Trainers

Saba Brachveli is a human rights advocate and legal professional with over a decade of experience in criminal law, human rights, and public service. As the Human Rights Program Coordinator at the Civil Society Foundation since 2022, he oversees initiatives to strengthen human rights, promote activism, and build alliances for civil society and media organizations in Georgia. He previously held key roles at the Public Defender’s (Ombudsman’s) Office of Georgia.

An expert in fostering dialogue in difficult situations, Zuza has trained, lectured, and worked across 20+ countries in Europe and Asia. From researching political culture to defending human rights and advising NATO in Afghanistan, her journey led her to advocate for climate change solutions. Today, she focuses on how cultural backgrounds shape our responses to the climate crisis, aiming to inspire cooperative and compassionate societal transformation.

Tomáš Halász is the co-founder and CEO of TrollWall AI, an AI-powered social media moderation tool with human-level accuracy. TrollWall AI was developed in response to the rise of hateful and vulgar comments on social networks, addressing the urgent need to combat toxic online behavior. As a community manager and activist, Tomas recognized the need for a tool that could effectively filter harmful comments. TrollWall AI is now safeguarding hundreds of profiles in seven countries include newspapers, sport clubs and NGOs.

Bardhyl Jashari is the director of Metamorphosis Foundation (Macedonia). His professional interests are mainly in the sphere of new technologies, media, civic activism, e-government and participation. Previously he worked as Information Program Coordinator of the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia. In both capacities, he has run national and international-scope projects, involving tight cooperation with other international organizations, governmental bodies, the business and the civic sector.

Bio will be added soon!

Tomáš is an expert on cognitive security who works as a senior stratcom consultant for Gerulata Technologies. Tomáš worked or is part of many Slovak initiatives and projects that tackle modern phenomena of disinformation and hate speech like #Iamhere network, chatbot Checkbot, Confident Slovakia and many more. He is also an experienced lector of courses in critical thinking and media literacy, his newest project HOPE brings his skills and knowledge to teachers and students from all around Slovakia – https://projekthope.sk/

Expert trainer and educator with 20 years experience. Throughout her career, she has helped activists find the right balance between passion, mission, and strength through coaching, supporting their activities, and caring for their well-being. In his work, he uses individual, team and group coaching methods (e.g. Balint Groups, Experiential Activation Techniques, Hero’s Journey). Her mission is to build communities through peer-to-peer education so activists can sustainably act.
Her education includes the SET Group Business Coaching School and the Novo Group Team and Group Coaching School.

Mariam Kvaratskhelia is a democracy and human rights activist who has been actively advocating for LGBTQI rights and equality in Georgia for the past eight years. As a civil society leader, she brings significant experience in opposing anti-democratic laws and processes. Over the past two consecutive years, Mariam has been part of a united front of CSOs, resisting the adoption of the Russian-style “Foreign Influence Agent Law” through strategic communications and building unique alliances.

Training and Education Program Senior Manager at TechSoup. Responsible for developing and managing educational portfolio in TechSoup. Experienced instructional designer of various learning formats targeting nonprofits, especially on digital transformation and digital skills. She has more than 15 years of experience in working with the nonprofit sector, especially in managing educational programs and supporting groups as a trainer and facilitator.

Paweł Marczewski holds a PhD in sociology and is the head of research unit “Citizens” at ideaForum, a think tank of the Batory Foundation in Warsaw. In addition, he is a member of Carnegie Civic Research Network.

Vero is a feminist activist from Georgia. She works at ForSet as a equality and inclusion oriented projects lead. She has many years of experience working in various NGOs in
the field of human rights protection.

She creates educational content for Tbilisi Pride and is one of the co-founder of the feminist informational platform Femea.ge.

Vero also is one of the first female stand-up comedians in Georgia who uses humor as a tool to highlight pressing social issues.

Daniel Milo currently serves as Counter-Disinformation Subject Matter Expert at TechSoup. He holds a Doctor of Law degree in criminal law and his main field of expertise are hybrid threats, extremism and use of disinformation by foreign actors. He previously worked as Director of Centre for Countering Hybrid Threats at Slovak Ministry of Interior, Adviser at OSCE-ODIHR in Warsaw, Coordinator of anti-extremist policies at the Office of the Minister of Interior and the Head of STRATCOM Programme at GLOBSEC.

