Focus: Democracy
Anna Biryukova
Anna Biryukova is Head of Public Opinion Research at the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF), Russia's most significant opposition organization, founded by Alexey Navalny. Anna joined the team of the Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny in 2013 during Navalny's election campaign for Mayor of Moscow. Since then, Anna has run independent and unbiased surveys, nationwide polls and focus groups, always under immense pressure from Putin's regime. In 2019 she was forced to leave her home country. Russian authorities considered her work — political polling — to be a terrorist and extremist activity. Living in exile in Lithuania, Anna has never stopped doing her research work. As ACF's head of polling, she manages…
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Gabriel Silva
Gabriel Silva is a Panamanian politician and lawyer currently serving as a Congressman of Panama. As one of the youngest, most voted, and most productive (based on approved laws) members of Congress, he has focused on fighting corruption, educational reform, economic development, and promoting science and technology. In Congress, Gabriel has served as leader of the Independent Caucus and president of several subcommittees. He is the author of Panama’s Sexual Education Law, Mental Health Law, Conflict of Interest Law, Creative Economy Law and several others. He is currently the only Panamanian politician that has publicly supported the LGTBQ+ community. Gabriel is also one of the founders and leaders of VAMOS,…
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Babra Ontibile Bhebe
Babra Ontibile Bhebe is the Executive Director of the Election Resource Centre (ERC), a civil society organization that stands to promote electoral democracy in Zimbabwe and across the African continent. She has worked in the governance and human rights sector for more than 18 years. Since joining the organization in 2021, the ERC has under her leadership extended its influence to South Africa and Angola where it has been instrumental in building the capacity of political parties on various election related issues. Her reputation as an election expert is demonstrated by the multiple international election observation missions she has been invited to in various African nations, including Kenya, Nigeria, and…
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Andrei Kureichik
Andrei Kureichik is a Belarusian playwright, director, publicist, and civil activist. As a writer and director prior to 2020, Andrei was especially beloved for his comedies and suspense thrillers. Following the contested presidential elections and brutal aftermath in Belarus in August 2020, Andrei gained an international following as a political playwright. Forced to flee the country as a member of the Coordination Council working with perceived winner Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s transition team, Andrei leveraged his creative energy to produce the documentary play “Insulted. Belarus(sia)” about the 2020 presidential elections, subsequent protests, and violent crackdown by Alexander Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus. The play has been translated into 29 languages and received 200…
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Laura Alonso
Laura Alonso has an extensive and unique cross-sector career promoting democracy, transparency, and citizen participation. She has previously held positions as Head of the Anti-corruption Office in Argentina, twice elected member of the National Congress, and CEO of the domestic chapter of Transparency International. Because of her leadership in integrity and anti-corruption policies, Argentina reached its highest score in the Index of Transparency International in 2020. Laura co-chaired the G20 Anti-corruption Working Group, and she was chief of the official delegation to the OECD Anti-Bribery Working Group. She has been a British Chevening Scholar, an Eisenhower Fellow, a Draper Hills Fellow at Stanford University, and most recently a Regan-Fascell Fellow…
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Jorge Soto
Jorge Soto is the chief technology officer and co-founder of Miroculus, a biotechnology company that seeks to democratize access to complex molecular tests for treatment and prevention of diseases. Jorge founded Miroculus with the vision of reducing the entry barrier in cost, development, complexity, and increasing access to genetic sequencing, synthetic biology, and genetic editing to help advance science and improve lives. Previously, he was Deputy Director General of Civic Innovation at the Coordination of National Digital Strategy of Mexico, where he led strategies and projects that promote citizen participation and innovation in the country through the use of technology. In particular, he was part of the team that developed…
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Xolani Zitha
Xolani Zitha is National Advisor at Deutsche Gesellschaft fĂĽr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in Zimbabwe where he focuses on managing projects focused on building the institutional capacity of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) and Zimbabwe Anti Corruption Commission (ZACC). Previously, Xolani was Director of the Office of the Speaker for the Parliament of Zimbabwe and an independent governance consultant. He also previously served as Chief of Staff to Lovemore Moyo, the Speaker of the House of Assembly in Zimbabwe from January 2009 to June 2013. He advised the Speaker on efforts to modernize Zimbabwe’s Parliament and strengthen its policy functions. Xolani previously directed the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, an…
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Igor Shevchenko
Igor Shevchenko has played a major role in bringing the rule of law to Ukraine by founding and leading the Ukrainian Bar Association from 2002 till 2007. He is also the founder and former managing partner of Shevchenko Didkovskiy & Partners, the leading law firm in Ukraine (rebranded as Asters in 2008). Igor left his legal practice in 2008 to concentrate on politics and civil service. In 2014-2015 he served as a Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Ukraine and was a presidential candidate in 2019 elections. He currently leads Successful Ukraine political party and heads the Institute for State Efficiency, a think tank conducting research on world’s best practices of public governance for further use in Ukraine and promoting meritocracy as the most efficient way…
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Raheel Khursheed
Raheel Khursheed has 15+ years of experience helping global tech firms grow exponentially. In very short periods of time, he has helped launch some of the world’s most popular tech firms in some of the world’s toughest markets. Currently splitting time between Toronto, Boston, and Kashmir, Raheel is the co-founder of Laminar, a 21st Century Streaming/Video infrastructure OS/platform. Prior to Laminar, Raheel successfully co-founded Anthro.ai, an AI X Anthropology startup that specializes in supercharged insights at scale. Anthro.ai continues to deliver high quality research projects to a select set of global clients. Before taking the entrepreneurial route, Raheel led Snapchat in India as their sole expert guiding the integration of…
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Idayat Hassan
Idayat Hassan is Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), an Abuja based policy advocacy and research organization with a focus on deepening democracy and development in West Africa. Her interests span democracy, peace and security, transitional justice, and ICT4D in West Africa. As the Director of the CDD, she oversaw CDD's rise from not being ranked in 2013 to 16th out of 94 think tanks in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the 2019 University of Pennsylvania Global Go To Think Tank Index Report. Under her leadership, CDD became a mover in the civic tech space. She has subsequently strengthened CDD's position as a civic tech leader with a…
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