Director of the School on the Oversight of the Security Sector (GPSP)

Sonja Stojanović Gajić is an experienced researcher and practitioner of security governance and conflict transformation. She is a rostered expert for DCAF’s International Security Sector Advisory Team and a member of the United Nations Security Sector Reform Advisory Network.She has two decades of experience supporting security sector reforms (SSR) and peace-building as a leader of civil society and consultant to a number of international organisations in Wider Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. She specializes in participatory research, capacity-building, strategic planning, evaluation and facilitation of multi-stakeholder dialogues among security and justice professionals, civil society and politicians. 

She had developed innovative engagement tools such as the methodology for measuring security sector reform (SSR) from the perspective of civil society, which has been applied in all Western Balkan countries. From the end of 2006 to October 2019, she was Director of Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) and helped it transform from an advocacy NGO into a think tank specialized in public oversight of the security sector. For her accomplishments in the civilian oversight of the security sector and inclusion of youth in security research, she received the award for The Person of the Year 2019 by the OSCE Mission to Serbia. 

Sonja Stojanoic Gajic has a PhD in International Relations from the University of Belgrade and graduated with distinction for her Master’s program in Politics, Security and Integration at University College London (UCL). She is currently an independent consultant, based in Belgrade, Serbia facilitating knowledge exchange on the democratisation of security globally and an active contributor to a number of Track II initiatives working on trust-building in Europe.

Email: sonja.stojanovic.gajic@outlook.com 
  

Senior Contents Developer

Renata Avelar GIannini is a senior researcher at the Igarapé Institute in Brazil. She has been a consultant to different organizations including Gender Associations, World Bank, United Nations Development Program and the Latin America Defense and Security Network (RESDAL) on issues ranging from border security, conflict related sexual violence and the gendered impact of infrastructure projects, among others. 

She is highly experienced in designing and facilitating capacity building and training to defense, police and international organizations including the Brazilian Peacekeeping Training Center, the Navy Brazilian Center of Peacekeeping, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the United Nations (UN) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). In Brazil, she was a member of the working group tasked with the responsibility of drafting Brazil's National Action Plan (NAP) and consults with the government on the implementation of UN Security Council Res.1325. Her key areas of interest include civic space and democracy backsliding; climate security, citizen security, violence against women and girls and the women, peace and security agenda.

Trainer

Sean Tait is Director of the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF).  Sean is a graduate in criminology from the University of Cape Town’s Centre of Criminology.  He has worked as Director of the Open Society Foundation for South Africa’s Criminal Justice Initiative and as director of a South African NGO UMAC working inter alia on issues of policing, crime prevention, conflict management and human security.


Website: https://apcof.org 

Trainer

Niagale Bagayoko is a political scientist. She has done extensive field research on security systems in African Francophone countries, Western security policies (France, United States, European Union) in Africa and African conflict-management mechanisms, focusing on the interface between security and development. She has taught at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Science Po) in Paris. 

From 2010 to 2015, she managed the “peacekeeping and peacebuilding programme” at the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) and was a member of the Scientific Committee of the French IRSEM (Institut de recherches stratégiques de l'Ecole militaire). She is now the Chair of the African Security Sector Network (ASSN) .

Trainer

Barbara Shitnaan M aigari (JI & Coady Fellow)Barbara is a human rights advocate with over 19 years’ experience. Her focus area is on rule of law, human rights, gender advocacy and CSO accountability. Maigari is a fellow of the Justice Initiative and Coady Institute in Canada.Barbara obtained an LLB from the University of Jos and obtained BL at the Nigerian Law School, Abuja. She further obtained an LLM from University of Jos and a second LLM in Human Rights (International Justice Specialization) from Central European University, Hungary. Within the period of 2005 – 2007, Barbara worked as a litigation lawyer, corporate law practitioner and legal assistance with different organizations. 

In 2008 she worked as Intern with Constitutional Rights Project attached to the Senate Committee on Women Affairs in the Nigerian National Assembly. She has worked over the years in the development sector ensuring justice reforms, accountable governance, and human rights promotion. Barbara has consulted with Justice for All, UN Women on Conflict Related Sexual Violence, Inclusive Security on assessment of Military forces in Nigeria, among others. She has also facilitated trainings on human rights, security sector reform and gender promotion, both locally and internationally.

Trainer

Katarina Djokic has worked as a policy researcher and advisor for over ten years, specialising in civil-military relations and defence budgeting and procurement with focus on the Western Balkans region. Most of her career, between 2012 and 2020, she worked as a researcher for the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP). During this time, she co-developed the methodology for assessment of public expenditure performance in the security sector and published on external oversight, corruption risks, budgeting and procurement policies in the armed forces and defence industry governance. 

