Good Governance and Projects Department

Ana has been engaged on management and coordination of EU and other international assistance since 2001, first as a consultant in the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and later in managing positions within the Ministry of Finance and the Serbian European Integrations Office (SEIO). As an expert in planning, programming and evaluation of EU and other international assistance, from 2014 to 2017 she served as Deputy Director - EU Funds Coordinator in the SEIO. She was engaged as the Head of Operative Structure for managing cross-border cooperation programs with BiH and Montenegro, chaired the working group on EU accession regarding Chapter 22- Regional Policy and Coordination of Structural Instruments, served as a member of Negotiation team for Chapter 22, the national coordinator for the Danube region and co-national coordiinator for EU strategy for the Adriatic-Ionnian region, a member of program borads of the Regional School of Public Administration and Regional Cooperarion Council etc. She worked on the development of strategic, planning and program documents regarding the use of EU and international assistance, including the instrument of pre-accession assistance - IPA, she was a member of steering committees and responsible for the implementation of more than 10 projects, took part in establishing the system of decentralized / indirect management of EU funds, coordinated Serbia's engagement in regional, cross-border and transnational EU programs, coordinated bilateral and multilateral assistance provided by more than 20 development partners. SHe has been engaged in NALED since September 2017 as a consultant for project preparation and cooperation with the EU and bilateral donors, later being appointed as the Director of Good Governance department in NALED, in charge of local economic development and capacity building programs.

Tatjana has been a part of NALED team since October 2014, forst as a Project Manager, later becoming Program Coordinator. She works on developing and managing projects, monitoring and identifying potential donors and financing programs, identification of partners and cooperation coordination. She received her BA in Law and LL.M. in Legal Sciences in the field of consumer protection, including a passed Bar Exam and specialization in International Contract Law. In her career so far, she gained professional and managing experience by working on development programs with international, national and regional organizations, Government bodies, research and development institutions, academic institutions and private sector. Among them are the Ministry for Foreign Economic Relations, European Center for Peace and Development (founded by the University for Peace of the United Nations), Agency for Deposit Insurance, Norwegian foundation SINTEF, International Development Norway company, etc.

Ivana has been actively dealing with the matters of the United States through additional studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences following the completion of graduate studies, starting from 2006. As a Project Manager in NALED she has years of experience in the field of local economic development and regional cooperation. Since 2012 she has been responsible for promoting and improving the business-friendly environment standards among the local governments in Serbia and the region (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and Macedonia). Within her team, Ivana is also in charge for developing and implementing models of cooperation between the public and private sectors with the aim of nurturing the dialogue and developing a sustainable business environment. She participated in numerous professional development seminars in the country and abroad, including the courses on corporate social responsibility, performance management, smart cities and improving local government competitiveness. Along with fluent English she also speaks Turkish language, with basic knowledge of Spanish.

Marko is born in Novi Pazar, completed high school in Belgrade and graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade, department "International law". He is currently attending the final year of Master studies in International relations, organizations and EU integration. He gained his first professional experience in Vojvođanska and NLB bank, engaging in promotion, direct sales and advising clients in selecting baking products and services, later being engaged as an external legal consultant in Sandžak Economic Development Agency (SEDA). He has been a part of NALED team since 2010, gaining knowledge and skills in various positions regarding the organization of theme discussions and implementation of projects for strenghtening local government capacities in the field of local economic development and investment promotion. His work primarily focuses on cooperation with local governments and local economic development offices. One of his main tasks is the monitoring and realization of the international BFC SEE Business Friendly Certification in South East Europe (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Croatia), and within the program he also engages as a lecturer at trainings for local governments and evaluators in the country an abroad. He also participated as a lecturer in trainings for future users of unified procedure system for construction permitting (EBPS) in Serbia. Since 2018, he has been an accredited by the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Government for conducting professional development programs for local government officers for the topic “Implementation of e-government and digitalization of administration”. He participated in the organization of numerous events and conferences for NALED members and partners.

Jelena joined NALED in 2019, as a consultant for the project Optimization plan for healthcare institutions network implemented by NALED for the Ministry of Healthcare, with the support of the World Bank. She has more than 15 years of professional experience on development programs in Serbia. She worked as project coordinator and finance expert on programs by Germand development bank KfW, KBC bank, UNDP, Economic department of the U.S. Embassy, EU municipal infrastrucure development project, IMF office in Belgrade. She is the author of the Financial Analysis course and she teaches at Belgian adult education web portal Coursle.org. She earned a magister degree at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, and she completed bachelor studies at Russian economic academy Plehanov. She expanded her professional knowledge at trainings organized by KfW, KBC Bank in Belgium, IMF Institute in Washington. She speaks English and Russian.

Stefanos completed Bachelor studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences in 2016, International relations department, with an average grade 9.66, and he is currently in Master studies on “International humanitarian law and the human rights law” at the same Faculty. He is a scholar of the Young Talents Fund Dositeja and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development. He gained his first work experience in NALED, within the Local Economic Development / Good Governance department, previously being engaged as an intern. He is mostly engaged on the development and functioning of the regional Business Friendly Certification (BFC SEE) program, providing major contribution for the development of BFC SEE e-software and website. He also provides support in the implementation of local economic development projects, the most significant being: Developing partnerships with the private sector in BFC SEE cities and municipalities, Developing models for sustainable capacities for local economic development in Serbia and Promotion of investment potentials in business friendly cities and municipalities. Starting from June 2018, he has been appointed as Good Governance Officer.   

