Afghanistan

FAHIM HAKIM is a Deputy Chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, a program officer at the United Nations Center for Human Settlement and a leading human rights activist. He was an active member of Afghan civil society during the Bonn Conference, Germany, December 2001. Besides having a monitoring role in the Constitution Grand Assembly, he was a key facilitator through the whole process of the Constitution Loya Jirga. He is interested in learning about human rights education through the program and its interaction with democracy.

SHAHMAHMOOD MIAKHEL is the Governance Advisor of the Institutional Development/Governance Department of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. He assists the Mission in its work on issues such as rule of law, institutional development and civil service reform. Actively involved in the resistance against the Soviet and Taliban occupation, Shahmahmood became the Deputy Minister of Interior in 2004 to 2005. He is particularly interested in learning more on free press mechanisms and shaping media policies in developing countries.

MOHAMMAD NASIB is Managing Director of the Welfare Association for Development of Afghanistan, a democracy promotion and training NGO, and has the responsibility of managing both strategic and operational activities. In the past, he has worked with the World Bank and in the United Nations Drug Control Program on narcotics issues.

Albania

HOLTA KOTHERJA is an attorney, professor at the Magistrates School of Albania, and Director of the Center of Integrated Legal Services and Practices. In these capacities, she has contributed to the drafting of various laws and has represented civil society in various hearings of the legal committee of the Albanian Parliament. For three years, she has served as the President of the Albanian Coalition Against Child-Trafficking. In addition, she also co-directed a documentary project on the war crimes committed in Kosovo, used as an evidentiary source by the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Armenia

TATUL MANASSERIAN is a Member of the National Assembly of Armenia and a Professor of World Economy and Economic Security Issues at Yerevan State University. As an MP, he is a member of the Standing Committee on Financial Credit, Budgetary and Economic Affairs, and responsible for drafting and analyzing legislative proposals in these areas. Tatul has published extensively on economic development, and regional and trans-regional cooperation. His main interest is the legal framework in emerging markets, and how obstacles for building civil society and establishing the rule of law may be eliminated.

Azerbaijan

ULVI AKHUNDLI is the Media and Political Adviser of the Baku Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which addresses human, political, economic and environmental aspects of security and stability in Azerbaijan. He also served as a Director of Information and Outreach Program of the Initiative for Social Action and Renewal in Eurasia (ISAR), a US-based NGO working in Azerbaijan for the support of local civil society institutions and grass-root initiatives.

Belarus

ALLA KOS is a development professional and a lawyer, and currently serves as Director of the NIS Regional Institution Building Program at the American Bar Association's Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative. (CEELI). She advises NGOs on capacity building issues. She is also Executive Director at the RADA Institute, an international NGO which promotes self-reliance in the development of civil society by facilitating networking and advancing advocacy-based research in Eurasia. 

OLGA STUZHINSKAYA is the Coordinator of the Brussels-based 'Office for Democratic Belarus', the mission of which is to connect the pro-democratic opposition in Belarus with the EU institutions, the Council of Europe, UN and NATO. Olga lobbies for political freedom in Belarus in these institutions and develops projects to support the democratization process in her country

China

JUNNING LIU is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of China Studies in Beijing. He is one of China's most important democratic intellectuals - selected as one of six of ”China’s Bright Young Stars” by the New York Times in 1999 and one of China’s “Democracy’s Vital Voices” by the Washington Post in 2004. He has published extensively on democracy, and translated into Chinese a number of major works ondemocracy. He is interested in exploring theoretical designs of appropriate forms of democratic systems.

Colombia

JUAN LONDONO, Colombia, is the Chief of Staff of the Liberal Party of Colombia, helping with the formulation of party strategy for the forthcoming 2006 elections. He is also working as a consultant for the Organization of American States, shaping a project aimed at strengthening the political party systems of the Andean countries. In the past, he served as an advisor to OAS’ Secretary General and Executive Coordinator of the Unit for the Promotion of Democracy. Juan also worked for the Colombian government and Congress.

Democratic Republic of Congo

LUHIRIRI BYAMUNGU, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is a lawyer and the Protection and Legal Officer for the “Heritiers de la Justice” (HJ), where he represents human rights victims in courts and other governmental bodies, and enforces international standards on detention conditions in domestic courts. After the assassination of the HJ’s Head, Luhiriri led the investigation into this murder, despite the personal threats he has faced. In the past few years, he also assisted, as a Legal Researcher, the International Tribunal for Rwanda in various evidentiary matters. He hopes SSFDD will prepare him to better meet the challenges he faces in trying to enforce human rights and justice in DRC.

