Shreya Basu, Secretary

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Shreya Basu, Secretary

Singapore

Shreya is a development practitioner with more than twenty years of experience advancing good governance and public sector reform across the private sector, academia, and multilateral organizations. She previously served as Chief of Country and Local Programs at the Open Government Partnership (OGP), where she led the development and operationalization of organizational strategy and oversaw engagement with OGP’s 75+ national and 150 local members, as well as the partnership’s learning and accountability agenda. 

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Katya Petrikevich

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Katya Petrikevich

Participation Factory l Prague, Czech Republic

Katya is the co-founder and international director of Participation Factory, a social enterprise that helps communities improve governance systems and quality of life through better participation and robust data. She focuses on mainstreaming best practices in public participation and community engagement.

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Diana Dajer

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Diana Dajer

Fundación Corona | Bogotá, Colombia

Diana is manager of citizen participation with Fundación Corona, working on the intersection between political inclusion and public and social innovation. She previously directed the Institute of Studies of the Public Ministry in Colombia, founded and directed Policéntrico, and worked as an advisor on peace for the Colombian Ministry of Interior.

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Melissa (Mel) Zisengwe, Program Manager

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Melissa (Mel) Zisengwe, Program Manager

Cape Town, South Africa

Melissa manages the development and implementation of People Powered’s capacity-building programs. Mel is responsible for planning, designing, and managing accelerator programs’ content and activities, as well as integrating People Powered’s resources, tools, and materials into these programs.

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Simone Julio

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Simone Julio

Oficina | Faro, Portugal

Simone holds a degree in economics from the University of Porto, a master’s in tourism and urban culture from Escola Superior de Educação Hotelaria e Turismo of the University of Algarve and a certificate in macroeconomics from Birkbeck University of London.

At Oficina, she has dedicated a significant part of her time to the design, implementation and evaluation of participatory democracy processes – including participatory budgeting, citizen’s panels, neighborhood tutors, and territorial and institutional planning instruments, such as social charters, local housing strategies and the design of statistical observatories.

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Ana Paula Pimentel Walker

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University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, United States

Ana Paula is an assistant professor in urban planning at the University of Michigan. She investigates how disenfranchised communities engage with urban governance and evaluates the significance of participatory institutions in planning socially and environmentally just cities.

She has a Ph.D. in anthropology, master’s degrees in urban planning and Latin American studies, and a law degree.

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Rocío Annunziata

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CONICET - National University of San Martín | San Martín, Argentina

Rocío is an associate researcher for CONICET, based at the Political Research Institute of the National University of San Martín in Argentina. She also currently works as an adjunct professor of contemporary political theory at the University of Buenos Aires and as a professor of political science at the National University of San Martín.

In addition, Rocío directs the collection Contemporary Political Thought at Prometeo publishing house and is a member of the #NoSinMujeres Network of Political Scientists.

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Byungwoo Shine Cho

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Konkuk University | Seoul, South Korea

B. Shine Cho is an assistant professor in the department of public administration at Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea. Currently, he is working on a research project about post-COVID participatory budgeting.

Shine received a Ph.D. in public administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, a master’s of public administration from Georgia State University, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in public administration from Yonsei University in Seoul.

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Nicolás Díaz Cruz, Co-President

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Nicolás Díaz Cruz, Co-President

Extituto de Política Abierta | Bogotá, Colombia

Nicolás is executive director of Extituto de Política Abierta in Colombia, an organization that supports innovative practices to influence, occupy and inhabit decision-making spaces. It aims to make politics more open and democracy more solid, to redistribute power, and bring government closer to citizens.

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Aleksandra Ilijin

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OPENS | Novi Sad, Serbia

Aleksandra works as a senior consultant for OPENS, a Serbian NGO that runs school participatory budgeting in Novi Sad and advocates for young people to be equally involved in the decision-making process. Currently, her focus is on developing a youth participatory budgeting program and incorporating PB into local and national youth strategy documents.

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Emiliano Arena

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Argentine Association for Participatory Democracy | Buenos Aires, Argentina

Emiliano Arena holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Buenos Aires, and a specialization in management and control of public policies from the Latin American College of Social Sciences (FLACSO), Argentina. Currently, he is coordinator of monitoring and evaluation at the Center of Public Policy Implementation for Equity and Growth (CIPPEC).

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Jaroslav Dvorak

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Klaipeda University | Klaipeda, Lithuania

Jaroslav Dvorak has worked as a professor and head of the Department of Public Administration and Political Sciences at Klaipeda University, Lithuania. He served as Klaipeda University’s representative at the Klaipeda region development council (2019-2021), and at the Klaipeda University Participatory Budget Lab, he promotes PB capacity building.

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Jared Abbott

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Tulane University, Center for Inter-American Policy and Research | New Orleans, United States

Jared is a postdoctoral fellow with the Center for Inter-American Policy and Research at Tulane University. He is currently working on a book that explores the causes and effects of large-scale participatory institutions in Latin America. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University.

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