Support Us
2018 marks the 7th year of the AHDA fellowship program. To date we have had over 59 fellows in the program representing over 30 countries. Below find information regarding the professional interests and accomplishments of select fellows and alumni.
While at Columbia, fellows design individual projects that address some aspect of a history of gross human rights violations in their society, country, and/or region. Click here to read more about the fellows' projects.
Click here to read about more about the work of our Fellows.
ISHR Fellow
Dogu Eroglu is a human rights and ecology activist, a writer, and an investigative reporter for the Daily Birgun, an independent Turkish newspaper. When he first began working at the Daily Birgun, he focused largely on environment and energy issues: from urban rights to environmentalist perspectives, Mr. Eroglu worked closely with local groups who resisted the mega energy and construction projects that the central government planned. He also covered –and continues to cover—issues such as systematic human rights violations in Turkey, ranging from (among many topics) the discrimination of minorities to the state’s actions regarding ill treatment and torture to the oppression of civic rights. As the violence of the Syrian Civil War began to spread in the Middle East, Mr. Eroglu’s focus shifted to the field of conflict journalism, and his current work focuses on recruitment dynamics of radical Islamists, the logistics of armed conflict, migration policies, and other components to the unrest that has defined the Middle East in recent years.
Mr. Eroglu has an MA in Economics, and began his career as a reporter at Turkey’s iconic Cumhuriyet Daily, where he worked from 2011 to 2012. In 2012, he initiated an independent journalism project entitled Violence Stories from Turkey. This project focused on human rights violations in Turkey, and sought to press state actors for greater transparency through exposing personal stories of victims of state-led human rights violations. In addition to being a regular contributor to numerous Turkish newspapers and periodicals, Mr. Eroglu’s work has been published by Newsweek and Vice.com. His first book, which explores the history of local struggle against a proposed coal-based thermal power plant in Gerze, Turkey, is expected to be published in the fall of 2015. As an AHDA fellow, Mr. Eroglu will develop a project that examines the historical movement of jihadists from country to country. The project not only expects to reveal the historical connections between current and past jihadist recruitment practices and patterns of joining, but will be helpful to societies who suffer from jihadist recruitments by enabling them to predict future patterns of joining. The project will also enable societies to design measures for the rehabilitation and reconciliation of potential and actual recruits upon their return to their home communities.
Bosch Foundation Fellow
As a Program Officer at the Forum for Building Civil Society Capacities, Chantal Gatore manages a team of 170 personnel and oversees capacity building initiatives with regard to transitional justice projects as well as the development and implementation of other human rights related projects. Currently she is developing the foundation for a documentation center which will serve for the collection of evidence and thus the preservation of the memory of the history of Burundi. She is also creating and coordinating a network of groups who will contribute to the upcoming Truth Commission in Burundi. In addition to overseeing these larger projects, Ms. Gatore oversees advocacy for the establishment of laws that meet international and UN standards; communications, publicity and budget oversight for ongoing projects; training, evaluation and project monitoring.
Ms. Gatore holds an MA in International Peace Studies from the United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica; she holds a second MA in Human Rights and Peaceful Conflict Resolution from the UNESCO Chair and the University of Burundi. She has worked as a consultant for numerous projects and programs, including the NGO Burundi Leadership Training Program and the Gender and Transitional Justice, Reparations Programs, under the auspices of Reseau Femme et Paix. She also contributed to the production of a radio soap opera in peace, reconciliation and transitional justice in collaboration with a Dutch NGO, La Benevolencija. Ms. Gatore has worked as an assistant visiting professor at the UNESCO Chair and University of Burundi and in the Graduate Diploma Program in Human Rights and Peaceful Conflict Resolution at the UNESCO Chair and University of Burundi. As an AHDA fellow, Ms. Gatore seeks to work further on developing a documentation and archive center in Burundi. The center will act as a central site for documents related to Burundi’s recent civil war—documents that are currently at risk of loss or destruction. Issues such as the preservation, protection and dissemination of such documents must be addressed, and the ways in which this center can serve to support education, research, memory work and reconciliation efforts must be further developed as well. Finally, Ms. Gatore hopes to be able to explore the necessary legal framework for facilitating the work of a documentation and archiving center.
