Team

Marianna is a Senior Legal Advisor at ECNL, with over a decade of experience working on research regarding civic space freedoms. She provides expertise in issues related to the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression.

Before joining ECNL she led the Civic Space Research Cluster at CIVICUS, which includes the coordination of the CIVICUS Monitor, an online tool that tracks civic space developments in 198 countries and territories. Marianna has worked for human rights organisations, particularly on strategic litigation and matters relating to freedom of expression and access to information. She holds a law degree from Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas, Venezuela and an LL.M. in International Human Rights from the University of Notre Dame in the United States.

Katerina (she/her/hers) is a human rights legal expert, who for over 20 years works with organisations, movements, authorities and philanthropists to protect civic freedoms.  As the Executive Director of the ECNL since 2012, she leads the only regional organisation in Europe focused entirely on law and policy that affect civil society. Katerina has been with ECNL through the phase of transition from a branch office to an independent and established European organization now based in the Hague. Under her leadership ECNL broadened its expertise to respond to new trends impacting on the non-profit sector (e.g., securitization and counter-terrorism) while continuing to address challenges in public participation and the right of peaceful assembly. She has helped empower partners to defend their spaces and freedoms through designing innovative tools to monitor civil society laws, and researching trends and good practices to guide reforms.  She has spoken at different forums to reflect on various civic space issues e.g., at TEDx event, EU Parliament hearing, launch of Community of Democracies’ Democracy and Security Dialogue Initiative. Katerina engages with the European Union, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the UN Human Rights Council and works to strengthen international standards to safeguard freedoms. She is member of the OSCE/OIDHR Panel on Freedom of Assembly and of Association and the Council of Europe Expert Council on NGO Law. She also volunteers her time in the board of several organizations.

Francesca is an Italian/British lawyer with over 20 years’ experience in international and EU law. In her current role at ECNL, she is responsible for strengthening legal research and policy monitoring capacity, ensuring high-quality delivery across projects. Francesca also oversees projects at UN, Council of Europe and EU level advocating for regulatory frameworks and standards that truly enable civic freedoms, particularly freedom of expression, right to participation and right of peaceful assembly and association online and offline. She is leading ECNL’s work on how CSOs can use EU law to defend fundamental rights and civic space and efforts to promote EU-wide legislation to end Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP).

Moreover, Francesca is involved in projects addressing the impact of new and emerging technologies on civic space and fundamental rights. She represents the Conference of International NGOs of the Council of Europe (CINGO) as their appointed expert on new and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, in various expert and inter-governmental committees. She was also a member of the expert group assisting the OAS Inter-American Juridical Committee to develop their first Declaration on Neuroscience, Neurotechnology and Human Rights, approved in 2021. 

Francesca is proficient in four languages – Italian, English, French and Spanish – and has working knowledge of Portuguese.

Eszter  is a human rights lawyer and expert on NGO law and civic space. She serves as Director of Law and Policy at ECNL, where she has worked on legal and policy reform for more than 15 years, helping shape frameworks that support civil society organisations’ legal environment and sustainability across 16+ countries. Her work spans CSO legal frameworks, state–civil society cooperation, public participation, financial sustainability, climate action, and regulatory issues including anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing. She also monitors emerging trends affecting civic space, such as the use of digital technologies and AI for fundraising and civic engagement, and contributes her expertise as a member of the CINGO Expert Council on NGO Law within the Council of Europe. She graduated at the Hungarian Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Law and passed the Bar Exam. Before moving into civil society law, Eszter practised as a corporate lawyer. 

Karolina (she/her) is a Senior Legal Advisor - Digital. She joined ECNL in 2022 and is responsible for furthering ECNL's digital rights programme. In particular, Karolina leads ECNL’s EU advocacy (with a focus on the Artificial Intelligence Act and Digital Services Act) and leads on developing ECNL AI Learning Center. She is also involved in research and policy analysis at the intersection of surveillance and technology and supports ECNL’s development in the area of strategic litigation through participation in Digital Freedom Fund’s AI & Digital Infrastructure Hub and the STARLIGHT 2.0 strategic litigation training programme.

