Dr. Marina Grasse is one of the co-founders of OWEN, a Berlin-based women’s association. She was born in Berlin in 1950 where she has been living ever since. Before establishing OWEN, she has been working as a biologist for the Academy of Sciences in the German Democratic Republic, the Berlin University Hospital Charite and the Humboldt University Department of Philosophy. At the beginning of the 1980s, Marina Grasse was active in different independent peace movements in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). In 1990 she was responsible for equality issues in the government until the GDR joined the Federal Democratic Republic on October 3rd. Marina Grasse was awarded the German Federal Cross of Merits for her political activities in the German Democratic Republic. After 2006, OWEN shifted the focus of its political activities, concentrating more on gender and peace education. Marina Grasse was one of the great supporters of Peace Dialogue NGO since 2009. Currently, Dr. Grasse is actively involved in a number of joint initiatives and projects of Peace Dialogue and OWEN.
Guido de Graaf Bierbrauwer became an honorary member of Peace Dialogue in 2018. However, he has been actively supporting the Peace Dialogue team since the establishment of the organization. Mr. Bierbrauwer currently works at PAX, the largest peacebuilding organization in The Netherlands. At PAX he leads The Activist Hive project, a project with the aim to support activists from different parts of the world who are working for peaceful and just societies. For the Activist Hive, several creative tools and methods have been developed to empower activists and strengthen their capacities in strategy development, effective action, and storytelling. Guido studied Russian and Eastern European Studies at the University of Amsterdam and has been active in supporting citizens-led peace processes in the South Caucasus before setting up the Activist Hive.
Denis Matveev is a consultant, facilitator, and pedagogue in the fields of conflict transformation and dialogue. Denis has worked with governments, de facto authorities, intergovernmental organizations, and NGOs in Ukraine, Moldova/Transdniestria, Armenia, Azerbaijan & Nagorno Karabakh, Georgia/Abkhazia, Russia, Sri Lanka, and Romania. He has also worked on shorter-term assignments focused on Afghanistan, South Sudan, Kyrgyzstan, and Burma. His main organizational affiliation is currently in the role of Senior Adviser at the Finnish NGO CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Centre. Denis holds an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies from the European Peace University (EPU) in Stadtschlaining, Austria and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne. He has previously taught Masters courses at the University of Basel and the EPU, and professional development courses at the forum ZFD Academy for Conflict Transformation, Geneva Centre for Security Policy, Ahram Canadian University (Egypt), and PATRIR-IPDTC (Romania) and is currently providing training and coaching on dialogue and mediation processes to OSCE, UN DPA, UNDP, and the Commonwealth Secretariat staff. The collaboration of Denis Matveev with Peace Dialogue started in 2010 within the scope of the EU supported EPNK program where Peace Dialogue is involved as a local partner of CMI. Henceforth, Denis Matveev has been involved in a number of projects initiated by Peace Dialogue.
Steven M. Greenberg is the Executive Director of Temple Beth Zion in Brookline, MA. Previously he served in Armenia as a Peace Corps Volunteer at Peace Dialogue NGO. Before that, he was the Executive Director of the Vilna Shul, Boston’s most significant Jewish cultural site. Steven has extensive community and business experience in and around the Boston area as both a professional and a volunteer. He was born and raised in Natick MA but now lives in the family cottage at Nantasket Beach. His education includes a Masters Degree from Cornell University in Regional Planning and a BS in Economics from the University of Massachusetts.
Lusine Poghosyan joint Peace Dialogue NGO 8 years ago. Since then Lusine has become Peace Dialogue’s friend in mission. Since her involvement with Peace Dialogue, Lusine has been implementing projects on community empowerment. Inspired by organization’s ideas, she became a fellow at Rondine Citadel of Peace in Italy, in 2015-2017, and pursued her Master’s degree in Peace Studies at the University of Rome Three. In 2017-2018, she was engaged in research, with a focus on peace education in the South Caucasus in the framework of the “Strengthening Culture of Peace” program. Currently, Lusine works with Eco Lab Foundation for Sustainable Development and Civic Activism in Armenia and is a member of the international facilitators’ pool of the Theodor-Heuss-Kolleg program of the Robert Bosch Stiftung Foundation and the MitOst e.V.
