Koumay Al-Mulhem
Editor-in-Chief
Koumay Al-Mulhem is one of MiCT’s editors-in-chief, overseeing all editorial work done by MiCT. Al-Mulhem has worked as head Arabic editor in the MiCT offices, based in Amman and Berlin since 2006. From 2008 to late 2011 he was editor-in-chief of the trilingual Iraqi news website, Niqash.org. Since 2011, he has been co-editor-in-chief of the bi-lingual website and magazine Correspondents.org.
Al-Mulhem is a Syrian journalist, now residing in Berlin, who previously freelanced for a number of Damascus newspapers and online publications. He also worked as a reporter for the radio station Al Balad in Amman, Jordan.
Mitchell Burns
Head of Project Development
Mitchell Burns has been with MiCT since 2019, working in the fields of research, project management, and project development. His portfolio includes projects focusing on Citizen Journalism, Public Communication, and Gender Balancing in the media field.
Before working at MiCT, Burns worked as an associate researcher for the Dahrendorf Forum, a public policy group formed by the London School of Economics and the Hertie School of Governance where he is currently completing his MA in International Affairs. Burns completed his Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and Economics at Boston College, focusing on Kurdish political identity and memory development in Iraq, Iran, and Turkey.
Klaas Glenewinkel
Founder & Managing Director
Klaas Glenewinkel co-founded MiCT with Anja Wollenberg, and has been the director since 2004. Before starting MiCT, Glenewinkel founded a variety of other media-related and online endeavours. While living in Japan in the 1990s, he launched a cultural magazine called Superball, with one of the first websites in the country.
After returning to Germany in 1996, Glenewinkel set up “Kulturserver”, an early German version of MySpace, designed as an online community for young artists, followed by the cutting edge cultural-technology company “Streamminister” in 2001. Fellowships and Awards: BMW Sustainable Leader, Ashoka Fellow, Siemens Empowering People Award.
Dirk Spilker
Head of Programmes
As Head of Programmes, Dirk Spilker supervises the project managers and is responsible for overseeing MiCT’s various programmes. In this capacity he is the link between the managing director and the project managers. Spilker also contributes to MiCT’s research activities and works on conceptualizing new projects.
Before joining MiCT in 2010, Spilker worked for the Heinrich Böll Foundation out of South Africa and Berlin. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations from Humboldt University, Berlin, and a Diploma in Media Studies from the Hanover University of Music, Drama, and Media.
Christa WAEGEMANN
Regional Director Middle East
Christa Waegemann is the Regional Director for the Middle East programmes that are centered around supporting journalists and media makers through workshops, content creation, content development, media research and monitoring, as well as projects that aim to counter violent extremism and support trans-restorative justice through media in areas of post-conflict.
Waegemann has worked in and with the Middle East region in various capacities since 2009, with a focus on Iraqi politics, countering violent extremism, and policy around militia groups. Before joining MiCT, Waegemann worked from 2018-2020 in several USAID/USG funded projects that focused on strengthening and improving local governance and civil society in Syria. From 2017-2018, Waegemann was the Program Development and Portfolio Manager at the Christoffel-Blindenmission (CBM) managing programs with community-based organizations specializing in supporting people with disabilities and human rights in Jordan, Palestine and Egypt. In 2016, Christa was the Country Director for Mercy Hands for Humanitarian Aid (MH) in Baghdad, Iraq and subsequently in 2017 at La Chaine de L’Espoir (CDE) in Erbil and Dohuk, Kurdistan during the war against the Islamic State, implementing emergency aid and humanitarian relief aid. She has a Master’s Degree of Public Policy from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin and a Bachelor’s of Arts in International Relations, concentration Middle East, from the Elliot School at the George Washington University in Washington, DC.
JéRôME BATIONo
Media Consultant
Jerome William Bationo is a media consultant for MICT. He is the editor of the "Transmission Air et Terre" project, which works with radio stations in Burkina Faso and in the development of information and communication technologies for rural populations through Pocket FM. Before joining MICT he worked as a journalist and consultant for various media and organisations (European Union, Fondation Hirondelle, The Guardian, This Is Africa, Agora Francophone, L'Observateur Paalga, etc).
He holds a Master's degree in Climate & Media, Course on Understanding Climate, Environmental and Societal Change from the University of Paris-Saclay, ESJ-Lille and CNRS in Paris (France). He also holds degrees, in Psychology, option Social and Work Psychology from the University of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso); in Communication and, several certificates, including one in Sustainable Development Studies from the University of Laval (Canada), a certificate in Scientific Communication from ECOWAS and a certificate in Civic Leadership from CESAG / YALI Dakar (Senegal).
OMAR ELMALAWANY
Project Officer
Omar Elmalawany has been with MiCT since July 2022, working on Middle East projects that are focused on citizen journalism, empowering youth and supporting female leadership.
