Vytautas Magnus University at Kaunas, and Zagreb University. In addition, he completed his Bachelor of Arts in International Studies at the University of Trento, and after his studies, he undertook a three-month internship at the Consulate General of Italy in Rijeka.
Driven by a strong interest in the Balkans, he directed his academic pursuits towards the political, economic, and historical progress of the Southeast European region.
Several online newspapers have published his articles, and he currently contributes to Meridiano 13.

Pavla Bednarikova

Pavla is Project Manager for ALDA based in the Brussels office. She is working on projects focused on civic participation, education and youth. 

Before joining ALDA, Pavla worked for a Czech NGO where she focused on supporting democracy and active citizenship in the Czech Republic and beyond, gained experience in project management and civic education of youth and adults. She holds a master’s in European studies and in Social education; she enjoys spending time volunteering and traveling, and she is passionate about youth and adult learning. 

Her native language is Czech, she is fluent in English, and she can also communicate in French.

Raffaella Bedin

Raffaella works in the ALDA’s Admin and Financial Department since 2019.

She collaborates in the financial reporting of projects, the most part financed by the European Commission, some of them financed by private funds. In the past she had various work experiences in commercial, import/export and retail offices. She also had some experience in teaching foreign languages.

She graduated in Chinese Language and Culture at Venice at Ca’ Foscari University and she is very passionate about chinese history and culture.

She speaks Italian, English, French and Chinese.

Rita Biconne

Rita joined ALDA as Head of the Project Management Department in February 2022. She is responsible for the overall management of all project managers and all ongoing projects of the Association, to ensure a unified, consistent and coherent action of ALDA.

Rita is an experienced manager and unit coordinator, thanks to her previous experience within an Italian Association of Local Authorities for Sustainable Development (FELCOS Umbria), where she had responsibilities linked to international projects and programmes design and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, team coordination and cross-cultural networking.

During her 8-year professional experience, she has been committed to strengthening citizen participation, good governance and local authorities’ accountability on sustainable development. She managed various regional and international projects mainly funded by UNDP (United Nations Development Program) and the European Union (EuropAid, DEAR, Erasmus+, Europe for Citizens, AMIF) and coordinated two working units, specifically dedicated to i) Development Education on Awareness Raising, and ii) SDGs localisation through an integrated and participatory approach for local development policy.

She was Research fellow on territorial heritage valorisation and community planning in 2015 and Assistant lecturer for six years in the Course on Urban planning for Development Cooperation at the University of Florence.
She holds a PhD in Urban and Territorial Planning and a Master’s Degree in Architecture in the University of Florence.
Italian native speaker, Rita is fluent in French and English.

Sanja Trpkovska

Sanja, a Project Manager at ALDA Skopje Office, has a strong background in international cooperation and project management. Her journey began as a Communication Officer at ALDA, working on the Normandy-Macedonia project. Later, she became the Coordinator of Japan’s GGP Development Assistance Programme for North Macedonia at the Embassy of Japan, overseeing a portfolio of projects aimed at improving the local community’s quality of life.

Back at ALDA Skopje Office in 2023, she remains committed to creating, branding, and promoting projects funded by the European Union and other stakeholders. Dedicated to international cooperation with passion and commitment, and leveraging her effective communication skills and project management experience, she continues to work on projects that help improve and develop the communities.

Silvia Piccoli

Silvia Piccoli joined ALDA as Financial Reporting Officer in 2021 and she is based in the Vicenza office. She completed her studies at the University of Verona, earning a Master Degree in Languages for Communication in Tourism and Commerce.

During her previous main work experience at Villa Fabris Foundation – European Centre for Heritage Crafts and Professions and Niuko Innovation and Knowledge she was responsible for management, coordination and tutoring of training projects.

Italian native speaker, she is fluent in English and French.