Egypt

SAMEH HENIEN is the Assistant Managing Editor of ‘Watani,’ a weekly Cairo newspaper devoted to promoting citizenship rights for disadvantaged groups in Egypt, particularly Christians and women. He is also consultant to the group ‘Coptic Evangelicals for Social Services’ on issues related to Muslim-Christian dialogue and civic education. He writes on a regular basis for many other independent and official newspapers, and he wrote several books, among them "Accountability in Public Administration", "Coptic Grievances in Egypt", and "Governance Issues in the Egyptian Context."

NANCY GAMAL EL-DIN OKAIL is an international development researcher and Senior Economic Researcher for Foreign Aid Evaluation at the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation, responsible for assessing the impact of foreign-funded development projects in Egypt. She was also a micro-credit advisor at the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies in Egypt, focusing on the empowerment of young women in rural areas.

India

MEHMOOD PRACHA heads the Organization for the Promotion of Legal Awareness, an India-wide NGO whose task it is to make citizens aware of their legal and constitutional rights and duties. Mehmood is active in legal aid, civic education and peace promotion in Jammu and Kashmir and is the only Muslim to have been president of the students’ union at Delhi Law School.

Indonesia

BINZIAD KADAFI is a researcher at the Center for Indonesian Law & Policy Studies (PSHK), the leading NGO behind the effort to reform Indonesia's legal institutions and legislative process. His accomplishments include developing blueprints for the reform of the Supreme Court and lower level courts, conducting a study on the Judicial Commission, and contributing to the establishment and reform of special courts, particularly the Anti-Corruption Court. Binziad is interested in learning more about judicial training programs and their relation to judicial reform.

Iraq

TALAN AOUNY is the Director of the Civil Society Resource Center, responsible for supervising and managing all aspects of the Center's Iraq Civil Society Program (ICSP), a USAID-funded project implemented by America's Development Foundation in Iraq. Through her work, Talan ensures that ICSP fosters the development of over 500 indigenous Iraqi civil society organizations and supports them in promoting legislative proposals, monitoring elections, establishing independent media outlets and advancing human rights.

INAAM HASSAN ALYASIRY is the Regional Women Issues Coordinator at the American Development Foundation in Iraq, working in the south-central region to establish and support groups of professional women, facilitate the participation of poor and marginalized groups in civil society, and promote gender equity. She looks forward to learning more about creating conditions conducive to reconciliation, overcoming discrimination and social exclusion, and designing women’s educational programs.

Iran

FATEMEH HAGHIGHATJOO is a leading Iranian human rights activist, currently a visiting scholar at the Center for International Studies, MIT. She is a former Iranian MP - the first to resign when the Guardian Council banned more than 2000 reformist candidates from running for election. In 2001, Fatemeh was sentenced to 10 months in prison, for “inciting public opinion and insulting the judiciary” (she criticized the arrest of a female journalist and claimed that Iran tortured political prisoners.) She currently faces three other lawsuits brought against her by the Iranian regime. She has published many articles and a book (“In Search of the Truth”) and has given more than 100 talks about the Iran’s reform movement and nuclear program.

MAJOD MOHAMMADI is a PhD candidate in Sociology at Stony Brook University, and a professional freelance journalist and democracy advocate. He writes analytical and sociological essays for Gooya News and other outlets about political and social events in Iran, focused on democratic reform and human rights. He is the author of many books, encyclopedia articles, journal articles, and periodicals, as well as a translator, teacher, and speaker. He is mainly interested in the development of civil society institutions and their impact on judicial reform.

Kenya

ANTHONY NJOROGE is a Senior Human Rights Officer at the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and a Personal Assistant to the Chairman of the Commission. Prior to this he has served as a lawyer and coordinator of the Africa Democracy Forum, a large coalition of pro-democracy, human rights, and good governance NGOs in Africa. He has a long experience as a practicing lawyer and human rights activist, representing victims of the Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, interning with an Italian human rights group (which campaigned for the International Criminal Court), and working as a legal consultant in the campaign to eradicate Female Genital Mutilation. 

GLADWELL OTIENO is the Executive Director of the ‘Africa Center for Open Governance.’ Until 2005, she was the Executive Director of Transparency International (TI) - Kenya. Under her leadership, the organization gained international recognition for its anti-corruption campaign and advocacy work. However, she was ousted from the TI leadership because of her strong anti-corruption stance. Gladwell is interested in exploring further issues related to governmental transparency, accountability, corporate social responsibility and the role civil society in democracy.

