Lecturers

  H.E. Amina Bouayach

H.E. Amina Bouayach is General Secretary of FIDH. She the first female president of an organization for human rights in Morocco. Elected treasurer of the Moroccan Organization of Human Rights during its first congress in 1988, she has initiated, among other things, the organization of national campaigns for the movement of families of political prisoners. She also participated in the development of topics on public sensitive issues such as deprivation of liberty for political reasons, enforced disappearances and torture. She is from that category of women who transformed the image of Moroccan women. In 1992 she graduated in "Economy" at the University "Mohammed V" in Rabat and worked in the opposition press. In 2006 he was elected head of the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights, working in particular to eliminate the death penalty and against impunity in Morocco. In 2011 she became a member of the Consultative Commission on Constitutional Reform. Ms. Buayach was also the initiator of a number of activities for the protection and dissemination of human rights through new information technologies. She created two web sites: WARAKATI, dedicated to the rights of Moroccan women and www.marsad.ma - for civil monitoring of elections in November 2011. In 2009 she was a coordinator of a group of human rights NGOs for the national campaign for ratification of the International Convention on enforced disappearances. In 2010 she was the coordinator of a national group of twenty Moroccan NGOs demanding ratification of the Protocol to the Convention on Torture, and later coordinated the publication of a relevant document for the creation of a national mechanism to prevent torture. Recently she was appointed to be the new moroccan ambassador to Sweeden.

   Mr. Boyko Vassilev

Boyko Vassilev is TV journalist at Bulgarian National TV1. He graduated Journalism and Mass Communications at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". He specialized in Heidelberg and Hamburg. Since 2001 he has a PhD in Sociology from Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski ". From 2000 he is a host and producer of the current affairs program "Panorama" at the Bulgarian National TV 1. Member of the Board of the Institute for Regional and International Studies and vice president of the "St. St. Cyril and Methodius" Foundation. Boyko Vassilev is an International reporter and political commentator. He mainly broadcasts developments on the Balkans: the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, strikes against Yugoslavia, the events in Kosovo, Belgrade, Macedonia, Croatia. Author of documentaries. Winner of numerous national and international journalism awards.

  H.E. Daniel Mitov
H.E. Daniel Mitov is Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria. He graduated from Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", specializing in Political Science. He has participated in the international exchange programmes of Marshall Memorial Fund (German Marshall Fund of the US), and the “Programme des personnalites d’avenir” of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He specialized in Political skills at the Center for Continuing Education at New Bulgarian University. In 2002, Mr. Mitov worked at the Political Academy for Central and Southeast Europe as part of the Bulgarian School of Politics team and Razum magazine. In 2006, he became Executive Director of the Democracy foundation, and then Vice President of Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) party. He has participated in the establishment of Bulgaria for the Citizens political party. Since the autumn of 2010, he worked for the US National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Iraq, where he was Program Manager of the Political party development program. As an official NDI representative, he has also worked in Brussels, Libya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine, Yemen, Tunisia and others.

   Ambassador Delphine Borione 

Ambassador Delphine Borione is Deputy Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean. She is a French diplomat who has held numerous high-level positions in multilateral, economic, cultural and educational fields. Ms. Borione was appointed Deputy Secretary General in the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean in 2013, in charge of Social and Civil Affairs.
After studying at the French National School of Public Administration, Delphine Borione worked on environmental, development and global issues in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the President of the French Republic. She also joined the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). She was involved on cultural affairs as Cultural Counsellor in the Embassy of France in Italy and then Director for Cultural Policy and French Language in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has also been Ambassador of France in Kosovo.

   Ambassador Hatem Attalah 
Ambassador Hatem Attalah  is the current Executive Director of the Anna Lindh Foundation.Coming from a rich diplomatic background, he was the Tunisian ambassador in several countries including The United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Ethiopia. He also served as Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States, the African Union, the Economic Commission for Africa, UNEP and UN-Habitat. More recently he was appointed Diplomatic Advisor to the Head of the Tunisian Government until February 2015.Ambassador Atallah participated in numerous summits of the African Union and the United Nations and to several ministerial meetings. He also acquired a long experience in organizing cultural activities: exhibitions of paintings, Cinema Days, musical performances, lectures on history and heritage, and debates on inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue.

   Ms. Irina Alexieva
Irina Alexieva is Executive Director of the Bulgarian School of Politics “Dimitry Panitza”. She is well known to Bulgarian public as one of the best business journalists in the country, author and host of the weekly economic broadcast of BTV “Business". Previously, Irina managed the Economic Department of Darik Radio and was the author of the "Portfolio" radio broadcast. Ms. Alexieva has a PhD in Public Communications and Information Studies from the Sofia University “Sv. Kliment Ohridski”. Her PhD thesis is on Communication of Climate Change. She also has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the American University in Bulgaria and a MA in Economics from the University of National and World Economy. Ms. Alexieva has a degree in Strategic Management for Leaders of NGO at Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education. She specialized in journalism in the U.S. and studied the development of civic and political dialogue in Southeast Europe and the former Soviet Union in Norway. During her intensive career as a journalst, Ms. Alexieva interviewed some of the most influential leaders in the global political and economic scene, among them Nobel laureates, heads of global companies and financial institutions. She is the author of several documentaries, including "Chernobyl -20 years later”, dedicated to the anniversary of the largest nuclear reactor accident in the world and “California’s Choice" – on the energy efficiency policy of California. Ms. Alexieva is a Board member of the Bulgarian Civil Society House and a member of the Scientific Committee of the World Forum for Democracy.

