MARTIN⠀WILHELMSince 2010 Martin has been working as Managing Director of Citizens For Europe (CFE), which he founded in 2009. Starting as an activist organization, he developed CFE into today’s social business and civil society organization, operating across Europe. Today, Martin drives the strategic, personnel, financial and thematic development of CFE with a focus on inclusive leadership, diversity and impact. Born in Rostock he went to high school near Hamburg and completed his M.A. in macroeconomics, political and communication science in 2006 with residences in Sweden and Serbia. From 2004 – 2008 he worked for public and private international originations such as the Goethe Institute, German Development Agency and European Movement, with long-term residences in France and Serbia. In 2008 he moved to Berlin working for a private foundation.
Managing Director
wilhelm@citizensforeurope.org
DANIEL⠀GYAMERAHDaniel leads the Vielfalt entscheidet – Diversity in Leadership team and the portfolio on diversity, antidiscrimination and inclusive leadership. His key responsibilities are steering the applied research and advocacy work. He supervised the conceptualisation, implementation and dissemination of a pilot study on diversity among executive personnel in Berlin’s public administration. For the first time in a German context, the study collected differentiated anti-discrimination and equality data along all dimensions of the General Equal Treatment Act. He is passionate about crafting inclusive policies, the establishment of community networks and the institutionalization of their empowerment. Daniel is a founding board member of the neue deutsche organisationen (ndo) and serves as the chairman of Each One Teach One (EOTO). His publications cover inclusion in the public, cultural and educational sector. Daniel was a Teach First Deutschland Fellow and he is a member of the Transatlantic Inclusion Leaders Network (TILN). His work has been covered on national television and major news outlets. Daniel holds a B.A. in Politics and Administration from the University of Constance and an MPP from the Hertie School of Governance.
Head of Division "Advocating for Inclusion"
Vielfalt entscheidet - Diversity in Leadership
gyamerah@citizensforeurope.org
MARTINA⠀BÜTTELMartina has been part of the CFE team since June 2020 and as diverse as her area of responsibility is at CFE, so are her professional stages. Growing up in the Ruhr area (NRW), Martina started her career with an apprenticeship as a seamstress, followed by a "trial year" in the furrier trade. In 1987 she became self-employed, became a partner in an advertising agency and worked for seven years in the fields of graphic design and photography. In 1991 she moved with her family and company to Berlin and in 1994 her private and professional situation changed. She trained as a home care nurse and worked in this profession for three years, but then went back to her creative roots. In 2000, she began retraining as a media designer in print, which she completed in 2002.
With all that wealth of experience, she took a job as an executive assistant at an insurance arbitration board in 2003 and worked for them for 13 years until 2016, when another new chapter began. A time-out for the next three years, which were well filled with personal and professional development, trips abroad and soul-searching. The experiences and insights from this time changed her life. No more 40-hour weeks, but more time for herself and, if possible, working for a meaningful cause. In 2019, she re-entered the workforce as an executive assistant at a planning firm, and after a few months, she decided to join Citizens For Europe.
As an executive assistant, Martina is responsible for office organization and administration as well as documentation. She is also the contact person in the areas of finance and human resources and contributes with her skills in the areas of event management and public relations.
Executive Assistant
buettel@citizensforeurope.org
DENIZ⠀YILDIRIMDeniz Yildirim is a Senior Data Scientist and Head of Research in CFE’s Vielfalt entscheidet – Diversity in Leadership team. She is co-Speaker of Bunt-Grün, an empowerment network of the Green party in Berlin and has a deep understanding of the intersection of policy processes on parliamentarian level, grassroots initiatives and data driven policy making. She was a Lead Staffer in the Parliament of Berlin and has various insights in diversity processes and mechanism of racial discrimination. Deniz has six years of research experience for the University of Duisburg-Essen, University of Kassel, DIW’s Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and the Centre March Bloch combining quantitative and qualitative analyses in the field of discrimination, migration and data science. Her current research focuses on measuring social inequality and stratification and is inspired by social justice theories and the fight against racial discrimination. Deniz holds a master’s degree in Sociology – European Societies from Freie Universität Berlin.