Tanja Vujanovic

Employed in ALDA+ as an Administrative assistant in the Vicenza Financial and accounting department.
She holds a degree in foreign languages from the University of Belgrade and she has gained work experience in a different sectors, especially in the transport and logistics sector as well as commercial sector and customer care, where she was able to apply her language skills and work closely with foreign clients and collaborators.
She has always enjoyed working with the public and taking part in solidarity and humanitarian initiatives.
She is Serbo-Croatian native speaker and she is fluent in Italian and English. She has good knowledge of German and a basic level of Russian.

Valentina Lovato

Valentina holds a Bachelor degree in Humanities at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and she is currently completing a Masters’ degree in Social Research and Welfare Systems. Her study background is about national and EU policies addressing contemporary social issues, above all work, migration and gender inequalities. She started collaborating with ALDA through an internship and she joined the team as a project developer in 2022.

Valeria Fantini

Valeria works as a project manager for projects implemented by ALDA, with a specific focus on environment and sustainability.

Currently, she is managing projects funded by different European Programmes, such as DEAR, LIFE, HORIZON, ERASMUS+, on the topic of climate change adaptation, flood risk mitigation, fair and sustainable food consumption and production, territorial development, and Green Deal policies implementation.

During her previous work experience at the Europe Direct Network Office of the Province of Verona, she was responsible both for the dissemination and outreach of European Union policies and opportunities on the territory and for the planning and execution of complex projects, conferences, and training activities with various stakeholders, such as the 98 Municipalities of the territory, the Veneto Region, the Europe Direct Network and the DG Communication of the European Commission. In this context Valeria was able to deepen her knowledge on European environmental policies and the Green Deal, and to carry out concrete actions and initiatives to disseminate these policies on the territory.

She holds a master’s degree in law, acquired at the University of Trento – where she specialized in European Union Law. Her passion for Human Rights and equality led her to attend the 10th edition of the “Diversity Management and Gender Equality” Master course of the Giacomo Brodolini Foundation.

Valeria is a native Italian speaker; she has an excellent command of English and German and a sound knowledge of Spanish and French

Veronica Vidotto

Veronica is responsible for the management of ALDA’s network of members. She started working at ALDA in summer 2022 as a civil service volunteer.

She holds a Master’s degree in Comparative International Relations from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Previously, she graduated in International and Diplomatic Sciences from the University of Trieste. During her studies, she participated in an Erasmus exchange programme at Sciences Po Grenoble and worked as an intern at the Permanent Representation of Italy to the European Union and the Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change (CMCC).

Being always interested in active citizenship and social inclusion, she is a volunteer at “Libera – Associazioni, Nomi e Numeri contro le Mafie”, has contributed to the online university journal for three years and coordinated local activities for children in her hometown.

Viorica Tudos

Viorica Tudos joined ALDA in 2022 as a project manager and a year later took up the position of director of the ALDA Chisinau branch. She is also contributing to Eastern Partnership cross-countries projects and managing EU funded project for enhancing local governance and citizens’ engagement and dialogue with local authorities.
During her professional career, Viorica has worked as a marketing and communications manager in a variety of industries, from consumer goods to banking, in international and local organisations, and in the private and public sectors. Among others, she has also provided communications consultancy to projects in the fields of justice, health and tourism funded by USIAD and the World Bank.
She holds degrees in Public Relations and Social Communication, has a master degree in Marketing, and graduated from Oxford College of Marketing with CIM Level 6 Diploma in Professional Marketing.
Viorica is a native Romanian speaker, fluent in English and Russian.

Yasmine Falfoul

Yasmine Falfoul is a Tunisian young professional with extensive experience in international cooperation and development. She has successfully contributed to multiple Donor-funded projects implemented by reputable organizations such as Deloitte and Chemonics. Yasmine’s expertise lies in developing and implementing Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) plans, data analysis, communication strategies, and impactful storytelling. Her notable project involvements include the USAID-funded TADAEEM and Tunisia JOBS initiatives, as well as the EU-funded AUTREMENT project.

Complementing her professional experience, Yasmine holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Studies with valedictorian honours. She pursued a two-year Master’s program in Translation and Interpreting from the Higher Institute of Social Sciences of Tunis. Furthermore, she completed an advanced Master’s degree in European Interdisciplinary Studies from the prestigious College of Europe, focusing on the EU’s role as a global actor and gender equality promoter in the ENP countries. Under the guidance of esteemed scholar Prof. Tobias Schumacher, her thesis explored the EU’s efforts in advancing gender equality in Tunisia after the Arab Spring.

