Malaz Safarjalani / Financial and Administrative Officer
BIO: Malaz studied Financial Management in Damascus and later European Business Economics in College of Europe, Bruges. He worked with EU funded projects in several startups and non-profits between Burssels and London. He enjoys swimming and bike mechanics.
Areas of expertise: development aid, life long learning, social cohesion, higher education development & internationalisation.
Contact: malaz@outofthebox-international.org
Borut Cink / Policy Advisor
BIO: Communicator, project coordinator and facilitator with more than 10 years of experience in civil society and public affairs
organisations. Served as a board member of JEF Slovenia, vice-president for international cooperation at National Youth Council
of Slovenia and a president of Young Liberal democracy. He worked as a Policy Advisor for youth policy and public administration in National parliament in Slovenia and as a Communication Coordinator for National Youth Council of Slovenia and MOVIT, Slovene National Agency for Erasmus+: Youth in Action and European Solidarity Corps. He has extensive knowledge on youth policy in local, national and European context and quality youth work development.Areas of expertise: Communication in Non-profits, Youth policy, Youth Work, Political Participation, Policy Development
Marko Paunovic / Director
Bio: Marko Paunović, consultant, moderator, and social entrepreneur with experience in the field of non-formal education, fundraising, organizational and project management. In recent years he has been lobbying the European institutions and following closely Cohesive, Enlargement, Social Entrepreneurship, Internet and youth policies of the EU. He is the founder and CEO of Out of the Box International, an international network based in Brussels dealing with social innovations.
Areas of expertise: EU Policies, Advocacy, Non-profit management, Moderation
Contact: marko@outofthebox-international.org
Augustė Taruškaitė / Project Coordinator
BIO: Augustė Taruškaitė, Project coordinator; University of London graduate with an academic background in history and cultural organization communication, specializing in not-for-profit organization outreach and fundraising. Work experience encompasses various organizations with focus on social enterprise establishment/management/funding, youth participation, project administration, volunteering, event organization and engagement with outreach.
Areas of expertise: project management, social entrepreneurship, participation
Antonis Polydorou / Projects
Bio: Academic background in education and European studies. Professional experience in teaching for 13 years and monitoring of Youth in Action Programme at the Ministry of Education of Cyprus for 2 years. Long standing experience as a youth worker in several organisations. Participated in the organisation of various seminars, exchanges and trainings on education for youth in Cyprus and abroad. Member of the Board of European Confederation of Youth Clubs (ECYC) 2012-2014. Co-founder of NGO KEY dealing with community development and life long learning.
Areas of expertise: Youth, EU Programmes, Education
Contact: polydoroua@yahoo.com
Ivana Davidovska / Policy
BIO: Board Member with an expertise in youth work development, youth policy and organizational development. She is member of SALTO South East Europe Pool of trainers and Council of Europe Youth Department’s Pool of trainers. She sees society as a stage of diversity of many kinds and enjoys networking, connecting people and their ideas. Non formal education and science of learning are her passion. She is currently working in the European Youth Forum.
Areas of expertise: Youth Policy, Trainings and Moderation, NGO Management
Contact: ivanaadavidovska@gmail.com
Evren Ergeç / Projects
Bio: Evren Ergeç brings more than 18 years of experience in the NGO sector. While he was a graduate student at the Galatasaray University at his last year of the International Relations Department, he started working in the NGO sector as a “Project Coordinator” of a community outreach project for assisting people’s living at the prefabricated houses in Duzce in 2001, two years after the Marmara Earthquake. From July 2003 to February 2016, he worked in Toplum Gönüllüleri Vakfı (TOG) respectively as Field Coordinator, Head of Field Department, Head of Global Affairs Department and General Manager. He represented TOG at the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe from 2009 to 2011.
In January 2014, he became one of the founders of Karakutu Association (http://www.karakutu.org.tr/en/) that works with and for young people on remembering the past. He worked as a founding Secretary General of “Daha İyi Yargı” –Better Justice- to assist the institutionalization of a newly established association working to improve the judiciary system of Turkey from April 2016 to May 2017. After consulting for the non-profit sector through local, national and international projects for two years, he starts working as the Country Director of Greenpeace Mediterranean since July 2019.
Areas of expertise: European Youth Policy, NGO/Philanthropy Management, Fundraising
Contact: evrenergec@gmail.com