Prior to joining ECNL, Karolina worked as a lawyer and policy analyst at the Warsaw-based digital rights organisation Panoptykon Foundation. In 2019/2020 she was a Mozilla EU Tech Policy Fellow researching privacy-friendly online advertising. In her personal capacity, she is also a Board Member of European Digital Rights. She holds a master’s degree in Law from Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.

Brighton is Senior Grants and Finance Controller, supporting ECNL's transparency and accountability. With a passion for working for cause-driven organizations, over the past 14 years he has worked in various segments of the development sector, from donor agencies to international and local CSOs. He has worked on projects funded by the major funding partners such as SIDA, FCDO, USAID, EU, on issues including human rights and democracy, climate change, sexual and reproductive rights, diversity and inclusion. He holds a BBA (Accounting) from the Solusi University Zimbabwe, and an MBA (Finance and Accounting) from the Maastricht School of Management Netherlands.

Siham has been working as a Finance Assistant at ECNL since May 2024. She is responsible for managing petty cash, banking transactions, invoices, and assisting with financial reporting for international partners, budget updates and procurement tasks.

She has over 15 years of experience in finance, administration and support roles across various sectors in Yemen, Malaysia, and the Netherlands. Her previous roles include HR project support and finance administration positions at companies and organisations, such as PetroGas E&P, the International Court of Justice and UN agencies. She is proficient in SAP, UMOJA, ESRP and EXACT, as well as financial administration, data management, and ensuring compliance with organisational processes.

She holds a Bachelor's degree in Translation and a diploma in Business Administration.

As Head of Democracy, Esther oversees ECNL’s strategic work on strengthening vibrant and participatory democracies. She is a Dutch lawyer with expertise in issues related to freedom of association and the right to participation. Access to resources and financial services are among her key areas of focus. Esther is passionate about giving, as a force for social change and form of civic engagement. Prior to joining ECNL, she gained extensive experience within civil society and international cooperation. She worked globally on civic space, human rights, philanthropy, inclusion and decolonisation of international solidarity. She has co-designed and managed multi-year regional projects. Esther holds a law degree from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. In personal capacity, she serves as Board Chair at Peace Direct Netherlands.

Simona is a Senior Policy and Evidence Advisor at ECNL. She has over 12 years of experience in bridging evidence and decision-making by co-creating research methodologies and translating data into insights for policy development and implementation. She leads ECNL's efforts around CSO Meter, empowering CSOs to engage in systematic assessment of their environments and take action in Eastern European countries. Simona helped develop and implement multiple methodologies that monitor elements of the civil society environment across Europe and globally (CSO Meter, Guide on Digitally-Mediated Assemblies, COVID-19 Civic Freedoms Tracker, Monitoring Matrix, EU TACSO-Monitoring of the Guidelines for EU support to civil society). Prior to joining ECNL, she worked at the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation and authored numerous country analyses. Simona earned her MSc. in Social Policy and Development from the perspective of NGOs, at the London School of Economics and Political Science, as a recipient of the Chevening Scholarship.

Vanja is a human rights lawyer and ECNL’s Director of Creatives and Development, overseeing global and EU engagement programmes with over 25 years of experience in legal analysis, education, research and programme development. Vanja enjoys blending law and tech through the work on AI and finding synergies between civil society and technical voices. She leads the development of new and existing programs within ECNL's four strategic pillars. She is currently pursuing a PhD at the Civic AI Lab at the University of Amsterdam, Informatics Institute, on inclusive and rights-based norm design for AI systems. Vanja has been a civil society activist since 1999. Previously, she was a Legal Advisor at Croatian organisation GONG and a member of the Croatian Council on Open Government Partnership Initiative. She is one of the founders and a former board member of the Solidarna Community Foundation in Croatia. Vanja holds a LLM degree in Public International Law from the University of Amsterdam and a Law Degree from the University of Zagreb.

Boglárka is working as Communications Advisor at ECNL. She works at the intersection of strategy, communication, and design, supporting the development and delivery of organisational communication plans. She ensures messaging is consistent, targeted, and aligned across teams and audiences, while contributing to the organisation's broader strategic direction. She monitors performance through communications data and analytics, helping translate insights into reports, planning, and continuous improvement of outreach efforts.