Nayla Hamadeh is a founding member of the Lebanese Association for History (LAH), an organization that aims to support history teachers and to promote the learning and teaching of history as a discipline in Lebanon. In particular, the organization seeks to raise public awareness about the importance of history, and to ensure that history education in the country is inquiry based and critically engaging. Ms. Hamadeh’s roles at the organization are two-fold: Since 2005, Ms. Hamadeh has been facilitating teacher training workshops all over Lebanon on active teaching strategies. To this end, she currently manages an extensive professional training program for history teachers entitled, “Developing History Teachers Capacity to Foster Historical Thinking”. The project aims to introduce and apply the concepts of historical thinking and to empower learners to think critically about the past. Ms. Hamadeh also works closely with the LAH president on fundraising and strategic planning for the organization.
In terms of her background, Ms. Hamadeh has worked in the Educational Resources Center at International College (IC), Beirut, from 1998 to 2013, where she coordinated the curriculum guide project as well as teachers’ professional development programs. During this period, she also held a teaching position at the Social Studies Department and worked as the coordinator and trainer for the SPEC program proposing a student-centered, problem-based, experiential and collaborative classroom model. Ms. Hamadeh has presented at numerous conferences, including the LAES conference on History education, Euroclio, and the KAICIID Global Forum. She holds an MA in Educational Foundations and Policy Studies from the American University of Beirut and in 2010 she was awarded the “Randa Khoury Innovation in teaching award”.
As an AHDA fellow, Ms. Hamadeh will develop a study tour for students, academics, and media experts that explores commemorative sites and culture in Lebanon, and how memorial processes enable participants to acknowledge different cultures and perspectives within their own communities.
GIZ Fellow
As the Technical Advisor of Arts and Culture for Social Integration unit in FLICT (Facilitating Initiatives for Social Cohesion and Transformation) project, Ms. Haputhanthri oversees a program that focuses on reconciliation and social integration in post-war Sri Lanka. She heads the cultural component of the project, dealing with history, memory and education as well as arts, film and theatre projects. She played a lead role in conceptualizing the program and securing funds at a global proposal call by the European Union entitled, 'Investing in People: Culture as a Vector for Democracy' in 2013, and she presently leads a team and a cluster of partner organizations for the implementation of the project. She is responsible for overall concept and strategy development, networking, financial project management including HR and reporting functions. She is also developing a project on “Memory Work in Post-War Settings,” the ground work for which will occur in the coming months.
In addition, Ms. Haputhanthri is a translator, writer, and arts manager. She is author of a handbook for social activists entitled Cultural Fluency: A Transformative Agenda for Caring Communities. She has worked on developing new knowledge and creative methodologies in promoting social inclusion and has worked from policy to community level, in the areas of education and arts for reconciliation. Ms. Haputhanthri has an MA in Asian Studies from Lund University, Sweden and a BA Honors in Sociology from the University of Delhi, India. She further specialized in History and Anti-racist education at York University, Toronto, Canada. As an AHDA fellow, Ms. Haputhanthri will work on a project proposal on Memory Work in post war Sri Lanka. The multimedia project hopes to support a ‘traveling museum’ on social memory and modern history with a story telling approach; it aims to address the trauma and reflect upon the experiences and root causes of the conflict in Sri Lanka by tackling some of the deep cultural and structural issues embedded in a divided, hierarchical society.
