Policy Development Fellowship Program 2008-2009
Open Society Fund BiH launched the “Policy Development Fellowship Program" in early 2004 with the aim to strengthen the domestic policy community in BiH. The main goal of the Program is to improve BiH policy research and dialogue and to contribute to the development of a sound policy-making culture based on informative and empirically grounded policy options.
Ahmet Alibašić, M.A., is a lecturer at the Faculty of Islamic Studies in Sarajevo teaching Islamic culture and civilization courses and the director of the Center for Advanced Studies in Sarajevo. He is actively involved in inter-religious dialogue and served as the first director of the Interreligious Institute in Sarajevo (2007-2008) jointly established by the Islamic Community, Serbian Orthodox Church, Catholic Church and Jewish Community in B&H. From 2003-2007 he served as Deputy President of the Association of Islamic Scholars in B&H. He has authored and translated articles and books dealing with Islam and politics, Islamic movements, Islam in the Balkans, democratization of the Muslim World, opposition legitimization in Islam, church-state relations in Europe and USA, human rights in Islam and Muslim world, and Islamic history and civilization. He was quoted by WSJ Europe, Boston Globe, Al-Mujtama’, Radio Free Europe, Reuters, BBC Scotland, TV France 3, AFP, CBC, TV Egypt, etc.
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Amina Mulabdić was born in Gračanica on 1st November 1979. For fifteen years she lived in Chicago, Zagreb and Kuala Lumpur respectively, where she received her formal education. She then proceeded to acquire her University diploma at the Anglistics department at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Sarajevo. She worked as an English teacher for two years at the First Bosniak High School, and simultaneously worked as a freelance interpreter. In 2005, she started working in the Economic Policy Planning Unit, a World Bank financed project that monitored the implementation of the Medium-Term Development Strategy. In 2007, she started working in the Directorate for Economic Planning of the Council of Ministers, in the Sector for the Analysis of Social Inclusion, where she is employed to this day. She is married and has one child.
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Emina Abrahamsdotter holds a master´s degree in political science from the University of Lund in Sweden and currently attends master course in Religious studies at the Center of Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies in Sarajevo. Her research themes are: ethnic conflict in Kosovo, the role of UN in intrastate conflict and gender analysis of ahadith. She published short articles about Islam and gender equality. She worked in the Swedish Migration Board, International Trade Union Confederation, International Center Olof Palme and is currently engaged as consultant by UNIFEM.
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Mirela Ibrahimagić was born in Tuzla on June, 19th 1972. After she completed her education in Austria, where she obtained a Master’s Degree in Business Administration in 2002, she continued her professional education in the field of Professional Accounting in the USA. In 2003, she started to work on issues of economic development where she at first worked in the Office of the PRSP Coodinator and after that in Economic Policy Planning Unit (EPPU) on monitoring of macroeconomic and structural reforms. Today she is employed in Directorate for Economic Planning as the Head of the Office for the Analysis of Social Inclusion.
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Nina Branković completed her Master’s Degree in Public Policy at King’s College London, UK. In her 14 years career she has been working on the development and implementation of public policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Western Balkan Region, United Kingdom and Germany supported by international organisations including UNDP, UNIFEM, IPPF -Brussels, DFiD, Save the Children Norway, NDI, Policy Exchange Think Tank London, Arts Council London, European Commission-Brussels, Robert Bosch Stiftung, European Fund for Balkan and others. She has been also working in public sector namely with Court of B&H for War Crimes, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of B&H and Ministries of Education in B&H. Her public policy expertise is related to health, education and environment domains . As an expert she has evaluated project proposals for European Commission in Brussels. She is currently engaged with Council of Ministers of B&H as a consultant and she works as National Public Policy Trainer for UNDP.
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Ognjen Djukic Ognjen Djukic is an economist involved in the fields of macroeconomics and development policies. For the last five years, he has worked at several advisory and executive posts in domestic and international institution. Ognjen is a member of the NGO Gea, a center for research and studies, which promotes informed policy debate in the areas of economic development and employment in particular. Ognjen received his M.A. in Development Economics at the Williams College in Massachusetts. He was born in Banja Luka where he graduated at the Banja Luka Faculty of Economics. His professional interests include transition countries’ macroeconomic imbalances, structural reforms and employment policies.
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Sabina Čudić, MA in Human Rights and Democracy (University of Sarajevo and Bologna University), BA in Political Science and International Studies (Towson University, USA) as a recipient of the Towson University International Debate Scholarship. Her research interests include modern political history, identity politics, security policies, constitutional arrangements in the post-conflict and transition countries, political argumentation. Cudic currently works at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology, as a lecturer in various areas of political science and IR including: Modern Political History, Politics and Economics of Development, Comparative Politics, Cultural Aspect of IR and Introduction to BiH Politics. She is a World Karl Popper Debate champion for 2001; was a member of the American National Debate Team in 2003 and has published in the field of argumentation and advocacy. She is a winner of the 2005 Madison Cup (USA), recepient of the Exceptional Contribution to the Establishment of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Debate Program Award and has been awarded with the American National Forensic League’s Degree of Distinction for public speaking and debate competition achievements. As of this year, Cudic is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy, University of Hamburg.
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Selma Osmanagić Agović has an MA Degree in “State management and humanitarian affairs“ from La Sapenza University of Rome and University of Sarajevo (2005) and graduated from the Law School in Sarajevo. During the last 5 years, she has worked for the American Bar Association (ABA/CEELI)and for the Directorate for European Integration on projects relating to the rule of law, judicial reform, the education of judges and prosecutors and the fight against corruption. She currently works as a consultant for ATOS Consulting on projects fostering cooperation between civil society and State Ministries and Offices. She is a member of ACIPS and an associate member of the Rule of Law Initiative.
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Svjetlana Derajić graduated at the Law Faculty in Sarajevo and did her MA in European Studies through the joint MA program of the University of Bolognia and the University of Sarajevo. Since 1995 she was deployed with a number of democracy and social development programs implemented in Bosnia- Herzegovina by international organizations. She also was engaged on evaluation of some EU-funded programs. Since 2003 she is with the USAID Mission to BiH, the Democracy Offi ce. From 1995 through 2002 she was the member of the Municipal Council of the Center of Sarajevo and the member of the Council of the City of Sarajevo.
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Zlatiborka Popov- Momčinović was born in Vršac, on October 13, 1975. She graduated sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy Novi Sad. She worked in civil sector and local media, and from the 2004. on as the teaching assistent at the Faculty of Philosophy Eastern Sarajevo, where she won a master degree with the thesis Political Culture in Transitional Period.. She published many scientific articles in the field of political sociology and sociology of religion, as well as the book Religious Tolerance in Bosnia and Herzegovina (coauthor dr. Dragoljub Krneta). To the area of her scientific and research interest belong democracy and political culture, political ideologies, religion and politics, protestantism.
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