She was a country assessor for Serbia in two rounds of Transparency International Government Defence Integrity Index. In 2019 she was a PfP fellow at NATO Defence College in Rome, where did extensive empirical research the factors influencing NATO member states with the 2014 Wales Summit Defence Investment Pledge. Katarina holds MA in Political Science from the University of Freiburg (Germany), MA in quantitative analysis from the University of Belgrade (Serbia) as well as BA in Journalism from the University of Belgrade.

Trainer

Sonia  Jalfin is the founder and director of Sociopublico, a communications studio that spreads complex ideas. She has partnered with the World Bank, UN agencies, IADB and many other global knowledge producers to put out ideas that resolve challenges of our times and improve people’s lives. She is passionate in finding ways to communicate complex ideas in an increasingly message-crowded environment to an increasingly distracted audience.  

Sonia has been cultural director at Telefe, an Argentine TV broadcaster, and she currently writes a column on innovation at La Nación newspaper. She has a BA in sociology and received the Merit Award from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she took her masters degree in communications. 

 

Trainer

Dina Rashed is a political scientist specializing in civil-military relations, state-society dynamics, security sector and policing, violence and women, and Middle East Politics. Her research on institutions of force probes how domestic and foreign factors impact patterns and structures of power between presidencies, and militaries and police forces as state organizations. 

Her work on state institutions is at the intersection of comparative politics and international relations, drawing upon experiences of political development in Egypt and the Global South. She is currently working on a project on Violence and Women, investigating the role of women in institutions of security, and patterns of violence against them in Arab countries. In addition to her academic publications, her commentaries on Middle East affairs have been featured in media outlets including the Washington Post and Foreign Policy. 

Rashed holds an MA and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago. She currently serves as the Associate Dean of the College for Academic Affairs, the University of Chicago. 

Email: drashed@uchicago.edu   

Trainer

Juliano da Silva Cortinhas is Professor of International Relations at the University of Brasília, where he is involved in many teaching and research initiatives, including the coordination of the Study and Research Group on International Security. Juliano holds a PhD (University of Brasilia) and a MA (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul), both in International Relations. He also holds a BA in Law from the Federal University of Paraná. His research focuses on International Security, National Defense, civil-military relations in Brazil, and post-colonial views on security.  

Previous professional experiences include: Visiting scholar at the University of Virginia, where he took part in several research activities(01/22-07/22); Chief of Staff at the Pandiá Calógeras Institute, a think tank of the Brazilian Ministry of Defense (2013-2016); Senior Civil Advisor for Defense Affairs to the Brazilian Presidency at the Secretariat for Strategic Affairs (2012-2013); Visiting Scholar at the University of Delaware (2011-2012); and Chair of the Department of International Relations at the University of Curitiba (2010-2011). 

Twitter: @jcortinhas 

Trainer

Rut Diamint is Professor at University Torcuato Di Tella. She is a Principal Researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technologic Research, CONICET. She was former advisor to the Argentine Ministry of Defense (2003-2005) and former General Coordinator of the Advisory Units, Senate Sub Presidency Argentine House of Senate 2006-2009. 

She is member of the Advisory Committee of Club de Madrid and member of the Advisory Board of the UN Secretary General on Disarmament Matters.Rut Diamint had specialized in international and regional security, civil-military relations, defense issues and peace and democracy.

Trainer

Sherine Xavier is an independent filmmaker/producer and a long-time human rights activist. In addition to producing and directing, she heads a human rights organization, The Social Architects (TSA), promoting state accountability vis-a-vis its citizens. Before heading TSA, she headed Home for Human Rights for many years. She was the Head of Delegation of the Canadian Red Cross Society (CRCS) in India, after serving as National Coordinator of the Promotion of Humanitarian values program of the CRCS in Canada. Her earlier positions include Program Director for Fourth World Vision (FWV) in Santa Cruz, California, between 2002 and 2003. She has more than 30 years of experience designing and delivering multi-sectoral human rights, humanitarian assistance response and development initiatives in the non-profit sector. She has expertise in, among other issues, mainstreaming gender, combating violence against women, rights-based policy-related community development issues, and in social analysis in thematic areas such as emotional wellness, livelihood assistance, and disaster management and mitigation.  In the past few years, Ms. Xavier has written widely on issues of violence and its effect on communities in Sri Lanka for thirty years. Her writing has contributed to knowledge about everyday life in war zones, social suffering, memory, human rights, emergency relief, and development in Sri Lanka for The Social Architects. She has also documented, in writing and film, and has produced many documentaries on social accountability.  Ms. Xavier has graduated from Holy Cross Colleague, Tiruchirapalli, India, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada and Columbia University, New York. She is also a recipient of the French Ordre national du Mérite Chevalier.