Deo Okot Komakech is a Research and Documentation specialist who believes in dealing with the past in order to move forward. Deo has a passion for post conflict/war development, community empowerment, and enjoys working in multi-cultural and challenging environments. Currently Mr. Komakech works at the Refugee Law Project (RLP), which is affiliated with the School of Law at Makerere University. In his position as the Research and Documentation Officer, he works directly under RLP’s National Memory and Peace Documentation Center (NMPDC) in Northern Uganda. In this capacity, his responsibilities include promoting and tracking the impact of NMPDC’s work within communities and among stakeholders; promoting awareness regarding ongoing debates about truth, reconciliation and accountability monitoring; supporting community memorial initiatives; and working on different documentation initiatives including oral history testimonies, mapping, conflict and historical event documentation.
In terms of specific projects, Mr. Komakech is currently engaged in the documentation of the voices of victims and survivors of massacres that never caught media attention or any form of acknowledgement. After four year in his current position, international and local media houses have nicknamed him “the massacre scooper”. As an AHDA fellow, Mr. Komakech seeks to develop a project that will provide Ugandans in war-affected communities with a digital documentation platform for the collection and dissemination of information. The platform will enable citizens to share their memories and experiences and receive unbiased information about their history; it will also enhance the use of documentation as a means for reconciliation and accountability, and in the longer term could be used to develop a warning system with which to predict and prevent future conflict.
Pawel Nowacki joined European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (ENRS) in 2012. ENRS is an international organisation that seeks to facilitate the documentation and promotion of the study of 20th century European history with special emphasis on how it is remembered. ENRS's fields of interest center on dictatorial regimes, wars, and resistance to oppression. Through supporting academic research, educational, and promotional activities with international partnerships, the Network contributes to building better relations between European societies and facilitates historical exchange and debates. Mr. Nowacki’s responsibilities include organising and implementing international projects that contribute to these larger goals. At the moment he is responsible for key ENRS’s projects such as: European Remembrance International Symposium of European Institutions dealing with 20th Century History, Sound in the Silence Youth Project, and Remembrance and Solidarity - Studies in 20th Century European History.
Mr. Nowacki graduated from the University of East Anglia in Political Science in 2004 and Collegium Civitas in International Relations in 2007. He specializes in project management and grant programs, and has had extensive life and work experiences in England, Germany, China, and Taiwan. Prior to joining ENRS, he served a secretary to the Polish Year in Israel 2008–09 and later worked on the national cultural programme during Poland’s EU Presidency in 2011. As an AHDA fellow, Mr. Nowacki will develop a project that explores how European countries use 20th century history as a policy making tool during identity and financial crises. He is particularly interested in enabling younger generations to understand the ways in which collective memory is used to explain historical trauma, and the impact that these explanations have on contemporary society.
Rockefeller Brothers Fund Fellow
Besiana Xharra is a senior journalist for Zeri, a newsroom dedicated to investigative journalism in the public interest. Her areas of focus include politics, social issues, and topics relating to human rights. She is particularly interested in the areas of radicalization and terrorism, how radicalization has taken root in Kosovo, with a particular focus on young people from Kosovo who have joined terrorist groups and have gone to fight in Syria and Iraq. In addition to these topics of interest, Ms. Xharra is the senior journalist at Zeri to write on topics relating to the conflict between Kosovo and Serbia, and the political and social challenges that have arisen in the fifteen years since that war concluded. Ms. Xharra’s areas of expertise include accountability and transitional justice, conflict resolution, and historical dialogue, and her background includes extensive experience in documentation activities and policy work. Prior to working at Zeri, Ms. Xharra worked for Radio Free Europe as the Editor for the Kosovo desk. She’s worked at a number of other news agencies including Express Newspaper, Ekobiznesi, Pristina Insight and Balkan Investigative Reporter Network.
As an AHDA fellow, Ms. Xharra’s project will examine two intersecting challenges facing post-conflict Kosovo: first regards the coexistence between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo, and addressing the failures of the recent EU initiative to encourage dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade. Second is to understand and address the radicalization movement in Kosovo and the region, which is closely linked to the Serbian occupation of Kosovo, its treatment of Kosovo Albanians and the stereotypes it perpetuated about this population.