Before joining MiCT, Omar was a Manager at a multinational bank in Egypt. Afterward, he moved to Berlin and completed his master’s degree in international and development economics at Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin.
Citalia Grozeva
Finance & Controlling
Citalia is responsible for the complete financial implementation of a wide range of MiCT projects, moreover for internal project monitoring and controlling. Working closely with the project management, she supports the submission of new project applications in addition.
Before joining MiCT in 2016, Citalia has been working for over 15 years in various regional economic development and public-private partnerships projects in Eastern Europe, cooperating with local and international government bodies and NGO’s. She holds a Master’s Degree in Economics and Finance.
SARA TARIQ
Project Officer
Sara Tariq is the Project Officer for MiCT’s projects in Afghanistan and Eastern Europe. She has experience as a Grants Manager at Community Health Solution in Pakistan where she led technical activities for donor-funded projects. She designed leadership trainings as Training Manager as an Atlas Corps Fellow in Washington DC.
She is currently completing her second master’s degree in International & Development Economics from Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin. She also holds an M.Phil. degree in Education and a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Mathematics.
sara@mict-international.org
Dr. Anja Wollenberg
Founder & Head of Research
Anja Wollenberg holds a PhD in communication and media studies. Her research interest is focused on media pluralism, media structures and the role of media in conflict and conflict prevention. Her PhD research was dedicated to the role of media in the democratic transition of Iraq amidst violent conflict. She has published numerous studies on media development in Iraq and in Libya pertaining to conflict issues such as polarization, hate speech and media partisanship in these countries.
Anja Wollenberg is co-founder and shareholder of MiCT. As head of research and evaluation at MiCT, Anja Wollenberg has worked in Libya, Syria, Sudan, Iraq and Tunisia where she is constantly striving to build bridges between media assistance and academic research.
Anita belling
Book Keeping and Accounting
Anita Belling, qualified assistant tax consultant since 1979, studied business administration at the Verwaltungs- und Wirtschaftsakademie Berlin, further training in accounting and 5th semester law at the Free University of Berlin.
For 17 years I took over the commercial management with the hotelier Joachim Rudolf. I gained experience at Karl Weiß GmbH & Co. KG with over 500 employees and DJH youth hostel. Employed in renowned law firms like Hogan Lovells Int. LLP and Morrison & Foerster LLP. Since 2017 I am the accounting department at MiCT from the smallest receipt to the final balance at the end of the calendar year.
Dr. Anke Fiedler
Researcher
Anke Fiedler has been a freelance consultant with MiCT since 2009 and her main tasks revolve around the research, design, monitoring and evaluation of MiCT projects.
Fiedler studied communication, sociology and psychology at the Universities of Munich and Paris and in 2012, she completed her doctorate. Fiedler worked on projects at UNESCO in Amman and in Paris. She was also a researcher and lecturer at the University of Munich.
Maren Hornung
Head of Finance & Administration
Maren Hornung completed her commercial training at Gruner + Jahr and her master's degree in media culture, business administration and psychology at the University of Hamburg. She is an experienced project manager, strategy consultant and systemic business coach.
After various positions in business, she has worked at MiCT since 2017, where she took over the commercial management and the HR in early 2019. She is structured, to the point with a high affinity for numbers and an intuitive approach to topics and people. As a coach and trainer, she has been accompanying people on their very personal path since 2009.
MARIAN VOGEL
Regional Director Eastern Europe
Marian Vogel is the Regional Director for the Eastern European programs that focus on emergency support for journalists and media outlets to ensure the survival of media ecosystems in challenging circumstances. This includes working with and supporting individual journalists directly as well as supporting local and regional media outlets in difficult to reach circumstances. Projects also include connecting different media outlets together and supporting the availability of coverage on specific topics, such as covid-19 or other topics. In all projects flexibility and working closely with local partners is essential to his work.
Before MiCT, Marian has been working at the intersection between data and communication as the Head of Data & Analytics for Cosmonauts & Kings setting up the Data & Analytics team and implementing data driven election campaigns on local and national level in Germany, Italy and Austria. He holds a Master of Public Policy from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin and studied in the UK, Japan and Belarus. He also speaks Russian.
marian@mict-international.org
Outposts:
RANA AKABANI
Regional Director North Africa, Co-Director North Africa Media Academy
MARWA AL-NAAS
Project Officer North Africa Media Academy
DIMA AHMED SALIM DAWOOD
Regional Coordinator Iraq
MOHAMED FARAG
Co-Director North Africa Media Academy
DOMINIK LEHNERT
Editor, The Niles
DOUGLAS MUTUMBA
Regional Director East Africa, Director East Africa Radio Service (EARS)
RAMY RYAD
Coordinator North Africa Media Academy
Photography on this page © Martin Monk. All rights reserved.