Her work also focuses on shaping and maintaining the organisation's visual identity: creating and overseeing content across platforms, from written materials to multimedia outputs, with a strong emphasis on clarity, accessibility, and design quality. Prior to ECNL, she has been working in the not-for-profit sector for 4 years as a project manager with the focus on EU-funded educational programs (in the higher educational field and youth sector). She holds a BA in German Studies with Latin American Studies Specialisation along with an Associate Degree in Business Administration from the University of Szeged.

In her free time, she enjoys hiking, spending time in nature, photography and arts. 

Andrea (she/her/hers) leads ECNL's communication and external relations portfolio as Director of Visibility and Partnership. She oversees comms strategy, works closely with colleagues to shape messages that reach wider audiences and keeps ECNL's brand strong and instantly recognisable. She led ECNL's institutional rebranding by launching a new visual profile, alongside a redesigned website and learning platform. She also works to raise the organisation’s digital outreach by developing new communication channels and growing ECNL’s social media presence -  always looking for creative ways to make policy and legal work more accessible and engaging. She has over 20 years of experience managing multi-country projects and research work on civic space issues and monitoring tools. She holds an MA in International Relations, English and History.

Judit joined the ECNL team in 2000. In her current role she is the Director of Finance and Operations and the co-director of ECNL. She is responsible for leading the finance/accounting function, as well as provides overall management of administrative operations, including logistics, procurement, human resources, information technology and property. She provides strategic direction and oversight of financial work processes and outcomes. Judit oversees sound and effective systems for project administration and operations, including grants, subcontracts, procurement, and compliance. She also supervises budget development, financial reporting and systems management, as well as the finance team.  Her background in business administration includes financial, administrative, and management reporting systems. She received her MSc. at City University in London, UK with a degree in Business Administration.

Maria joined ECNL in September 2023, working mainly on the CSO Meter and projects supporting the participation and capacity-building of civil society organisations (CSOs). Her passions centre around the empowerment of civil society (especially in Central and Eastern Europe) and leveraging communications for social change. She brings experience from various CSOs in Slovakia, as well as the European Parliament. Previously she has worked in project management and communications, and conducted research on the training needs of CSOs for Justice and Peace Netherlands. Holding Master’s degrees in Public Policy and Political Communication from the University of Amsterdam, she is especially interested in the relationships between policy, communication and public opinion. She speaks Slovak, English and Dutch. 

Marlena leads policy and advocacy on digital rights at ECNL, with a focus on algorithmic systems and digital platforms in security and counter-terrorism. As a lawyer, Marlena has over a decade of experience working globally across sectors at the intersection of technology and human rights, with expertise in business and human rights. Until recently, she oversaw content governance on Twitter's legal team and had previously led the civil society and academic portfolios at the Partnership on AI. Her other appointments have included the Danish Institute for Human Rights, the Investor Alliance for Human Rights, Oxfam America and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, among others. Admitted to the Geneva (Swiss) bar, Marlena holds a Master’s of Law degree (LL.M) from Stanford Law School, a law degree and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Geneva.

Emina Nuredinoska has over 22 years of work experience in civil society and the democratisation of institutions in North Macedonia, the Western Balkan, and Southeast Europe. She joined ECNL as an external consultant in June 2022 to coordinate the activities of the Civil Society Resilience activity project in Serbia. She is in charge of supporting the cooperation and dialogue between the CSOs and state institutions in Serbia. She possesses knowledge on the pathways for the development of civil dialogue in the Balkan countries, the legal framework for CSOs, tax and financial regime, participation and support to CSOs, and emerging issues that restrict civil society space. As part of ECNL, she also contributes to the development of philanthropy and fundraising for CSOs, as well as public participation in policymaking. 

For 19 years, she was a legal expert and head of the unit at the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation, and for almost three years, a Key expert in the EU TACSO 3 project for Western Balkan and Turkey. Emina has an academic background in law and holds an MA in International Law from the University "St. Cyril and Methodius" Law Faculty Skopje.