WeBER project is implemented by Think for Europe (TEN) members who come from 6 Western Balkans partner organisations. Find their position within the project and short bios below.
Milena Lazarević, Team Leader
Jovana Knežević, Project Manager
Miloš Đinđić, Lead Researcher
Anesa Omeragić, Communication Coordinator
Vaska Ristovska
Project Officer
Vaska Ristovska, Project Officer
Blerina Istrefi, Project officer
Blerina Istrefi is a Master-level lawyer from the University of Prishtina “Hasan Prishtina”, and currently, she is the Project Coordinator at GLPS. She completed her Master’s studies in July 2023 in the field of “Contracts and Commercial Law”, while she began working with civil society organizations since the end of my second year of bachelor studies. Initially, she was part of the Permanent Arbitration Tribunal at the Economic Chamber of Kosovo through the project “Commercial Justice” under USAID, and after gaining experience in the commercial field with the aim of advancing in other legal areas, she shared my experience as a monitor within the organization “The Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo (HLC Kosovo)” in the Courts of Kosovo and the Specialized Chambers of The Hague. Throughout these years, she has also been part of both local and international training in the legal field.
Bora Kola, Project officer
Bora Kola has graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Tirana with Summa Cum Laude honors in the Master of Science “Public Law”. With over five years of dynamic experience, she served as a legal expert at the Ministry of Health and Social Protection from 2019 to 2023. In this role, she drafted both national legislative proposals and international agreements.
Simultaneously, from 2020 to 2023, Bora held the position of Assistant Lecturer, imparting knowledge on “Philosophy of Law” and “Public Law” at the Faculty of Law, University of Tirana. In addition, she has been engaged as consultant to the Albanian-Swiss Intellectual Property Project and the Schools for Health Project.
Nikoleta Pavićević, Project officer
Nikoleta Pavićević is a Public Policy Researcher at the Institute Alternative, researching and monitoring in the areas of parliamentary oversight, freedom of public assembly and gender mainstreaming.
She started working in Institute Alternative in 2018 and currently works as the coordinator of the projects ’’Early Integration for Gender Equality’’, supported by the European Union and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and ’’Empowered: Public Policies for Gender Equality’’, supported by the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights.
Nikoleta is a member of the Working Group of the Ministry of Interior of Montenegro for amendments to the Law on Public Assemblies and Public Events, and member of the OSCE/ ODIHR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights) network of monitors of freedom of public assembly.
She is the author of five monitoring reports on the work of the parliamentary committees – Committee on Political System, Judiciary and Administration, Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget, Human Rights and Freedoms Committee, Anti-Corruption Committee and Security and Defence Committee, in which, after several months of monitoring, recommendations for improvement of the control and legislative role of these working bodies were provided.
Recommendations for improving the integration of the gender perspective in the process of development of public policies in Montenegro, Nikoleta presented in the analysis ‘’Gender Mainstreaming: Examples from Montenegro’’. Findings from this analysis were recognized in the National Gender Equality Strategy 2021-2025 of the Ministry of Justice, Human and Minority Rights. Within the project ‘’Voice Your Rights! – Expanding Space for Free Assemblies’’, supported by the EU, she published a Monitoring Report on Freedom of Public Assemblies in Montenegro, which tackles gaps in legal framework in this area, as well as problems registered in practice. Additionally, Nikoleta participated as a research associate in creation of numerous IA publications.
Nikoleta was born on October 31, 1994 in Bar, Montenegro, where she finished elementary and high school. At the University of Donja Gorica she worked as a teaching assistant with prof. dr Olivera Injac, on the subjects Global Security and International Terrorism. Under the mentorship of prof. Injac, she graduated with the thesis ‘’The Phenomenon of Corruption and the Role of Security Culture in Combating Corruption’’ at Humanistic Studies.
Haris Ćutahija, Researcher
Haris Ćutahija graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences at University of Sarajevo where he also gained MA degree in political science – European integration. He also holds professional qualification degree in political management from the New Bulgarian University. Has extensive experience in managing and working on various projects ranging from the European integration to youth activism and culture. He is columnist on several internet portals as well as a political analyst. He has joined the Foreign Policy Initiative BH team in March 2020 as a researcher.
Iliada Korcari, Project Officer
Iliada Korçari is a researcher and project coordinator at the Institute for Democracy and Mediation, Tirana, where she focusses on governance, public administration reform and security. Her main research interests are nationalism, statebuilding and political theory. She has worked in the public administration cultural policy sector for several years; was engaged as a freelance researcher in different research projects and has been teaching seminars of Nationalism and Identity at the Political Sciences Department of the University of Tirana, from 2015 onwards. She has a double-major in Political Sciences and Public Relations and Communication and has graduated in Political Theory, MSc. and Russian and East European Studies, MSc., being a holder of many scholarships. She is a proficient user of Albanian (native) and English, researches in Italian, Spanish and French and is a basic user of German and Bulgarian.