Ivana completed her studies in Molecular Biology and Physiology at the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, has 15 years of work experience in the civil sector in the field of project management, strategic development and international cooperation, and her most recent experience was in the preparation and implementation of projects supported by various domestic and international donors such as: EU, USAID, UNICEF, UNDP, GIZ, embassies of different countries and ministries of the Republic of Serbia. Previously, she was engaged in the Startit Organization, first as the director of the project team, and then as the executive director, where she gained rich work experience on the entire project cycle, cooperation with donors and had the opportunity to work according to EU procedures. She worked on creating the framework and leading the process of developing a strategic plan for the European region of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, the largest youth organization in the world, and she was also the general secretary of the Serbian Scout Association and a member of the board of directors of the highest representative body of youth in Serbia - the Umbrella Organization of the Youth of Serbia (KOMS). She joined the NALED team in April 2023 in the position of Project Management Manager.

Milica graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, department of International Relations, and master studies of USA, at the same faculty. During her studies she was a member of student organizations, a demonstrator for the subject Comparative politics and she attended a large number of seminars and trainings on the topic of gender equality. During her studies she attended internship at City Administration of Subotica, UNICEF and multinational company Erst&Young in Belgrade. After obtaining her bachelor degree and enrolling in master studies, Milica started working in a non-government organization European Movement in Serbia, on projects related to gender equality and regional cooperation. She is an alumni of the Popularna demokatija program implemented by the Westminster Foundation in cooperation with the Faculty of Political Sciences. Milica joined NALED in September 2020 as Good Governance Officer.

Uroš graduated from the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Political Science in 2016. In addition, he gained two master’s degrees from the same Faculty, one in International Affairs and one in International Security, in 2018 and 2019. He was awarded with a scholarship by the OSCE Mission in Serbia and became a member of their alumni network. Furthermore, he is an author of several articles and policy papers in the area of international politics and security. During MA studies he was an intern in the NIS Group. Before joining NALED, Uroš was employed in the Ministry of Justice in Sector for European Integration and International Aid, as a Junior Advisor, engaged in projects funded by the EU IPA funds and cooperation with other state  institutions under project activities. Uroš joined NALED in February 2021 as an associate within Good Governance Department. He speaks English and Russian.

Nikola graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences, majoring in social work and social policy. He is currently attending master's studies at the faculty of the same name, majoring in Public Administration, Local Self-Government and Public Policy. Since his high school days, he has been active in the non-governmental sector in his native Knjaževac, where he participated in numerous projects in the areas of local and youth activism, multiculturalism, children's rights and environmental protection, and is currently a member of the Youth Advisory Body of the Knjaževac municipality. Nikola joined the NALED team as a project implementation practitioner where he will be involved in the ongoing activities of the Department for Good Governance. 

Aleksandar completed his basic academic studies at the Faculty of Security, University of Belgrade. During his studies, he worked on projects in the field of combating terrorism, participated in organizing conferences and panel discussions both at his home faculty and at the Faculty of Political Sciences. He became familiar with the work of the civil sector through the establishment of the Center for the Creation of Policies and Strategies, where he held the position of chairman of the board of directors. Aleksandar has completed a course for writing projects for EU funds, which, in addition to other trainings he attended, helped him during his work at the Center. Also, he has published two public policy proposals and one scientific paper. In parallel, he worked as a sales manager, where he developed communication and negotiation skills. Aleksandar joined the NALED team in June 2022.

Uroš graduated from the Faculty of Law at Union University. During his studies, he was a member of the United Nations Club of the Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade, where he was the head of the Model United Nations Department. At the same time, Uroš was one of the founders and a member of the non-governmental organization "United Nations Association of Serbia", where he had the opportunity to work on projects such as: "Dialog Coffee", whose network enables cooperation between different cities and young people through various activities - workshops, seminars, conferences, and in 2020 he was chosen as the representative of Serbia on the project "Youth Delegates of Serbia to the United Nations", which was organized with the support of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Sports. During his mandate on the project, he dealt with the organization of the meeting, writing reports for the General Assembly, reporting on youth policy. He joined NALED in August 2021, as an intern in the Good Governance department.

Goran graduated from the Faculty of Security Studies, University of Belgrade. As a student-researcher, he participated in the work of the faculty Human Security Research Centre, dealing with research and organisation of academic events. He attended two one-year educational programs, „Applied Diplomacy“ of the European Movement in Serbia and „Future Studies“ of the Belgrade Open School. He gained his first experience of working on projects during a six-month internship at the non-governmental organisation Belgrade Open School. After completing his studies, he worked for a year as a student assistant at the Faculty of Security Studies and then completed a short term-internship at the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF). Later, Goran worked at the European Consulting Group (ECG) as an assistant in the preparion of tenders for large projects in the region funded by the EU, where he had the opportunity to get to know the entire project cycle. Prior to joining NALED, he was a project associate at the non-governmental organisation European Movement in Serbia, coordinating the implementation of smaller grants in various fields.  He attended numerous seminars, trainings and conferences on democracy, human rights, international politics, security, as well as Serbia’s accession to the European Union. He trained karate for ten years, as well as folk dance in the Academic Cultural and Artistic Association of the University of Belgrade „Španac“. He joined NALED in February 2021 as a Good Governance Officer.