Team

Nafisa Hasanova, Project manager Albania, RSF

Nafisa is a project manager of MOM Albania and has managed MOM Ukraine (2016) and MOM Serbia (2017) for RSF. Before joining RSF Nafisa worked on Transdniestrian settlement process for the Finnish Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) Martti Ahtisaari Centre. From 2012 to 2014 she worked as policy officer for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia at APRODEV, now ACT Alliance EU in Brussels. In 2008-2012 Nafisa worked as project manager of EUCAM (EU Central Asia Monitoring) at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS and FRIDE) in Brussels. Nafisa, holds an MA in Intercultural Communication and European Studies from the University of Applied Studies in Fulda, Germany. She completed a BA in English Philology at the Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages in Uzbekistan and gained working experience as a visiting fellow at CEPS in 2007 and through an internship at the German Bundestag (2006).

Kristina Voko, Executive Director, BIRN Albania 

Kristina Voko is the executive director of BIRN Albania from 2014 and coordinates the network’s activities, fundraising and projects in the office in Tirana. For more than ten years she has been engaged in coordinating and managing different projects for national and international organizations, concerning the development of policies, regulatory and legal frameworks; promotion of human rights and social inclusion through the empowerment of individuals and associations; training of professionals and other actors; promotional activities for communities; etc.

Besar Likmeta, Lead researcher, BIRN Albania 

Besar Likmeta is the editor in chief of Reporter.al, the online publication of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Albania. He started his career reporting for the Florida Times Union in Jacksonville, Florida.  Besar has also contributed stories to various publications including The Christian Science Monitor, Euronews, Foreign Policy, the Sunday Telegraph, Transitions Online, and others. In 2009 Likmeta received the CEI/SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism and in 2010 he was runner up to the Global Shining Light Award, presented at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Geneva.

Aleksandra Bogdani, Researcher, BIRN Albania 

Aleksandra Bogdani is an investigative journalist for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, in Albania. Bogdani has long experience as deputy editor-in-chief on daily newspapers such as MAPO and Shekulli. Bogdanii was a participant in BIRN’s Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence programme 2012. She is a winner of the 2015 CEI SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism and the 2014 EU Award for Investigative Journalism in Albania.

Vladimir Karaj, Researcher, BIRN Albania 

Vladimir Karaj is a journalist for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Albania. He previously served as an editor at the Albanian newspaper Mapo. A journalist since 2002, he has worked for various media outlets and also had a stint as the chief editor of a small newspaper. He concentrates on reportage and in-depth stories, mainly concerning crime and politics.

Gjergj Erebara, Researcher, BIRN Albania

Gjergj Erebara is journalist for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, in Albania. Since 1998 he has worked as a journalist for various print publications, electronic media and televisions. He has a bachelor degree in Journalism and Master of Science degree in Economic History from University of Lund.

Olaf Steenfadt, Global Project Director 

Olaf Steenfadt heads the "Media Ownership Monitor" project and the "Journalism Trust Initiative" at the press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders, RSF. For many years, he has been engaged as a consultant and coach in media development cooperation. Mandates of international organizations and NGOs lead him primarily to Southeast Europe and the Arab world. He previously worked for national German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF in various roles, including as a radio and TV presenter, investigative reporter, domestic and foreign correspondent, as well as in format development and corporate communication. Olaf is a member of the "High-level Expert Group on Fake News and Online Disinformation" of the European Commission and of the "Committee of Experts on Quality of Journalism in the Digital Age" at the Council of Europe. He teaches frequently at universities in Germany and Europe.

Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Albania – BIRN Albania is a non-profit media development organization, which aims to strengthen democracy, freedom of speech and promote the respect for human rights by raising the professional capacities of local journalists, promoting the principles of transparency and accountability and raising awareness on the rights of vulnerable groups, through investigative reporting and by bridging the gap between the media and civil society. BIRN Albania is part of the BIRN Network, a close nit group of media development organizations in the Western Balkans, with offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Romania, as well as editorial presence in other Balkan countries.

BIRN Albania also works continuously with journalists and media outlets, training dozens of journalists every year, providing mentorship on investigative reporting and on the job training for court and crime reporting, which gives its staff a first-hand experience of the challenges and local journalists face as they struggle to uphold professional standards in a small a concentrated media market. More information on the organization, its activities and outputs can be found in its website: http://birn.eu.com/network/birn-albania/  

Reporters Without Borders (Reporter Sans Frontières, RSF) was founded in Montpellier (France) in 1985 by four journalists. It is registered in France as a non-profit organization and has consultant status at the United Nations and UNESCO. RSF advocates for media freedom, supports independent media and protects endangered journalists worldwide. Its missions are

• To continuously monitor attacks on freedom of information worldwide;
• To denounce any such attacks in the media;
• To act in cooperation with governments to fight censorship and laws aimed at restricting freedom of information;
• To morally and financially assist persecuted journalists, as well as their families.
• To offer material assistance to war correspondents in order to enhance their safety.

Since 1994, the German section is active in Berlin. Although the German section works closely with the International Secretariat in Paris to research and evaluate media freedom worldwide, it is organizationally and financially independent. In that role, it has applied for a grant at the federal German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development – in order to finance the Media Ownership Monitor project.

The Global Media Registry (GMR) collects, compiles and provides – either publicly available or self-reported – datasets and contextual information on media outlets around the world.

In doing so, the objective is to enhance transparency, accountability and responsibility in the information space. Thus, the GMR facilitates better choices and decision making, both algorithmic and human, of all stakeholders. These may include every citizen and consumer, regulators and donors, as well as the private sector – for example advertisers and intermediaries (a. k. a. platforms and distributors).

By providing this public service as a social enterprise, the Global Media Registry contributes to the advancement of the freedoms of information and expression at large.

It was founded as a spin-off from the Media Ownership Monitor project, which it now operates as a non-for-profit LLC registered under German law.