Julijana Karai
Researcher
Julijana Karai, Researcher
Julijana was a TEMPUS trainer for Continuing Education in European Affairs with the certificate from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium and junior researcher in the Regional IPA Project “Strengthening National Integrity Systems in the Western Balkans and Turkey and tracking developments of anti-corruption efforts”. She has been a project manager in the EU funded project “Civic Participation for Local Democracy”, under IPA Civil Society Facility and Media Programme 2014-2015 and a consultant in the UNDP Project “Developing innovative solutions for better access to local services”.
Renata Bajrami, Researcher
Renata Bajrami is a Research Fellow at Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS), a policy think-tank based in Prishtina. Her primary area of research focuses on rule of law and the sector’s reform process in Kosovo. Presently, she holds the position of country researcher for Kosovo under the regional WeBER project.
Renata graduated in Law from the University of Prishtina, Faculty of Law, and was honored as a distinguished student of the Law School. She is currently pursuing her Master’s studies at the University of Prishtina. Renata was engaged as a Legal Officer in the private sector with a focus on Commercial Law. Renata served also as a Legal Advisor and Legal Associate in the private sector serving parallelly as a Legal Researcher at SENSE Cyber Research Center with a focus on Cyber Security and Data Protection for almost four years. Renata during the course of her studies was engaged in Kosovo Customs in the Sector of Representations, Sector for Advice and Procedures, and Reviewing Decisions Sector, as well as in the Ombudsperson Institution of Kosovo within the Children’s Rights Department providing here with the vast experience in the administrative procedures and state institutions interaction.
Renata has attended several courses, trainings, and clinics, including the clinic “UNHCR and the International Refugee Law” organized by UNHCR, the “Criminal Law Clinic” organized by USAID – Justice Matters Activity in Kosovo, training “Education on Justice” organized by Infinite Academy, also she attended a summer school on Transitional Justice organized by Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo, and other activities organized by other entities.
Renata is a proficient user of Albanian (native) and English language, and a basic user of the Turkish language.
Milena Milošević, Researcher
Milena Milosevic has been working at Institute Alternative since July 2012, where she namely focuses on public policy research in the area of public administration reform, and overall fundraising, communication and advocacy efforts of our organization. Currently, Milena is coordinating an EU-funded project “Civil Society for Good Governance: To Act and Account!”, whose one of the main components is monitoring of public administration reform in Montenegro. Her previous professional experience includes two years of work as journalist for Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, internship at Hellenic Centre for European Studies, and work for Centre for Investigative Journalism in Serbia. Her education background includes political science with the focus on South East European region (master degree from Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Athens) and political science, media and communications (Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade). She is author of numerous publications of IA, such as Public finances and Accountability of Administration: What does the Protector protect?, Back to Basics: Re-affirming the Rule of Law in the Western Balkans, Monitoring Report: Recruitment and Promotion In State Authorities In 2014, Professionalization of Senior Civil Service in Montenegro: Between State and Politics. Milena was also a contributor to the Study: Freedom of Media in the Western Balkans, European Parliament, October 2014. She is participant and speaker at many conferences in Montenegro and abroad.
Dea Fetiu, Research Assistant
Dea Fetiu joined GLPS in October 2023, as a Project Manager. Before joining GLPS, she worked as a research assistant in Kosovar Centre for Security Studies, and was engaged in the editorial team for a research project of medica mondiale. During her work in KCSS she has published papers on regional cooperation, reconciliation, and women peace and security agenda. Her research fields of interest include: gender studies, transitional justice and peacebuilding, anticorruption, and rule of law. Furthermore, she is a passionate human rights activist.
Dea is a law student in the University of Prishtina, and during her studies she was participated in the public international law competition Philip C. Jessup and the international commercial arbitration moot Willem C. Vis.
Stefan Radojcic, Project Assistant
Stefan joined the CEP team in January 2022 as a project assistant. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree at the Department of Political Science at the Faculty of Political Science in Belgrade. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Democracy and democratization at the same faculty. During his studies, he attended numerous workshops, seminars and training courses, and participated in conducting two public opinion polls. He is an alumnus of CRTA, Libek, and IFDT. He is the co-author of a study on the provision of public services during a pandemic. His fields of interest include political theory, qualitative and quantitative research of democracy, macroeconomics and pop culture of the 2000s. He speaks English and is currently learning German.