Mongolia

RENCHINNYAM  Amarjargal is the former Prime Minister of Mongolia, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, an economist, a professor, and a current Member of Parliament. In addition to contributing to developments and reforms in Mongolian politics, economy, and academia, Amarjargal also founded The Amarjargal Foundation, an active NGO committed to civic engagement, democratization, and research on economic development. He looks forward to exchange of experience with faculty and participants, and gaining conceptual ideas of transformation in former socialist countries.

Malawi

JANET LAURA BANDA is a lawyer and the Chief Law Reform Officer at the Law Reform Commission, which promotes and advises the Cabinet and Parliament on legal reform, constitutionalism, and good governance in Malawi. She is also VP of the country’s Women Lawyer’s Association and a leader in the local bar association chapter. In her civic capacity, she has worked on legal aid for children and women.

Mauritania

BECHIR EL HASSEN is a private entrepreneur and president of 'Pacte Republicain', an organization advocating political, economic and social reforms in Mauritania. A leader of his country’s young democratic forces during his student years, he was arrested twice by the military regime and forced into a two-year exile. Bechir has been invited to speak and testify about his work for Mauritania’s democratic movement, including at the US State Department, Congress and the National Academy of Sciences.

Morocco

KENZA AQERTIT, Morocco, is the Program Manager of the Legislative Strengthening project of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) - Rabat. In this capacity, Kenza designs and implements programs that aim to assist the Moroccan legislative body in becoming more accountable, and lobbies parliamentarians to promote greater public participation in the legislative process. In May 2006, she will transfer to Kuwait as NDI's Field Representative, responsible for building and maintaining relationships with political parties and parliament. She is currently coauthoring a book entitled “Women, Democratisation and Islam.”

Nigeria

SANI ALIYU, Nigeria, is the Principal Editor of the News and Current Affairs Section of the Nigerian Television Authority (JOS). At JOS, he supervises all the Newsroom operations and coordinates the production of all Current Affairs programs. Sani is also the National Vice President of Nigeria’s umbrella youth body, NACOMYO, where he struggles to ‘imbibe’ the culture of peaceful coexistence and civil responsibility. In addition, he is also the National Secretary of the Association of Christian Muslim Mutual Relations, one of the foremost bodies working for peaceful interfaith relations in the country.

SYLVESTER ODION AKHAINE is a Nigerian democratic activist who also recently obtained a political science Ph.D. in England.  He was one of the leading organizers of the decade-long campaign in the 1990s to end military rule in Nigeria.  He held several top leadership positions of pro-democracy civil society organizations in the 1990s, and then initiated the Centre for Constitutionalism and Democracy, which promotes both democratic civil-military relations and the culture and institutions of constitutional democracy. He is interested to learn more about ensuring national free and fair elections.

MIABIYE KUROMIEMA, Nigeria, is the Associate Director of Our Niger Delta, an organization at the cutting edge of efforts to mediate the ethnic and gang (warlord) violence in the oil-producing Delta region. Kuromiema is interested in sustainable development and the environment, democracy, and human rights. 

CLEMENT NWANKO is an attorney and Principal Counsel at ‘LawRight Associates’. He was also the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Nigeria’s oldest human rights organization, the Civil Liberties Organization, and the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Constitutional Rights Project, through which he represented victims of human rights abuses in courts. Clement also founded Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), which played a big role in bringing democracy back to Nigeria. He is the recipient of the National Endowment for Democracy’s annual Democracy Award and of many other national and international honors.

Palestine

MOHAMMED RUMI is a legal advisor to the Prime Minister’s office and the Council of Ministries, and was recently appointed to lead a newly created department at the Council of Ministers on issues of good governance, rule of law, and standardization of government quality performance. He worked on the electoral commission from 2000 to 2004. Rumi’s responsibilities as an advisor include composing proposed legislation and presenting bills to committees.

JOSE LUIS GASCON is a democracy advocate who is currently the Undersecretary in the Department of Education in the Philippines. His main tasks include reviewing and reforming the administrative processes of the large school system, ensuring its responsiveness and fighting corruption within the agency. Jose pioneered the Politics and Government Program of Ateneo University’s Center for Social Policy and Public Affairs and later became the Executive Director of the National Institute for Policy Studies. He would like to improve his competency in the field of democratic governance.