   Mr. Jean-Marie Heydt

Jean-Marie Heydt is President of the Executive Committee of the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe. He is the permanent representative of the European association (FESET) «European Social Education Training » in Europe, a European federation of high schools and universities that prepare specialists in the fields of education and social work.He was elected to the Presidency of the Conference of International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) of the Council of Europe in January 2009. In June 2012 he was elected Vice President and in December 2013 President of the Executive Committee of the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe. These two activities are voluntary. His career and his voluntary commitments consist of diverse experiences. However, the fact remains that his current role as manager now occupies a central place. Nevertheless, he has retained a disposition of co-construction which establishes a link between theory and practice, a link between knowledge and action, a different and unique practice, which includes addressing social challenges.
He is CEO of the General Family Association of Bas-Rhin, Strasbourg (France). After studying law and social studies he worked in France for more than 10 years in the social work profession in children’s courts. A Doctor of Comparative Education Sciences and a graduate of European Studies (Mutaion of societies and cultures in Europe), he has taught at several universities and instituions of higher education since 1999, incliding the University of Upper Alsace (France).
He was Director of the Vocational Training Department in the Education and Social Work Sector (2000-2007) prior to his current role as CEO.

   Ms. Maria Gabriel
Maria Gabriel is Member of the European Parliament and Vice-Chair of the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats). She is a representative of Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria Party and Head of the Bulgarian EPP Delegation. Ms.Gabriel is Member of the Committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs  and Deputy Member of the Committee on foreign affairs and
the Committee on women’s rights and gender equality.  She is Member of the Delegation to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly ACP- EU (African, Caribbean, Pacific group of countries and the European Union), Member of the Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean and Member of the Delegation for relations with the Maghreb and the Arab Maghreb Union. She was awarded MEP of the year 2013 in the category "Gender Equality".  Between 2004 and 2008 Mariya Gabriel was Assistant Researcher at IEP Institute for Political Studies, Bordeaux, Franceq and lecturer of Political Sociology, International Relations and EU Decision-making to BA and MA students. She obtained Master degree in Comparative Politics and International Relations.

   Prof. Mariana Malinova
Mariana Malinova is Associate Professor and Head of the Department at New Bulgarian University, Lecturer at the Chair of Arabic and Semitic Studies at Sofia University. She is editor in chief of the Journal  Orientalia and Member of the Union Europeenne des Arabisants et Islamisants. She was a Research Fellow of Andrew Mellon Foundation, Research Fellow of Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) and Research Fellow of the Japanese "Sasakawa" Foundation. She is an author of the book "History of the Translation Movement in the Abbasid Caliphate (8-10 centuries)“ and of articles dealing with the contemporary and medieval Islam.

  Ms. Maryana Georgieva

 Maryana Georgieva is a Moderator of small group work. She holds a Master's in Psychology from the University of Veliko Tarnovo. More than 10 years she works as an expert and trainer in educational programs of organizations such as the Council of Europe, UNDP Development Programme in Bulgaria, Open Society Institute, Human Dynamics-Austria.

    Mr. Ognian Boyadjiev

   Prof. Samir Belfkih
Pr.Samir Belfkih is a research professor and director of research. He is the Member of Parliament of the Kingdom of Morocco and Member of Education Committee. Pr.Belfkih is a Member of the Higher Council of Education, Training and Scientific Research(CSEFRS) and Ex Chairman of the Standing Committee on Governance of CSEFRS. He is a Vice President
North-Africa Center of Policies.

   Ms. Sevdalina Alexandrova
Sevdalina Alexandrova is Vice-President of the Center for Dispute Resolution- Bulgaria. She is a mediator, mediation trainer and expert in development of mediation centers. She participated in the establishment of the first commercial mediation centers in Bulgaria and the biggest Court Settlement Center at the Sofia Regional Court. She has more than 10 years experience in certification trainings for mediators, seminars for judges in mediation and referral, seminars in conflict resolution and negotiation for lawyers, politicians, etc. She was nominated as an ADR Trainer in the CEDR 2012 awards for excellence in ADR. As a mediator, she mainly focuses on family matters, contractual, real estate and commercial disputes. In the past 10 years she was actively involved as a manager and expert in various projects promoting mediation, funded by the EU, USAID and America for Bulgaria Foundation. She is a co-author in the “EU Mediation Law and Practice”, edited by prof. De Palo and M. B. Trevor, Oxford University, 2012.

    Mr.Stefan Georgiev
Stefan Georgiev was born in Gabrovo, Bulgaria in 1985. Graduate of Sofia University  - Sociology and Master in Political studies. Aside this he has specialized working with NGOs in the United States in 2010.  In daily life he works as sociologist and researcher in private company. But during the Summer Academy his task would be facilitating the groupd process in some of the sessions. His main field of expertise is working with small groups in learning environment but mostly through non-formal methods in varied of topics. In other words – he is a trainer and facilitator of group processes. Acting like one for some years now, especially since 2011 when he graduated a long term program for group-dynamic trainers.

   Mr. Yassine Souidi
Yassine Souidi is young Moroccan aged 30, he has a Phd in Biology specialty Public Health. For the moment he holds the position as researcher at the Center of Studies and Research on Values in Rabita Mohammadia of Ulama. He held several positions of responsibility in various national and international NGOs with different topics such as youth health, dialogue of civilizations, intercultural exchange, entrepreneurship and leadership. He has managed several innovative projects at national and international level. He has represented Morocco in the official delegation to several international events like the International Youth Forum in Mexico and the White House summit to counter violent extremism in Washington. For now he is focusing on training and development skills of young people in disadvantaged areas about radicalization and violent extremism. He is also interested in the analysis of public policies especially those of youth. Deeply interested in astronomy and photography. Mr. SOUIDI is an Alumnus of the first Summer Academy for Strengtening Democrasy at the Euro-Med Region.