Bosch Stiftung Fellow
Ines Amri is the Founder/CEO-President of Organisation Volonté et Citoyenneté (Will and Citizenship Organization), a Youth-led and Post-Revolution NGO founded in Gabes, in the southeast of Tunisia. It has as objectives defending Human Rights, training and empowering youth leaders and women, and promoting cultural and social projects. Ines is a trainer in Strategic Planning and social entrepreneurship. She manages a local team and has significant experience designing, leading programs and training workshops. She has been a member and Alumnus of American Islamic Congress (AIC) and the Cultural Innovators Network (CIN). She has been also a certified ESL teacher since 2008 at the Tunisian Ministry of Education. She has been a Legislative Fellow, one of the four Tunisian delegates to work for the US Congress for a month. She has been placed at the office of Congresswoman Betty McCollum (Minnesota-4). Ines was appointed to serve as a member of the International Jury of the Plural+ Video Festival 2013, put on by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Ines is an alumnus of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) as she was nominated to represent Tunisia in “The Role of NGOs in Promoting Global Women’s Issues Program”.
Coming from a country that is currently living the tensions between sectarian and religious ideologies, and where identity is used as a political weapon for propaganda, Ines has also led several initiatives that explore and embrace the multiplicity of Tunisian identity, and that seek to use the memory of Tunisia’s history to ensure that religious and national identity are not co-opted by a single narrative. As an AHDA fellow, Ines seeks to develop a project that addresses the growing sectarianism and ideological conflicts developing in Tunisia, by exploring Tunisia’s past and its identity as a nation with “multiple” selves.
Raba Gjoshi is the Executive Director of the NGO Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Kosovo (YIHR KS). Since 2007, Raba has led a range of public actions and campaigns that address issues related to missing persons, freedom of expression, right to information, rights of minorities, antiracism and antisemitism and active citizenship. Working with an organization which combines different approaches, Raba has also been engaged in the monitoring of human rights legislation, institutions and mechanisms, documenting and reporting on human rights abuses and promoting human rights values through education and activism. More generally, as executive director, Raba Gjoshi is responsible for overall programmatic, financial, and administrative work of the organization, including fundraising, project development and implementation, general operations on the day-to-day level as well ensuring the implementation of longer term goals.
In the historical dialogue arena, Raba’s work has concentrated on dialogue and exchange amongst young people; building projects that initiate public dialogue and acknowledge victims; and projects that support initiatives for documentation, justice, healing and memory. The project Raba intends to develop as an AHDA fellow will focus on the issue of deportations during the war in Kosovo, and in particular the collection and documentation of facts. Her intention is to engage local communities in this work in order to create a space for dialogue and collective memory.
Open Society Foundation – Turkey Fellow
Trained as an historian, Asena Günal currently works as program coordinator of DEPO, a center for arts and culture in Istanbul. DEPO was founded in 2009 by Anadolu Kültür, a civil society organization working to create open spaces for artistic collaboration believing that cultural exchange and cooperation can lead to dialogue and mutual understanding among individuals with different social backgrounds and national or ethnic identities. Aside from its artistic program (exhibitions, installations, film screenings), DEPO organizes conferences, workshops, lectures and panel discussions on topics relating to historical, political and social issues. It also publishes an e-journal on contemporary art practices in Turkey and the surrounding region, and is considered an alternative space that is open to politically critical exhibitions and events. Asena is responsible for the organization and coordination of all activities that take place at DEPO. Last year, for example, she coordinated an exhibition and edited a book entitled Bir Daha Asla!: Geçmişle Yüzleşme ve Özür (Never Again!: Apology and Coming to Terms with the Past, İstanbul, 2013), which explored eight cases of political apologies from around the world.