Ieva Morica is the Executive director of DOTS Foundation for an Open Society in Riga, Latvia and a Co-founder and Director of the LAMPA Conversation festival. For over two decades, Ieva has worked to further democracy and civil society. Ieva holds an LL.M. in Comparative Constitutional Law from the Central European University and a diploma in supervision/coaching from the International Supervision and Training Institute.

Maja Nenadovic’s expertise areas are a mix of Monitoring-Evaluation-Learning, program design, facilitation, debate, civic education, dialogue and critical pedagogy. She is the author of “Across Divides – Training Workshops for Depolarizing Communication”. She holds a PhD from the University of Amsterdam on dysfunctions of democracy and is the co-founder of Reflectory, a consultancy in the fields of conflict transformation and social cohesion.

Stipe Nogalo is a feminist educator with a BA in sociology and philosophy. He has six years of experience of work in informal education on topics of feminism and gender. Most of his work is directed towards young men and boys and experts who work with them.

As Head of TechSoup Polska Program, she supports nonprofits in conducting digital diagnoses and creating digital adoption plans. Magdalena has led multiple training sessions and webinars on various aspects of digital transformation, including the practical applications of AI in everyday work and operational processes. As a leader, she combines support with a goal-oriented approach and is passionate about leveraging technology to streamline operations and empower organizations to achieve their missions.

Marta is a cultural anthropologist and certified EU interpreter and TechSoup Master Trainer; an experienced practitioner (teacher and trainer), author of materials and programs (national and international) and an expert on wellbeing at school for School with Class Foundation, a co-author of research and reports on wellbeing and mental health in the school environment.

Rowan Kerek Robertson is a social media expert with over 20 years’ experience. As Former Head of Social Media for BBC Television, and now an independent social media and digital communications consultant for eight years, she has worked on hundreds of projects creating social media strategy, production of creative content, dealing with emergency comms and moderation, training, policy and workflow planning for social media activity. Rowan works with clients of all sizes in many sectors.

Award-winning journalist, entrepreneur, safety trainer. Katerina leads a non-profit organization Daily Humanity (Denmark) and its Ukraine initiative 2402 Foundation which provides media and civil society actors with security trainings and promotes safety culture.

Katerina has covered wars, conflicts, and human rights for 20 years, focusing on Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Her work has been recognized with the Kurt Shork Award, Free Media Award, and many others.

Hajrudin Solak is a community engagement and outreach specialist with 10 years of experience of working with NGO’s in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the last three and a half years, he has been working at IOM Bosnia and Herzegovina on projects regarding social cohesion, youth resilience and empowerment and the Women, peace and security agenda. He has created outreach strategies for projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Ghana, as well as lead workshops on communication throughout the Balkans and Germany.

Filip has been with PDCS since June 2024 as a senior consultant. Before joining PDCS, he served as Plenipotentiary of Slovak government for development of civil society since March 2022 under the Prime minister E. Heger and L. Odor.

Before 2020 he worked for three years as a grant manager for Central and Eastern Europe at international foundation Porticus in Vienna. In 2011-2013 he was the Government Plenipotentiary for Civil Society Development.

In 2000-2003 he served as the first secretary of the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Washington and subsequently worked as a manager for Central and Eastern Europe in organization Ashoka. He was a co-founder of the Foundation for Children of Slovakia and brought the concept of the Hour for Children campaign to Slovakia.

He graduated from the Faculty of Natural Sciences in Geophysics at Comenius University. He then completed a mini MBA program in management of nonprofit organizations at St. Thomas University, Minneapolis, USA and participated in several trainings in leadership, facilitation and coaching organizations and teams.

Journalist and COO of Maldita.es. Ximena is certified in News Product Management, Investigative & Data Journalism and an expert in media outlet management and funding. She was a fellow at the School of Data and ICFJ & US State Department journalistic entrepreneurship fellow. She has worked as a data consultant and professor for Internews and Thomson Foundation, among others. Ximena has taught at several universities and was the executive director of El Intercambio, a transmedia production company based in Central America.

Director of PDCS. Over the years he managed many projects with focus on prevention of extremism, depolarization, or strategies on how to deal with online threats, ranging from hate speech to user and organizational cybersecurity, which are the topics in which he works as a trainer and consultant. He is also involved in the development of foreign partnerships and organizes international conference “Civic Actors in Conflicts”. Proponent of consilience.