My experience is in political journalism, media relations, policy communication, public diplomacy, strategic planning, and knowledge management with a focus on online communication and the coordination of complex international outreach programmes in emerging and developing countries on the main cooperation issues, and 25 years experience in journalism/writing. Since I believe our greatest common challenge is restoring the environmental balance, I am engaged in the EU funded Global Climate Change Alliance Plus, one of the largest initiatives to build climate resilience in the most vulnerable countries, and in the Forest for Future Facility that contributes to healthy forest ecosystems and Forest Partnerships in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America.
Hello, Vibrant Community!
I’m Marie, and since February 2022, I’ve been steering the ship here as the Community Manager of Capacity4dev.
A wanderer at heart and by profession, my academic and work journeys have whisked me across five European nations and allowed me to dip my toes into professional adventures in seven countries globally. During my BA studies at the Metropolitan University of Prague, I carved out a little piece of history as the first student to navigate through the Erasmus+ program at the International BURCH University in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Quite a ride, I must say!
Your stories, projects, and experiences are the heartbeats of Capacity4dev, and I’m here to ensure they echo throughout our online spaces, sparking connections, inspiring projects, and fostering our growing web of international cooperation.
Feel free to drop me a line at marie.zamecnikova@meldea.eu. I’m here to chat, assist, or explore collaboration opportunities that will elevate our collective efforts on this platform.
Eagerly awaiting our shared journey ahead,
Marie
I am a Data and Evaluation expert, former journalist, with 18 years of professional experience, currently working as Evaluation, data and knowledge expert, in the core team of MELDEA project, providing help desk evaluation support DG INTPA and DG NEAR. Following an education at the European School of Brussels II, he graduated in Journalism at the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve (UCL, École de Journalisme de Louvain), and worked for 4 years as a journalist in Brussels covering EU News. This was followed by 7 years working in the management of International Development projects for consulting companies, and 7 years working as an expert in evaluation, data analysis, communication and knowledge management for the evaluation helpdesk technical assistances with DG INTPA, DG NEAR and FPI, which is his current assignment.
In the past 7 years, he has applied his data analysis skills and knowledge of EU Project Cycle Management to the field of developmental evaluation, with the objective to improve evaluation practices and learning from evaluations in the EC institutions. He has an excellent knowledge of EU Policies and guiding principles of Team Europe initiative, Strategic Planning and Programming Cycle (SPP), Financial Guidelines and EU funding mechanisms, and an excellent knowledge EC financial and contracting procedures (PRAG, INTPA Companion), Intervention Cycle Management guidelines, internal reporting and monitoring.
Hicham Boughdadi is a senior communication & visibility expert, web strategist and knowledge management specialist with over 20 years working on aid/cooperation projects for the European Commission and international NGOs in the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa. He successfully implemented several communication and visibility projects, regional public awareness campaigns and web platforms. He has broad experience in developing communication and visibility strategies for international donor funded projects.
Feel free to contact him should you need further information about his communication expertise and availability. He will gladly assist you!
Hicham's Portfolio: https://www.behance.net/hichamboughdadi
International development cooperation professional
Bianca Baumler is an expert in EU strategic communication and public diplomacy and engages with civil society, local government and other stakeholders across the globe. She has been working for the EU for around 18 years - as both a senior consultant/expert and as an EU institution staff member.
Bianca is the part-time key communication expert for the European Commission (DG INTPA – International Partnerships) DEAR programme: Development Education and Awareness-Raising. She also works as a free-lance consultant, drafting communication strategies and writing speeches.
Bianca worked at the EU Delegations to Syria and to Ukraine for seven years – shortly before the wars erupted. She has led EU public diplomacy projects and activities in South Korea, Indonesia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa.
Part of the founding team of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), Bianca developed all its communications and outreach from scratch. She worked together with civil society representatives and democracy activists in the EU Neighbourhood to promote their work and the role of the EED.
Bianca regularly organises VIP, civil society and media visits and tours. She has run and evaluated 360’ communication campaigns, together with PR agencies and EU officials. She has organised hundreds of events on topics ranging from democracy support to AI, from climate change to LGBTI rights. She has a particular interest in the EU Green Deal, and has organised many relevant communication activities, including the EU-Ukraine Sustainable Energy Days, which have since become an annual event.
A Fulbright scholar, Bianca has degrees from Yale University, SciencesPo-Paris (1998-99) and the Free University-Berlin (1996-2000), and recently completed an executive Harvard course on leadership and community organising. Bianca is the author of “EU Public Diplomacy in an ever-changing world.” A US-German citizen, she is fully tri-lingual in English, German and French, and also speaks Italian.
