Teona (Nešović) Birkner Email & Phone Number

Florence, It

Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Currently, I am working for the Transnational Democracy Programme at the Florence School of Transnational Governance at the EUI. The fields of action I'm engaged with are the Democratic Odyssey and the Young EUI Democracy Forum. The Democratic Odyssey is a project that develops a concept and a strategy to institutionalise a permanent people's assembly for Europe. My duties are providing organisational and logistical support for all the activities and events, co-managing the project's network of campaigners and managing their engagement, as well as cooperating with other departments at the EUI. I research citizens' assemblies and the modular approach to their implementation and produce publications on the topic of deliberative democracy and citizens' assemblies. For the past several months I have been a member of the communications team in which I contribute to creating the communications and visibility strategy, as well as to creating social media and website content. I am the coordinator for the Western Balkans aspect of the Odyssey and I work on mapping and engaging with relevant democratic innovations in the Western Balkans and developing partnerships in the region.My responsibility is coordinating the work of the Young EUI Democracy Forum that serves as a space for youth to engage with issues related to democracy worldwide by combining research, practice and open discussion. I lead a team of 10 Forum members, design Forum activities, distribute tasks and oversee their progress. In the Debating Democracy series of events, I am also in charge of preparing the student debaters and coaching them in public speaking and rhetoric.

The Democratic Odyssey is a project which seeks to institutionalise a permanent Peoples’ Assembly for Europe.

Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Assisted in the preparation and implementation of the first-year master's course lead by professors Kalypso Nicolaїdis and Alain Lempereur. Researched negotiation strategies, took care of the course logistics, helped the students in the learning process.

Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Worked in the organising team of the first annual Global PeaceTech conference in Florence that brought together representatives of research institutes, non-profit organisations, governments and companies from around the world. In charge of the logistics and communication with all the participants and partners. Received positive feedback for efficiency and demonstrated competence, the conference went smoothly and successfully, the goals of the event were achieved. Invited to participate in writing a policy brief based on the outcomes of the Conference.

Florence, Tuscany, Italy

In charge with the Western Balkans region in EDMO report "Policies to tackle disinformation", as this area was previously not fully covered, and successfully completed that part of the report. Researched disinformation policies in the Western Balkans using secondary data and both quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Significantly improved research and writing skills.

Bosnia And Herzegovina

Zenica, Federation Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Bosnia And Herzegovina

Zenica, Federation Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Bosnia And Herzegovina

Zenica, Federation Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Bosnia And Herzegovina

Zenica, Federation Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Bosnia And Herzegovina

Started the debate journey as a member of a high school debate club and afterwards a captain of the club. Initiated new projects and activities, enhanced the productivity of the work by adopting new strategies, which resulted in an increased number of members, accessibility of debate to primary school children, more support from the school management, more media visibility, creation of external partnerships and higher results accomplished at competitions. After finishing high school, founded and coached a city debate club with limited to no resources and no personal earnings. Maintained the quality and frequency of activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Established tight collaboration and gained support from other NGOs, local and regional government actors, OSCE, USAID, CRS, and the media. Mentored the members, implemented a number of projects, organised debate competitions and workshops on topics of effective communication, negotiation, public speaking and media literacy. Got promoted to debate judge within the Centre of Cultivating Dialogue, the umbrella organisation for debate in B&H. Got invited as an external expert and advisor to debate activities and competitions countrywide. Throughout all stages, researched and debated on topics such as human rights, reconciliation, dealing with the past, media freedom, equality of women, minorities and the disabled, education, etc.

Zenica, Federation Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Bosnia And Herzegovina

Zenica, Federation Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Bosnia And Herzegovina

Promoted from a member of the organisation to the project manager and educator. Created, implemented and facilitated projects, conferences and seminars on the topic of interreligious reconciliation with the aim of training youth and women as peacebuilders and developing their communication and mediation skills. Researched topics of post-conflict peacebuilding, interreligious dialogue, religious conflict mediation, role of media in conflicts and reconciliation, and created content of learning material for various events. Maintained communication with external partners and sponsors. Involved new members by forming ties with other non-governmental organisations, schools and universities.

Sarajevo, Federation Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Bosnia And Herzegovina

Preparing and leading meetings with student scholarship holders at the Franciscan International Student Centre Sarajevo, organising and facilitating their activities, arranging students' community volunteer work and gathering and evaluating their reports, providing logistical support for the Organisation's events, completing administrative office tasks, managing the database and the archive, taking care of email and phone communication. Received positive feedback from the supervisors and the students, entrusted with additional tasks, such as meeting with partners and donors, presenting the work of the Organisation and hosting events.

Zenica, Federation Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Bosnia And Herzegovina

Created and collaborated in implementation of a new activity, the Philosophy Café, with the goal of taking philosophy out of the university chairs and closer to the citizens, particularly youth. The activity consisted of philosophy professors and researchers moderating and encouraging conversations about various philosophical questions that take place in a public café and the citizens participated with great interest.

Sarajevo, Federation Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Bosnia And Herzegovina

Sarajevo, Federation Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Bosnia And Herzegovina

Promoted from a member of the organisation to the program assistant. Implemented the research project “The Political Compass of Bosnia and Herzegovina” aimed at mapping the political parties in B&H and their position on the political compass. Undertook research of the concept of the political compass, as well as the research of political programmes of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian parties and the media framing of their work. Communicated with the representatives of the political parties and managed the compass questionnaire. Organised Entrepreneurship and Liberty 2018 regional conference supported by the Atlas Network with think tanks from the Balkans as participants. Communicated with partners, donors and participants and handled the logistics.

Bosnia And Herzegovina

Bosnia And Herzegovina

Bosnia And Herzegovina

Participated in and organised simulations of the work of the European Parliament, on national, regional and international levels. Managed and supervised the entire process of organisation, including collaborating with stakeholders, fundraising, creating agendas of activities, hosting ceremonies, promoting events and communicating to the media and the public, arranging event venues and all the necessary equipment, monitoring success, writing reports and evaluations. Facilitated “Understanding Europe” workshops, researched about the purpose and work of the EU institutions, created learning material, led workshops for students and mentored the participants in their research and preparation process. Successfully coordinated the work of the Regional Office in Zenica and the organising teams. Established cooperation with regional political and cultural institutions, universities, schools, other organisations and the media. Got promoted to Coordinator of the Regional Office in Zenica and Founded Regional Speaking Competition series.

Zenica, Federation Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Bosnia And Herzegovina

Researched topics related to culture, education, politics and health, created media contributions, conducted interviews, hosted TV shows. A two-month volunteer experience extended to a two-year engagement with an opportunity to co-organise and co-host youth TV show “Outside the Box”.

Master Of Arts - Ma, Peace, Conflict, Security

Bachelor Of Arts - Ba, Faculty Of Political Science, International Relations And Diplomacy

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