Asena became an advocate of historical dialogue and accountability first as an editor of social science texts at a publishing house known for highlighting politically taboo and controversial issues (she co-edited, for example, 90’larda Türkiye’de Feminizm (Feminism in Turkey in the 1990s, İstanbul, 2002) and then as a doctoral student of history. Having a PhD degree in history and collaborating with various civil society institutions, Asena focuses on projects that deal with the past, but that also seek to make individuals explore what kind of society they live in today, and what future they would like to build. As an AHDA fellow, Asena plans to develop a proposal for a new exhibition and publication project that focuses on eight state crimes in Turkey, all of which need to be acknowledged and reckoned with to solve ongoing ethno-religious and political conflicts. Crimes such as the 1915 Armenian Genocide, the 1938 Dersim Massacre, the forced disappearances of the 1990s and the 2011 military attack on civilians in Roboski were crimes committed by the state or by state-sanctioned proxies. A discussion regarding possible redress with regard to these acts of violence will transform the rhetoric of protest to more constructive and future-oriented policies that have the potential to impact the general public and policy-makers.
Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR) Fellow
Nayat Karakoseoglu is a program officer for the Strategic Fund for Turkey Program (SFT) of the UK based charity Global Dialogue. The SFT Program aims to improve the capacity of grass roots NGOs and vulnerable groups; to empower human rights activists, and to enable NGOs to implement projects that target raising awareness on human rights issues. Ms. Karakoseoglu works with NGOs and individuals to develop new projects and to promote projects currently under development. She recently contributed to SFT’s specially designed program entitled, “Facing the Past and Transitional Justice”. Ms. Karakoseoglu is also a volunteer at the Hrant Dink Foundation, and a part-time editor of a section of the Turkish-Armenian AGOS Newspaper, which covers issues relating to politics and culture in Turkey. She received her MA degree from the University of Essex in Human Rights.
Ms. Karakoseoglu is particularly interested in sites of memory as a means for remembering, raising awareness, creating empathy and dealing with violent pasts. As an AHDA fellow, she plans to develop a site of memory project relating to the figure of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was assassinated in 2007, in front of the Agos newspaper, which he had founded and edited. Ms. Karakseoglu thus hopes to create a model for how the location of the Agos newspaper at the time of Dink’s murder could be turned into a site of conscience and memory, and in so doing nurture the reconciliation efforts of Armenians and Turks that Hrant Dink himself invested much of himself in doing.
Oriol López-Badell is the coordinator of the “European Observatory on Memories” project, which is supported by the University of Barcelona Solidarity Foundation. The Solidarity Foundation seeks to encourage social responsibility, to foster initiatives for defending democracy, peace and human rights, and to promote social action through various projects and community outreach. Previously, Oriol worked as an historian and officer of international relations in the Memorial Democratic, a public institution devoted to implementing policies to recover democratic memory in Catalonia (Spain). Oriol also coordinated the project www.memoriabcn.cat, a website and an app for smartphones designed to disseminate information about sites of memory in the city of Barcelona. This project was led by the Knowing History Association with the support of the Spanish government and Barcelona City Hall. Oriol is the author of Transitioning: Five Citizen Initiatives to Achieve Full Democracy, (published in Spanish and Catalan languages); and he has participated as a lecturer in conferences and workshops worldwide. He is a graduate in History and postgraduate in History and Communication from the University of Barcelona. He also followed an intensive course on Truth Commissions through the International Center for Transitional Justice.
Oriol’s project for the AHDA Fellowship will focus on creating intergenerational dialogues with witnesses of Spain’s military dictatorship following the Spanish Civil War. He will bring together Civil War combatants of different ideologies, exiles and activists who participated in the transition to democracy. These dialogues will be accompanied by a guided tour of memory sites in the city of Barcelona, with the objective of giving the community the tools to remember the origins of today’s democracy and by doing so reinforce the foundations of a democratic society.
Lynn Maalouf is a Beirut-based writer, activist and trainer whose work focuses on the issue of the missing and disappeared persons in Lebanon. She is the co-founder and senior researcher at Act for the Disappeared, Lebanese human rights NGO. Prior to that, she headed the country program of the International Center for Transitional Justice for five years, during which time she co-authored a handbook on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, conducted a process that led to the development of the Draft Law for the Missing and Disappeared Persons in Lebanon, and conceived and implemented an oral history project, Badna Naaraf (We want to Know), with high school and university students, about citizens’ daily life during the Lebanese conflict. She is the main author of “Lebanon’s Legacy of Political Violence, a mapping of serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Lebanon 1975-2008,” released in 2013. She is a member of scientific committee of “Beit Beirut” and a board member of R-Shief, and a regular contributor to the International Justice Tribune.
