Manuela Demir

October 4, 2015

Manuela is from Macedonia and she studied psychology. She is interested in pursuing a MA in political science at CEU.

“While at the Faculty of Philosophy-Institute of Psychology I have learnt different theories, subjects and I had practical activities the methodology in research became my passion. In order to improve my research skills, I took part in several projects, led by my professors in the Institute.

Besides my formal education, I have always been active in the civic sector. I started in several Roma NGOs on a voluntary basis. My goal was to have more contact with people who are working directly with the community. I was part of an informal group which implemented a grassroots campaign called “Employment of 200 qualified Roma in state and public administration”. We succeeded to recruit 700 young Roma and submit a petition with 5000 signatures to the Government. After this experience I decided to take on more responsibilities and to build stronger relationships with the community where I live. My work with the community continued but through different method, I started to train and coach new members of our organization “Romano Avazi” (Roma Voice) to become leaders and organizers. My role was preparing materials for trainings, lead sessions, and organize evaluation meetings and coaching the local teams during the campaigns.

Professionally and privately I love working with people, especially with communities which don’t have enough space for their voice to be heard. I strongly believe that with a small support and engagement, these communities can get what they need. In my opinion, we need to work on the potential of people, not only on their needs.

I see RGPP as an opportunity for using my individual potential, too. I will continue my work as an organizer, trainer and provide coaching support. But I am strongly determined to continue my education and complete the master studies. My professional interest is still the psychology as a science, but I found path which will connect my research passion and my work as community organizer and that is the Political Science Department. I want to challenge myself working on different areas and I am sure that the RGPP program will be very useful in accomplishing my set goals. It already has started!”

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