Since September 2022, Yasmine has assumed the role of Communication and Local Democracy Officer within the MEA Department of ALDA.

Zuhal Önal

Zuhal joined ALDA as Project Assistant in October 2023, engaging with the “WE ACT” project within the MEA Project Management Department. She holds a degree in Economics from Middle East Technical University. Her previous roles include a position as a Program Assistant at the National Democratic Institute (NDI), where she concentrated on civic participation and was particularly focused on the empowerment of young women in decision-making processes. Furthermore, she has gained valuable experience in grant management as a Grants Assistant at the European Endowment for Democracy (EED).

Alessia Di Muro

Alessia holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Sciences for Development and Cooperation and a Master’s Degree in European Legal Studies, with a Minor Diploma in Law and Technology, at the University of Turin (Italy). During her Master’s Degree, she took part in the Erasmus programme at the University of Bergen in Norway, and she undertook an internship at the Permanent Representation of Italy to the European Union in Brussels. She joined ALDA in 2023 as Project Developer Assistant in the Brussels office, as part of her International Civil Service.

Federica Lovato

Federica holds a master’s degree in International Development and Cooperation from La Sapienza
University of Rome. Previously, she graduated in International Development and Cooperation
Sciences at the University of Turin. At the end of her studies she completed an internship under
the Erasmus + program in Portugal within a biodiversity conservation project in a national park.
Always interested in environmental issues, during her studies she worked in various organisations
dealing with environmental conservation and animal rights.
She began collaborating with ALDA through an internship in October 2023 as Project Manager
Assistant at the Environment and Climate Change Hub.

Isadora Gomes 

Isadora is a Project Management intern at the Hub  Youth & Digitalisation . She is currently completing a Master’s degree in European and Global Studies, with a focus on social policy and security issues, at the University of Padua. He also holds a degree in Journalism from the Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas in Brazil.

Before joining Alda, she did a social media internship at an NGO responsible for local development projects in the Philippines. Her professional career also includes five years of experience as a journalist and news producer at a major Brazilian TV station. Her mother tongue is Portuguese, she is fluent in English and has a good knowledge of Italian and Spanish.

Kauan Cangussu

Kauan holds a bachelor’s degree in Law from the Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil, and a master’s degree in Human Rights and Multi-level Governance from the University of Padova, Italy, with a specialisation in Civil Litigation from the Fundação Escola Superior do Ministério Público, Brazil.

Before joining ALDA, he volunteered in mental health and rehabilitation projects in Spain through the European Solidarity Corps. During his Master’s programme, he conducted a research internship at the Faculty of Law and Criminology of the University of Ghent, Belgium, and studied as part of the Erasmus+ programme at the School of Advanced Study of the University of London, United Kingdom, and at the Universidade of São Paulo, Brazil.

In Brazil, he worked for three years in public administration, providing legal assistance in civil, criminal, and domestic violence cases. He was also awarded scholarships for research, paper publication, and assisting professors, focusing on international human rights law, legal history, and legal anthropology. He further volunteered to provide legal counsel to Syrian and Haitian refugees and local rural communities and served as the Coordinator of Academic Affairs of the Law Students Union (2013/2014).

Since 2019, he has been working as a lawyer, specialising in legal translations and handling civil, criminal, and international private law cases . He actively participates in the Brazilian Bar Association Commissions on International Law, Constitutional Law, and its Truth Commission on Black Slavery.

Additionally, he is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese and has a working knowledge of French and Italian

Kristine Kajaia

Kristine holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations with a specialization in Middle East Studies from the Free University of Tbilisi. She is currently completing an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree in European Studies, with a specific interest in the EU-Georgia relations. 

