About Us
Our Team
Executive & Administration Team
- Wolfgang Jamann
- Executive Director
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Wolfgang Jamann
Dr. Wolfgang Jamann is the Executive Director at the International Civil Society Centre in Berlin. He has been working in the field of development cooperation and humanitarian assistance for most of his professional life, in the past 15 years in CEO positions at international aid organisations like CARE International, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe and CARE Deutschland. As a strong supporter of inter-organisational collaborations, he has lead strategic partnerships like the ‘Alliance 2015’ or ‘United for Africa’, to promote collective approaches toward large ambitions under the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Kathrin Kirste
- Head of Business Development
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Kathrin Kirste
Kathrin leads the business development at the Centre, which includes finances and human resources as well as fundraising. She joined the Centre in early 2017 and since then worked in the role of the Flagship Event Project Officer and as Development Manager. Before joining the Centre, Kathrin was a freelance journalist who worked mainly for political talk shows in German media institutions. She has also worked at a foundation in Tanzania as well as in an MP office in the German parliament. Kathrin holds a M.Sc. in International Relations with distinction from the University of Amsterdam with a focus on international political economy, and a B.A. in Political Science from the Free University Berlin.
- Mamanding Ndow
- Finance Manager
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Mamanding Ndow
Mamanding joined the Centre in April 2019, managing the Centre’s finances. Prior to joining the team, he worked as Finance Analyst for United Nations Development Programme for seven years. He also worked as Finance Manager and Finance Director for three different International NGOs and brings fifteen years of experience to the Centre. Mamanding is an ACCA Accounting Technician and holds a Masters degree in Financial Services Management from University of Salford, Manchester.
- Outi Ruuska
- Executive Assistant
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Outi Ruuska
Outi joined the Centre in January 2018. She supports the Executive Director in organisational matters and coordinates the Centre’s governance and legal processes. Her background is in Social Sciences and Environmental Policy. She holds a BA in Social Sciences awarded by the University of Lapland from her native Finland and an MA in Environmental Policy and Planning from the Technische Universität, Berlin. In her master’s thesis, Outi studied the framing of urban climate change adaptation to heat stress in Europe.
- Nadine Möllmann
- Student Assistant Finance and Administration
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Nadine Möllmann
Nadine joined the Centre in October 2020 as the Student Assistant for Finance and Administration. She is currently enrolled at the Humboldt University of Berlin, where she is studying for a M.A. in linguistic. Nadine graduated from a B.A. in English and American studies, during which she wrote her thesis on cancer metaphors. Her thesis looked at conversations in online forums and on social media platforms to reconstruct and linguistically analyse strategies and behaviour patterns of cancer patients involved in the exchange of experience reports. Nadine has visited and aided in designing an educational program for children in need in South Africa. She has lived in Dortmund, San Francisco and is currently living in Berlin.
- Anna Wertlen
- Human Resources and Operations Officer
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Anna Wertlen
Anna joined the Centre in September 2019 and is responsible for HR, Operations and IT. She has more than 10 year of experience in developmental cooperation since she co-founded the South African NGO Village Scribe Association and its sister organisation in Germany aiming to bridge the gap of inequality in South Africa by introducing historically disadvantaged communities to information and communications technology (ICT). Since 2013, the organisation is a host for weltwärts volunteers funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Anna holds a PhD in Neuroethology; she lived and studied in Berlin, South Africa and Argentina.
Fundraising & Communications
- Adriana Sahagún Martínez
- Communications Manager
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Adriana Sahagún Martínez
Adriana joined the Centre in October 2020 as Communications Manager. She is responsible for developing and implementing the Centre’s communication strategy. Prior to joining the Centre, Adriana worked at ShareTheMeal, an initiative of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), where she developed and implemented multiple global marketing campaigns. Before that, she worked for six years in the private sector, where she held various positions in Corporate Social Responsibility and Integrated Marketing Communications. Adriana holds a Master’s degree in Institutional Communication from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).
- Margherita Pisoni
- Fundraising Officer
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Margherita Pisoni
Margherita joined the Centre as Fundraising Officer in May 2021. Coming from Italy, Margherita has studied and worked in several European countries, like France, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands. She gained previous fundraising experience at Legs4Africa, a Bristol (UK) charity that aims to support amputees in sub-Saharan countries through physical and emotional rehabilitation. She has also worked as a permanent author at A Path for Europe, a think tank based in Berlin, where she researched and wrote articles around migration and inclusion. Margherita holds a MA in Globalisation and Development Studies from Maastricht University and a BA in Philosophy from the University of Milan and the University of Nantes.