Pakistan

SAADIA ABBASI, is a Pakistani Senator with a background in issues of human rights and poverty alleviation, and a barrister at law who is qualified in the UK as well as Pakistan. She worked as an attorney before the Pakistani High Court for several years before she was elected Senator in the opposition Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), serving as an advocate of political, economic, and social reforms through the Parliament.  

Sanaulah BALOCH is a Member of the Senate of Pakistan, and a member of Standing Committee on Local Government and Problems of Less Developed areas. He is also Central Information Secretary of Balochistan National Party, and editor of “Jood” (Movement), a political organ of Balochistan National party.  In the last 15 years he has been involved in mass political movements. He published many articles and a book, “Oppressed Balochistan” (2001), on the denial of basic democratic and political rights of the people of Balochistan.  Senator Baloch’s  professional expertise is in the field of democracy, federalism and ethnic minorities in Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. His public life has been devoted to the struggle for the democratic rights of Balochistan. 

SAAD PARACHA, is the Democracy and Governance Specialist of USAID - Islamabad. He manages and develops projects supporting democratic institutions, improving civil-military relations, reforming electoral processes, addressing human rights issues faced by women in his country, and improving the ability of local governments to deliver critical services to their constituents.

Russia

YURI DZHIBLADZE is a political scientist and human rights specialist, a former cardiologist, and is the Founder and President of the Center for the Development of Democracy in Human Rights, an advocacy NGO developing mechanisms of civic influence on policymaking and sustainable mechanisms of human rights protection. He has a long career of public activism in Russia even prior to the Soviet collapse, and is a specialist in human rights, civil society, democratic transition, and international affairs.

TANYA LOKSHINA is of the leading experts on human rights in Russia with a particular focus on xenophobia and nationalism. Tanya is the Chairwoman of the DEMOS Center for Information and Research, a major think tank which assists Russian civil society in solving problems in the field of human rights and democracy. She has been working in the Moscow Helsinki Group since 1998 as coordinator of international and domestic programs on human rights. Tanya taught at Brandeis University (USA) and worked as a columnist and editor for a weekly newspaper "Boston Courier". She is an author of numerous reports and articles and she is often quoted  by major international publications. 

DARIA MILOSLAVSKAYA is a lawyer and linguist working for an advisory center that she co-founded to help journalists in Russia cope with multiple legal challenges. She has also founded the “Human Rights Hotline,” a free, 24-hour cell phone network of lawyers who advise people from around Russia on legal rights issues.  

ANNA SEVORTYAN is the Information Programs and Research Coordinator of the 'Center for Development of Democracy and Human Rights' in Moscow. Through her work at the Center, Anna focuses on human rights, good governance and media coverage of disadvantaged groups. She has been teaching a class on ‘Reporting Diversity' for students of the main schools of journalism in Russia since 2004.  

DMITRY VISHNYAKOV is the Institutional Development Director of the Moscow School of Political Studies, a public policy school that runs programming for mid career political officials from across Russia. At the Moscow School of Policy Studies, Dima develops strategy and tactics for the organization, and develops programs on democracy building, rule of law, mass media and civil society. He also frequently collaborates with think tank partners in the US and Russia. 

ANNA ZELENTSOVA is the President of Volgograd Regional Foundation of the Civic Initiatives Support “Citizen'' and the Director of the Volgograd School of Public Policy. Since 2004, under her leadership, the Foundation provided social and legal help for more than 1800 citizens and 25 NGOs, supported over 20 volunteer social projects, and trained regional politicians, journalists and civil leaders. She is also a member of the Federal Political Council of the Republican Party of Russia (RPR). Anna is interested in learning more about different models of educational programs for policy.

Rwanda

TELESPHORE KAGABA is a former diplomat, journalist, human rights activist, and a survivor of the Genocide who now works as a political analyst at the US Embassy working to build US-Rwanda relations, including advising American officials on political developments and  trends, human rights issues, and refugee policy.

ADELINO PEREIRA is the Attorney General of Sao Tome and Principe. As Attorney General, he heads the Office of the General Public Prosecutor, which is responsible for defending the legality of democracy, representing the state in courts, ensuring that the state abides by the laws of the country, preventing and prosecuting crimes and corruption, and protecting the rights of children. The office is currently in the process of prosecuting politicians who used their immunity to avoid prosecution. Adelino hopes to gain new perspectives on issues of transparency, poverty reduction, and international affairs.

