Legislatures and Political Parties

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

A practicing Life Coach and Psychotherapist, Octavia finds herself collaborating with individuals, corporations, initiatives and projects which wish to bring a more holistic, integrated and empowered approach to life. For more than 20 years Octavia has been involved in the sphere of personal development, facilitating self-development and self-discovery workshops across South Africa and internationally.

Facilitating the process of deep connection and exploration within the context of self and wellbeing, Octavia not only joins communities to aid enhance our call to purpose, but also advocates being an active trial participant within the process of life. With deep roots in corporate, Octavia has extensive experience developing creative project scopes and objectives, specifying deliverables, and coordinating efforts.

I'm a multi-tasking professional with more than 25 years' experience in communication and information sector at international level. High qualified expertise acquired as a journalist and editor-in-chief, multimedia project coordinator, communication adviser and programme manager on development cooperation and humanitarian crisis, which includes media development, freedom of expression, safety of journalists, media and information literacy, digital transformation, politics, peace and security, migration, climate change and youth, with a strong focus on Africa and EU-Africa relations, and expertise in Western Balkans and Türkiye.

Dr. Florent BLANC, Ph.D. is Director of the “Negotiators of Europe” research and training program at ESSEC Business School.
He is the consortium team leader for the implementation of the Framework Contract (HR/R1/PO/2019/024 - LOT 3) covering the conception and delivery of negotiation-related trainings and services for the European institutions. This consortium joins the teams of College of Europe and the European Institute for Public Administration (EIPA).
As part of ESSEC IRENE’s negotiation training team, Florent delivers negotiation-related modules for the European Commission, public institutions in France and around the globe as well as private sector clients.
He contributed to capacity4dev activities as a member of the pool of trainers delivering Policy Dialogue and Negotiation as well as Context for Development modules under recent training contracts. For over 7 years, he also contributed to develop and adapt dedicated training modules for EUD teams (Nepal, Ivory Coast and Barbados). He also advised EUD on contractual negotiations for large infrastructure projects.

He contributed to the EU-PALOP-TL partnership by proposing a reflexion on the dialogue mechanisms and necessary capacity-building for Members of the partnership.

Florent holds a PhD from Northwestern University where he was George Lurcy scholar (Fulbright Program 2004-2005) and adjunct professor between 2006 and 2010. With a focus on national security policies and counterterrorism, Florent taught also courses in immigration policies, social changes, legal studies and journalism methodologies. From 2011 to 2016, he was West African Program manager for a French NGO where he oversaw and delivered projects on social cohesion, crisis prevention and education policy reform, with a focus on Mali. Florent also holds a doctorate from SciencesPo Paris.