- Anna Simitchieva (on parental leave)
- Development Manager
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Anna Simitchieva (on parental leave)
Anna joined the Centre as Fundraising Officer in November 2019. From Bulgaria, Anna has studied and worked in Germany, Spain, Colombia and Armenia. She gained previous fundraising experience at SODI e.V. in Berlin and in the Caucasus, when she was sent to Armenia by Bread for the World to support Women for Development as Communication for Development and Fundraising Officer for two years. Before entering the nonprofit sector, Anna worked for different (inter-)national TV stations for live news productions in Berlin for more than 5 years, among them RBB and Deutsche Welle. Anna holds a MA in Intercultural Communication Studies from the European University Viadrina in Frankurt Oder and a BA in Journalism and Communication Studies and Spanish from the Free University Berlin.
Programme Team
- Miriam Niehaus
- Head of Collaboration and Partnerships
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Miriam Niehaus
Miriam leads the Centre’s strategy and projects on collaboration and partnerships. She started at the Centre as Executive Assistant in 2014 and then, as Project Manager, developed and implemented the Centre’s projects on civic space between 2016 and 2019. Prior to joining the Centre Miriam worked for VSO International and GIZ in the Palestinian Territories. She holds a BA in Islamic Studies and Social Anthropology from the University of Freiburg and an MA in Near and Middle Eastern Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies.
- Vicky Tongue
- Head of Futures and Innovation
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Vicky Tongue
Vicky Tongue is the International Civil Society Centre’s Head of Futures and Innovation, leading the projects and events for the Centre’s innovation programme for ICSOs, and the sector Scanning the Horizon strategic futures peer learning platform. Vicky is the lead author of the Centre’s annual Civil Society Innovation thematic report. Vicky has 15 years’ senior programme management with several leading UK-based ISCOs, including MSI Reproductive Choices, Article 19, CAFOD, ODI and Save the Children.
- Eva Gondorová
- Project Manager
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Eva Gondorová
Eva joined the team as Project Manager in February 2020. She coordinates the project “Solidarity Playbook” which aims at strengthening resilience of and solidarity among civil society actors. Coming from Slovakia, Eva has studied and worked in the Czech Republic, Turkey, and Germany. Prior to joining the Centre she worked at the Robert Bosch Stiftung (Foundation) in Stuttgart where she managed the foundation’s projects focusing on civil society and governance in Turkey, the Western Balkans, and North Africa. Before that she coordinated international summer schools on past and contemporary social movements at the Institute for Social Movements of the Ruhr University Bochum and completed her internships at European Academy in Berlin and Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly in Istanbul. She graduated from the German-Turkish Masters Program in Social Sciences (GeT MA) at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara and Humboldt University in Berlin.
- Ryan Stanton
- Events Officer
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Ryan Stanton
Ryan joined the Centre in July 2018 as Events Officer and supports organisation and delivery of the Centre’s events programme. Prior to joining the Centre, Ryan worked for the youth democracy charity “Bite the Ballot” coordinating a European wide competition aimed at increasing youth engagement and turnout in the 2014 European elections, the project culminated in an event at the European Parliament and was named national winner of European Charlemagne Youth Prize for the United Kingdom. He then took a position as Events Coordinator at Oldham Council where he developed his expertise in event management and was the lead officer responsible for managing a wide range of events on behalf of the authority. Ryan holds a degree in International Relations from the University of Leeds and spent a year studying at Tischner European University in Kraków through participation in the Erasmus programme.
- Nihal Helmy
- Communities and Knowledge Manager
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Nihal Helmy
Nihal joined the team in April 2020 as Events Manager. She now is the Centre’s Knowledge and Communities Manager, in which she manages knowledge and lessons across Centre-convened communities, projects and events. She also coordinates the Centre’s monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning framework. Moreover, she leads the project management and content delivery for the Centre’s flagship convening, Global Perspectives. Prior to joining the Centre, she worked with Mission Talent as a Consultant, where she worked as a researcher on projects with BRAC, Greenpeace Canada, Action against Hunger France and Sphere. Nihal has a Bachelor degree in electrical engineering and a Master in Business Administration.
- Peter Koblowsky
- Senior Partnership Manager
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Peter Koblowsky
Peter joined the Centre in January 2013, back then as a trainee. He completed the traineeship in the advocacy & campaigning office of World Vision Germany. Peter now coordinates the Leave No One Behind project as global partnership lead and contributes to the development of various other strategic formats. Before joining the Centre, Peter worked for various organisations and think tanks in the development sector, being an expert in multi-stakeholder processes. He studied at the University of Bonn and graduated with an MA in Political Science with a focus on multi-actor advocacy for climate policy.
- Karl Steinacker
- Digital Advisor
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Karl Steinacker
Karl joined the Centre in June 2019 after a professional career in institutions of German technical co-operation and as humanitarian manager in the United Nations. He spent years in conflict zones, such as the Gaza Strip, the Great Lakes region in Central Africa, and in the Sahel. He led multi-sectoral teams on data management, refugee registration and biometrics. At the ICS Centre he works pro bono on issues relating to artificial intelligence, digital transformation, identity and trust as well as their impact on civil society in general and ICSOs in particular. Karl, born in 1960 in Germany, is a graduate of the Political Science faculty of the Free University of Berlin and studied Public International Law at Cambridge University.
