Biographies
Biographies
Biographies
Andrej Kiska has been the President of the Slovak Republic since 2014. After
receiving his engineering Degree in microelectronics at the Faculty of Electrical
Engineering of the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava, he worked as
design engineer at Naftoprojekt Company in Poprad and then moved to the
United States, where he worked as a shop assistant at a petrol station store and
later as a construction site handyman. Back to Slovakia one and a half years
later, he conducted business activities and held various management positions
for more than 15 years, becoming one of the most prominent entrepreneurs of
the country. He founded several companies, the most successful of which
were Triangle and Quatro, established in 1996. In 2005, Andrej Kiska sold his entire stake in these
companies and decided to devote himself to charity work. In 2006 he was co-founder of Good Angel, a
non-profit company which helps families with children which have found themselves in financial distress
because of a serious illness. Good Angel has become the most successful non-corporate charity in
Slovakia. In 2011, he co-founded a Good Angel company in the Czech Republic. In 2012, Andrej Kiska
decided to run for president as independent and non-partisan candidate. In the presidential election run-off
on 29 March 2014 he was elected president of the Slovak Republic.
Katarna Mathernov is Deputy Director-General at the EC DirectorateGeneral for the Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, where she is in
charge of Eastern Neighbourhood, IFIs and Coordination of Roma Policy. She
previously served as Director, Deputy Director General and Hors Classe
Adviser at the EC Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy. Before
joining the European institutions, she held senior positions at the World Bank,
the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Slovak Republic and leading
international law firms. Ms. Mathernov is Board member of the Roma
Education Fund and Open Society Institute Fellow.
Oleksandr Yarema has been the Ukrainian Deputy Minister for Youth and
Sport since March 2016. Previously, he served as the Head of the Department
for cooperation with civil society and political parties at the Presidents
Administration (2014-2016), Head of the Communications and Organizational
Work Department at the Directorate-General of the Taxpayers
Association (2011-2014), Executive Director of the Ukrainian Reform Support
Foundation (2007-2011); and as the Director of the Youth Policy Department at
the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports (2005-2007).
Rasul Jafarov is an Azerbaijani lawyer and human rights activist. Since 2007,
he joined several organizations engaged in the protection of human rights, and
was cofounder of the Human Rights Club (Baku, Azerbaijan) in 2010. Rasul
organized numerous campaigns aimed at raising the attention of the local and
international community on human rights violations in Azerbaijan. Among his
most powerful initiatives, the Sing for Democracy campaign held in 2012, on
the eve of the Eurovision song contest in Baku; the Online Expression
Initiative during the 7th UN internet Governance Forum held in Baku in 2012;
the Art for Democracy campaign, which since December 2012 organized
numerous musical events, caricature drawing contests and film festivals. Rasul took part as a speaker in
major events organized by the Council of Europe, OSCE and the UN. In 2014, he was charged with tax
evasion, misuse of authority and illegal business and imprisoned. Major INGOs and international
governmental organizations, including the European Union, expressed their concern for what has been
widely acknowledged as a politically motivated sentence.
Gayane Sargsyan is the Director of the Forum for the 21st Century Leaders,
an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization aiming to promote
new perspectives and opportunities for youth participation and active
citizenship in Armenia and beyond. Gayane has 20 years of experience
working with national and international organizations such as the Government
of Armenia, UNHCR, Council of Europe, European Forum for Democracy and
Solidarity, and Club de Madrid. She has also been active in various networks
aimed at supporting and empowering young professionals networking in the
region. Gayane earned her postgraduate Degree in English and German
languages from the State Linguistic University in Yerevan, Armenia. She also holds diplomas in
advanced, interdisciplinary study of Nonviolent Conflict from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
of Tufts University (2011), Fellowship Programme for Young Leaders from the Central Asia, Caucasus
and Afghanistan at SAIS, JHU (2009); Conflict Resolution and Negotiations from Conflict Management
Group (CMG), Harvard University (2001), and in Political Communication and Campaigning from the
Amsterdam Maastricht Summer University (2001).
Andrij Pavlovych works for SALTO Eastern Europe and Caucasus Resource
Centre (SALTO EECA) in Warsaw since its establishment at the end of 2003.
The SALTO EECA Resource Centre is hosted by the Polish governmental
Foundation for the Development of Education System. Andrij is in charge of
devising Support Strategy for active involvement of Eastern Partnership
countries and Russia into Erasmus+ Youth Programme. He is engaged in the
international youth cooperation and development of non-formal education since
1993. His fields of interest include international project management, civic
education and active youth participation. Andrij is Ukrainian and has been
living in Warsaw since 1998. From 1999 until 2004, he was the International Programme Coordinator of
the Polish NGO School of Leaders Association, where he was responsible for organizing events for
young political and social leaders from Central-Eastern Europe. Between 1990 and 1997 he was one of
the leaders of the reopened Ukrainian Scout Organisation Plast. He is a graduate of the School for
Social Research, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences. Andrij
Pavlovych has organized many international educational activities with a focus on European values,
European Citizenship and Human Rights Protection.
Almut Brunckhorst works at the European Commission, in the DirectorateGeneral for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR). She
heads the section dealing with the "People-to-People" dimension of the EU
Eastern Partnership which includes the substantial Youth programme of the EU.
She also deals with cooperation with Russia, mainly in the area of Civil Society.
Formerly, she worked at the EU Delegations to Russia, Kazakhstan and
Afghanistan. She holds a Master's Degree in European Studies and a Master's
Degree in History.
-Experts, facilitators and trainers for the Thematic capacity building breakout Sessions