Head of Research "Advocating for Inclusion"
Vielfalt entscheidet – Diversity in leadership
yildirim@citizensforeurope.org
SÉVERINE⠀LENGLET Séverine has been managing our Multi-Channel Press and Public Relations since November 2015, using her writing, video, design and photography skills to create multimedia formats that promote our organisation and projects. She is also involved in the strategic decisions of our division "Empowering Civil Society and Strengthening Solidarity across Europe” as well as in designing and implementing transnational Multi-Stakeholders’ cooperation and projects. Currently, she is the co-coordinator of the"European Democracy Network" and "Democratic Innovations in Youth Work" projects.
Séverine holds a M.A. in Journalism, a Bachelor in Education Sciences, a certificate as EU Media Trainer and a two-year university degree in foreign languages applied to Politics, Economics and Law. She grew up in Brittany (France) and has been living in Berlin since October 2006. After her studies in 2004, she worked as a journalist and camerawoman for various mainstream TV channels and print media from Guadeloupe (Caribbean), France and Germany. In 2010, she volunteered for Video Volunteers’ Community News Service India Unheard. This experience changed her life and she decided to dedicate her communication and filmmaking skills to civil society organisations engaged in social and political change. She started to give media trainings to civil society actors and activists, and produced videos all over the world for foundations and non-profits such as Misereor, SOS Children's Villages and European Alternatives where she is still engaged today.
Media and Communications Officer
Head of Division "Empowering Civil Society"
lenglet@citizensforeurope.org
JUAN⠀VIVANCO
Juan Vivanco is a research scientist in the “Vielfalt entscheidet – Diversity in Leadership” department. He supports the department’s research and project execution with a focus on data science. He also coordinates Citizen for Europe’s compliance with privacy laws and policies. He is particularly interested in the usage of data for the design and improvement of policy and the empowerment of civil society, as well issues of migration and indigenous representation.
Previously, he was a consultant for the Danish Institute for Human Rights in Latin America, working with disenfranchised groups to support the awareness of and respect for human rights in business contexts. In Germany, he supported the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of public policy at a local and international level at the Technopolis Group, and conducted quantitative research on innovation for the Leibniz Center for European Economic Research (ZEW). Juan has also worked in governmental and non-profit contexts in Chile and Ecuador. He is involved in various initiatives within the migrant and LGBTQ+ community in Berlin, which feed into Citizens for Europe’s intersectional approach. Juan was born in Santiago, Chile, and completed his undergraduate and graduate education in economics, politics, and history in Frankfurt, Bremen and Potsdam. He holds holds a master’s degree from the University of Potsdam in Public Policy. He is fluent in English, Spanish, and German.
Research Scientist "Advocating for Inclusion"
Vielfalt entscheidet – Diversity in leadership
vivanco@citizensforeurope.org
SOPHIE⠀ALI⠀BAKHSH⠀NAINISophie Ali Bakhsh Naini works as a Desk Officer at CFE as well as a Project Co-worker in the Diversity in Leadership team. She previously worked in Hamburg as an education officer with a focus on culture and diversity at the <a href="https://www.w3-hamburg.de/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">W3 - Werkstatt für Internationale Kultur und Politik</a>. As a trained Social Justice and Diversity Trainer (FH Potsdam) she advises institutions and educates groups on the subject of anti-discrimination and diversity. She contributes her experience in the cultural sector and in political education to her work as a consultant for diversity and opening processes. She is currently continuing her education in diversity oriented organisational development at <a href="http://raa-berlin.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RAA Berlin</a> (Regionale Arbeitsstellen für Bildung, Integration und Demokratie e.V.). Sophie studied cultural studies and sociology in Berlin and Frankfurt Oder with a focus on visual culture and postcolonial theory and researched resistant image politics and anti-Muslim racism. During her studies she worked as management and curatorial assistant at the Berlin art space <a href="https://savvy-contemporary.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Savvy Contemporary</a> - The Laboratory of Form-Ideas.
