With a rich tapestry of experience spanning sixteen years within the MENA region, Feras Kheirallah emerges as a seasoned catalyst, adept at weaving connections, steering discussions, and nurturing collaborative ventures. His expertise traverses the domains of youth engagement, education, governance, social contracts, and the critical endeavor of Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE).
From 2015 to 2023, Feras assumed the position of Representative in Beirut for the Berghof Foundation, concurrently shouldering the role of Senior Programme Manager within the MENA Unit. His experience also encompasses collaborations with esteemed international entities, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where he lent his insights. Additionally, he served as Programme Manager for Jordan and Iraq at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) and provided his expertise as a Consultant to the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) in Amman and Beirut, contributing valuably to GIZ initiatives.
Over the years, Feras cultivated his unique mediation and facilitation style, drawing upon his extensive background. He steered dialogues spanning diverse social, political, and religious spectrums. His experience extends to adeptly moderating an array of events and gatherings, both on national and international fronts such as the International Labour Organization (ILO). Moreover, Feras has penned numerous articles and analyses delving into the impact of the Arab Spring on the Social Contracts and state structures in Jordan.
His academic credentials include a Master's Degree in Law from the University of Cologne, Germany, and a Bachelor's Degree in Law from Yarmouk University in Jordan.
Mr. Albert Hani currently holds the position of Secretary General of the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO), with a Head Office based in Tirana, Albania. He comes from North Macedonia and during a four-year term, trusted by the 6 governments representatives and 6 youth representatives from Western Balkans 6, he will lead one of the most prestigious inter- governmental institutions of the region derived from the Berlin Process.
As one of the most dedicated persons in promoting reconciliation and peacebuilding in the region, Mr. Hani has been managing and leading peacebuilding institutions and youth projects during his entire professional career. He is also a well-known mediator, political analyst and trainer on peacebuilding and intercultural learning topics.
Before assuming his diplomatic post in RYCO, he was the Head of RYCO Local Branch Office in Skopje, North Macedonia, and at the same time practiced teaching on intercultural communication at the State University of Tetovo.
Mr. Hani has a longstanding experience in different international peacebuilding organizations since 1998, while since 1994 he has been a human rights and civil society activist. Besides his formal legal background and specialization in international law, he has conducted postgraduate studies on human resources management, history and international relations, as well as informal postgraduate studies on gender and politics.
Mr. Hani has published several training mediation manuals for secondary school teachers and local municipal councils, and he is also co-author of the manual on social skills and teacher’s responsibilities. He has also published numerous research papers and has been engaged with numerous research agencies as a researcher. Regarding his academic work, he is also proud to have developed a dialogue tool that is often used in trainings, as well as team-building exercises, aiming at different target groups.
Mr. Hani is an alumnus of the leadership program of the United States of America, Norwegian Nansen Peace Academy and the democratic leadership program of the Council of Europe. He has been lucky to be trained by the best practitioners in the peacebuilding field across the world in many training programs, while he facilitated hundreds of trainings and conferences for government representatives, civil servants, media, police, youth, civil society, and business.
Nature is his passion and he loves hiking and biking!
His life motto is the African word UBUNTU which means "I am because who we all are!"