In Lebanon, where the consequences of impunity coupled with memory erasure are both severe and multi-faceted, Lynn has focused on collecting facts about the conflict, developing platforms to share narratives of the conflict, and developing tools to increase knowledge and strengthen stakeholders’ advocacy efforts. As an AHDA fellow, Lynn plans to develop a project related to memorialization of the missing that raises the profile of the victims and their families—a project that is complicated by the fact that it will take place in a society still in the grips of forgetfulness.
Kelen Meregali currently works at the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ). Her organization seeks to help societies in transition to address legacies of human rights violations and build civic trust in state institutions through transitional justice mechanisms. Kelen joined ICTJ three years ago as an Associate for the Truth and Memory Program, assisting with the support and advice for truth seeking initiatives processes in a variety of countries to advance the right to truth and to enhance society’s discussion about the past, and now also as a Program Office Manager assisting with the overseeing of programmatic work for the organization. Prior to moving to New York, she has worked at the Amnesty Commission of the Brazilian Ministry of Justice since 2007 and as a consultant for UNDP since 2009. During this time she was part of a team that helped to strengthen and reorganize the commission, as well as design and implement the Commission’s innovative “Amnesty Caravan” outreach program throughout Brazil, relating to the national reparations program and public policies on education and memorialization.
As a fellow in the AHDA Program, Kelen seeks to explore the devastating legacy of forced assimilation in Indian Residential Schools in Canada stemming from the 1870s, when children were ripped from their families and forced to learn new languages and religions. She will focus on a project featuring a multimedia web-based platform encouraging active engagement, especially by young people, with the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The project aims to show the multi-faceted, inter-generational nature of harm and its impacts, to foster trust by breaking down the stereotypes that beget discrimination, while also encouraging dialogue among citizens about future policymaking options for addressing the past. Kelen sees this as a pilot project that could serve as a model for other truth-seeking bodies, including those in Guatemala, Peru, and soon Brazil and Tunisia. Kelen received her law degree from the Pontific Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (2007) and holds a post-graduate degree on International Law from the Superior School for Federal Prosecutors (2010).
Robert Bosch Stiftung Fellow
Munini Mutuku works at the National Cohesion and Integration Commission in Kenya. This body was established in 2008 after the 2007/’08 post-election violence in Kenya. It is one of the Government agencies recommended in the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commissions Report of 2013 as key to spearheading dialogue and reconciliation initiatives in the Country. Among other programs, the Commission works to facilitate dialogue and reconciliation initiatives around the country. As a Senior Program Officer in the Reconciliation and Integration Department, Munini works on the promotion of reconciliation dialogue initiatives in conflict affected communities, project development, mentorship programs and project supervision.
Previously, Munini worked at the Centre for Minority Rights and Development working on projects advocating for the rights of minority and indigenous peoples in Kenya and other African Countries. Munini is a social scientist by training, with extensive work experience in peacebuilding, human rights, and social justice. She holds a Master’s Degree in Intercultural Conflict Management from Alice-Salomon University of Applied Sciences (Berlin) and a Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democracy from the European Inter-University Center (Italy) and University of Vienna (Austria).
Munini’s proposed project for the AHDA Fellowship seeks to engage young people in historical dialogue processes. In particular, her project will focus on the Turbi massacre, which occurred in July 2005 in the Marsabit District of Northern Kenya. This massacre, which involved communities with a history of antagonism and conflict, continues to evade redress and reconciliation efforts, and Munini’s project thus seeks to support community dialogue initiatives in an attempt to promote reconciliation and healing between this two communities.