Kristine’s expertise lies in youth work and development projects; she facilitates workshops in Peace Education and Conflict Analysis. Before joining ALDA, Kristine worked with local and international organizations in Georgia on projects in civic engagement and democracy building, and has solid socio-political knowledge of the Eastern Partnership countries. Currently, she works as an intern at the ALDA Strasbourg office in the Project Development Department.

Kristine is a native Georgian speaker, fully fluent in English, and has limited expertise in French, Russian, and Arabic.

Larisa Illetterati

Larisa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Linguistic and Cultural Mediation and she is currently completing her MA in Local Development at Unipd; during her academic journey, she spent a year abroad studying Urbanistics at EKA
Arts Academy in Tallinn, Estonia. As part of her MA program, she conducted urban sociology research in
Tallinn’s local neighborhoods. Her research focused on developing a sense of community and tackling issues
of inequality and disabilities that were affecting the locals. This allowed her to learn the sociological
challenges facing urban communities today.
She attended the annual conflict resolution and prevention simulation at the UN Women’s Headquarters in
New York. The agenda was centered on exploring resolutions and prevention strategies related to women’s
health and equal opportunities. It was a great chance to network and learn from experts in the field.
As a SCU volunteer, with other job opportunities and her year abroad for field research, she has gained
experience working with various local NGOs. Her work involves developing, maintaining, and improving the
well-being and social integration of the local community. Additionally, she volunteered in Greece, working
with refugees in the field. Thanks to her extensive studies and immersive summer courses abroad, she has confidently mastered the English and Spanish languages and has a good command of the French language.

Maja Savic

Maja is a Project Manager Assistant at the Hub Environment and Climate. She works with Valeria Fantini and Lizeth Lopez at the Brussels office. She is currently studying Cultural Mediation at the University of Udine.
Before joining Alda, she worked in the Administrative field for six years. During her studies she also did an internship in the French language school. Beside this, she also took courses like General and Financial Accounting, Tourism offer management techniques and Foreign trade techniques. Maja is a native Serbian speaker, fully fluent in Italian, she has a good knowledge of Spanish and English and speaks basic French.

Sara Afendi

Sara is a dedicated professional with a robust academic background in European studies and cultural mediation. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Foreign Languages from the University of Padua and subsequently pursued their passion for European affairs by completing a Master’s degree in European Studies at the University of Turin.

Throughout her academic journey,Sara demonstrated a profound interest in European affairs, concentrating on the intricate political, economic, and social dynamics that influence the European Union. Her commitment to the subject matter is evident in their research endeavors and active engagement in related activities.

In their current role at ALDA, she has the opportunity to actively participate in the implementation of projects focusing on Gender Equality, Inclusion, and Human Rights.

Sofia Trevisan

Sofia is an intern at ALDA in the project implementation department. She works with Alessia Marzotto and Nadia Di Iulio in the Civic Engagement thematic hub, at the Vicenza office. Sofia is currently studying MA Sustainable Heritage Management at Aarhus University, Denmark. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology, Religions, Oriental Civilizations at the University of Bologna, Italy.
Beside studying, Sofia volunteers at Studenterhus Aarhus with the organisation’s Cultural Group, where she helps planning cultural events for students and residents of the city. Previously, she had volunteered with organisations that worked with children, as a teacher assistant and/or entertainer.
Sofia is fluent in Italian and English, and speaks basic Korean.

Teodora Deljanin

Teodora is a dynamic individual with a passion for fostering positive change. She is currently in the final stages of completing her Master’s degree in European and Global studies at the University of Padova, and holds a Bachelor Degree in Political Sciences and International Relations from the University in Belgrade. Renowned for extensive experience in research, Teodora seamlessly blends analytical prowess with effective communication. As a dedicated advocate for social inclusion and active citizenship, she has demonstrated exceptional skills in communication, youth engagement, and community development. A versatile professional, Teodora excels in leveraging multimedia, graphic design, and social media to amplify organisational impact. With a commitment to advancing societal well-being, she combines a rich academic background with practical expertise, making meaningful contributions to every endeavour.

Teodora is a native Serbian speaker, fully fluent in English and Croatian, and speaks basic Italian.