Desk Officer
Project Co-worker "Advocating for Inclusion"
naini@citizensforeurope.org
JOSHUA⠀KWESI⠀AIKINSJoshua Kwesi Aikins is a Senior Research Scientist at Vielfalt entscheidet - Diversity in Leadership. He accompanies our research and consulting projects with a human rights-based, racism-critical approach and, in addition to his methodological skills contributes his knowledge in the field of open-source solutions to the innovative handling of scientific challenges. His conceptual and theoretical analyses, as well as the application of innovative methods, ensure the quality of our research from a perspective critical of discrimination. Kwesi develops various focus groups, simulation games and expert* supported formats for the qualitative recording of discrimination dynamics and empowerment strategies in the cultural sector. Starting from his two years as coordinator of a parallel report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), he designed the methodological foundations and accompanied the implementation of the collection of anti-discrimination and equality data among executives of the Berlin administration. He has published, among other things, on appropriation and resistance in youth cultures, the everyday presence of the colonial past, anti-discrimination and equality data, and post-colonial criticism. As a member of the advisory board of the Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland, he advocates comprehensive empowerment and anti-racist policies. Kwesi holds a doctorate from the University of Kassel, where he teaches decolonial perspectives on development and indigenous political authorities in Ghana.
Senior Research Scientist "Advocating for Inclusion"
Vielfalt entscheidet - Diversity in Leadership
aikins@citizensforeurope.org
TERESA⠀ELLIS⠀BREMBERGER Teresa is a research associate in the department of "Vielfalt entscheidet - Diversity in Leadership". She serves in a variety of roles in projects that collect anti-discrimination and equality data with an intersectional perspective. Her interests and passions are diverse: from project management to data science. Most recently, she was a project manager at EOTO e.V. in cooperation with CFE for the #AFROZENSUS- the first survey of discrimination experiences and life realities of Black, African and Afrodiasporic people in Germany. Previously, she was an analyst at a social innovation consulting firm and, among other things, part of the team that evaluated the Participation and Integration Act of the State of Berlin. Teresa has been a visiting researcher at the Institute of Philosophy, Addis Ababa University and IZEW, Tübingen University to study conditions for sustainable development of higher education institutions in Ethiopian and German contexts. Her academic background is in economics and social sciences and she holds a degree from Humboldt University Berlin. She is also a certified Social Justice and Radical Diversity Trainer with a focus on anti-racism and empowerment.
Research Scientist "Advocating for Inclusion"
Vielfalt entscheidet – Diversity in leadership
bremberger@citiziensforeurope.org
LUCIENNE⠀WAGNERLucienne is a Senior Research Scientist for Vielfalt entscheidet – Diversity in Leadership. She focuses on intersectional analyses across all forms of discrimination combining quantitative data collection and qualitative insights in mechanisms of exclusion. Lucienne’s expertise was crucial in developing VE’s equality data collection instrument and she co-authored its first-ever application in Berlin’s public administration. Her findings and insights are reflected in various keynotes and workshops. Lucienne is also a PhD candidate for gender and critical diversity politics in higher education with Prof. Dr. Ina Kerner, which builds upon her prior research at the University of California on "Working from both ends: Intersectional and Queer Diversity Politics at UC Berkeley“. Before joining Citizens For Europe she worked as a researcher at the Department for Sociology at the Freie Universität Berlin on a project on age and gender. Here she gained broad experiences in conducting qualitative interviews. Lucienne is a qualified social justice and diversity trainer. Former clients include the Graduate School Minor Cosmopolitanisms, the equality officer of the Technical University of Berlin and VIA Hamburg. Lucienne is passionate about finding ways to connect critical race theory and queer politics to challenge institutions.
Senior Research Scientist "Advocating for Inclusion"
Vielfalt entscheidet – Diversity in leadership
wagner@citizensforeurope.org
LISA⠀REIBER Lisa is an empirical social researcher at Diversity Decides - Diversity in Leadership.
She manages and accompanies our projects in the area of research and consulting, bringing software and methodological skills to solve scientific challenges.
Previously, she worked in the field of data preparation and analysis at the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), the largest representative panel study in Germany. Here she gained extensive experience in statistical analysis and presentation of quantitative panel data, among other things.
She is passionate about easy-to-understand data preparation and presentation, building community networks, and institutionalizing open source structures. Lisa is a co-organizer of R-Ladies Berlin, a network that promotes inclusivity in the R community, and a data analyst at Correlaid, a platform that brings together volunteer data analysis and nonprofit organizations.
Lisa studied Social Sciences at the Humboldt University of Berlin (HU) with a focus on social norms, social inequalities and did research on the development of individual preferences over the life course as part of the PhD program LIFE at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (MPIB).
Empirical Social Researcher "Advocating for Inclusion"
Vielfalt entscheidet – Diversity in leadership
reiber@citizensforeurope.org