Serbia

JOVAN JOVANOVICH is a Foreign Policy Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, responsible for democratic and market reforms in the EU accession process. In his advisory capacity, Jovanovich organizes briefings and foreign visits, prepares policy memos, and assists other office members on foreign policy issues.

GJYLNAZE SYLA is a Member of Parliament in Kosovo and is Caucus Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, the third-largest liberal-democratic, ethnic Albanian party. An up and coming Kosovar leader, she has extensive experience in politics, legislative reform, and women’s issues, was moderator of a radio program, and was a physician in the Kosovo Liberation Army.

Sierra Leone

DAVIDSON A. KUYATEH is the Secretary-General of Sierra Leone’s Teacher’s Union. He is a former teacher, and a leader of the pro-democracy movement. His work and experiences bridge the themes of democracy and development, and he is also national coordinator of a prominent advocacy organization for universal education. Himself and the Union have been at the forefront of the movement for democracy and civilian rule in Sierra Leone.

Thailand

KAVI CHONGKITTAVORN is the Assistant Group Editor of the ‘Nation Multimedia Group’ in Bangkok, the publishing entity, among others, of the English language daily “The Nation”. In this capacity, he provides guidelines for news outlets, leads the news discussions, and provides editorial writing to “The Nation”. Kavit is also the founder of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance, a media advocacy group which fights to promote freedom of press in the region.

Ukraine

NATALIIA HNYDYUK works as a Deputy Head of the Cabinet of the Chief of Staff to the President of Ukraine. In this capacity, she conducts various activities related to the development of new structures of the presidential office, and the establishment of mechanisms that could enforce efficiency in the operation of executive bodies.

DMYTRO POTEKHIN is a political analyst and public communications consultant with background in international relations. During the Orange Revolution, he has developed and coordinated the ‘Znayu!’ (‘I Know!’) voter education and mobilization initiative and would like to know more to ensure that the window of opportunity gained by the Orange Revolution is not lost due to lack of understanding about its causes and the threats to Ukraine's further development.

TETIANA SOBOLEVA is a Political Party Program Officer at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) - Ukraine, working to build and strengthen political parties in the spheres of operational and structural development, coalition building, and political campaigns. Tetiana is also involved in NDI programs for Belarus and Azerbaijan and participated in a number of election monitoring missions. She is mostly interested in the development of political institutions and electoral.

Uzbekistan

MARINA NAGAI works as a senior staff attorney for the American Bar Association Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative, managing the Legal Education Reform project’s wide-ranged, intensive programming that focuses on law curriculum reform, public legal education and developing student associations in Uzbekistan. She is concerned with the rampant corruption and lack of professional ethics among, most notably, judges and prosecutors in Uzbekistan, and is interested in researching professional ethics issues as well as human rights law.

Vietnam

LIEN THI BICH BUI is a Law and Governance Program Officer at the Asia Foundation, Vietnam. Prior to that she was a senior associate at the Vietnam International Law Firm, which works extensively on legal and institutional reform with NGOs, the World Bank, USAID, and the Asia Foundation. She also assists Vietnam’s Ministry of Justice in reviewing draft commercial laws and regulations before they are submitted to the National Assembly and the Government for promulgation. 

QUANG NGUYEN is the Managing Partner of ‘Nhquang & Associates,’ a law firm engaged in legal practice and development consulting. He has published extensively and applied his research findings in legal development projects focusing on the rule of law and public participation in law making activities that are conducted by agencies such as the UNDP, the Asian Development Bank and the EU Commission. Quang is interested in new approaches to foster Vietnam’s legal reform, and to learn and share experiences related to international assistance programs devoted to legal and judicial reforms.

Zimbabwe

RINDAI CHIPFUNDE has been the national director of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, a leading pro-democracy organization in Zimbabwe, for the past five years. She has been on a number of international election observer missions, and is interested in learning about the promotion of democratic elections, transparency, and the rule of law in civil society.

VIOLET GONDA is a producer and presenter for the news section of 'SW Radio Africa,' an award winning London-based station that broadcasts to Zimbabwe and South Africa. Violet has been part of this station since its inception in 2001. Together with her colleagues, she works on exposing the Zimbabwean government’s wrongdoings, especially in the area of human rights. The radio is barred in Zimbabwe and its reporters are banned from entering the country. Violet won the 2005 Best Radio Documentary of the International Association for Women in Radio and Television. Being passport-less and state-less, she had very limited travel and training opportunities and welcomed the opportunity to 'spread her wings' at Stanford.