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As EUKOJUST Team Leader, Volkmar Theobald directs the project implementation at the strategic level. In this role and as head of the project office, he, among other tasks, has the overall responsibility for proper project implementation, speaks on behalf of the project, liaises with other institutions and projects and coordinates the project team.
Volkmar Theobald has a German degree in law with more than 30 years of working experience as a fully qualified lawyer. He has strong experience in consulting justice sector institutions particularly in Kosovo. From 2009 to 2014, Volkmar Theobald lead a large-scale legal reform project in Kosovo and therefore disposes of in-depth knowledge of the justice sector reform process in the country and is perfectly acquainted with the local context. In addition to his six-year experience as Senior Academic Expert and Trainer at a public sector training institution in Germany, he worked in EU accession /approximation countries for more than ten years, delivering advice and training to public sector entities. He had several Team Leader engagements and features outstanding experience in Project Cycle Management.
Outside work, Volkmar likes to ride his bicycles, enjoys reading and hiking. He is very much addicted to watching movies not on a small screen but in real cinemas.
Dragomir Yordanov is the Long Term Training and Capacity Building Expert at the European Union / Kosovo Justice Sector Program. He is responsible for supporting Kosovo Justice Academy, including in terms of planning and management capacities, further developing initial and continuous training and tendering the supplies for the new building of the Academy.
Dragomir has more than 27 years of experience in the Justice sector with a special focus on Judicial Training. He served as a judge and from 2011 to 2016 as Director of the National Institute of Justice of Bulgaria. He also worked as expert on multiple Justice Sector projects in Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership countries. He graduated Sofia University and followed specializations in different European countries and the USA.
Outside work Dragomir enjoys horseback riding, skiing and reading.
Cristian “Cris” Nicoara is the Long-Term Expert for Prosecution and Criminal Justice and the project’s Deputy Team Leader. Working in connection with the rest of the team, he is advising the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council and the Kosovo Judicial Council on the necessary reforms in line with the European integration process.
With a career spanning over more than 20 years and three continents, Cristian is currently at his fourth assignment in Kosovo. After working for 13 years as an investigative prosecutor in Romania, he embraced a professional path of independent consultant for the rule of law and security sector reform, mostly working for the European Union and private companies. He advised four General Prosecutors, three Judicial Councils, ministers of interior and chiefs of the national police in various countries. His career also includes a large amount of training delivered to senior officials in host countries and various business-related certifications in project management, risk management and compliance.
Outside work, Cris is spending time between kickboxing training, photography and playing Call of Duty.
All the above are accompanied by Latino music and, always, by a smile.
Alina Laura Matache is the Long Term Access to Justice Expert. She is responsible for strengthening access to justice in cooperation with civil society, in particular for vulnerable and marginalized groups such as women, people with disabilities, non-majority communities, LGBTQI+ and refugees.
Alina is an experienced professional in access to justice, international crisis management, capacity building in the rule of law area and security sector reform. She started her career in the European Parliament where she worked for eight years as an Advisor in Foreign Affairs and continued in EULEX, where she supported capacity building projects in the rule of law area, such as the establishment of Women Association in the Kosovo Correctional Services. Concomitantly, she funded and worked for several NGOs dealing with the rights of migrants in Italy and vulnerable people in Argentina and Kenya.
She graduated at the University of Rome, la Sapienza and has a Master degree in European Studies at the Free University of Brussels. She firmly believes in lifelong learning, thus she pursued several courses in international crisis management in Europe and Israel.
She is passionate about feminists’ movements, travelling and practising yoga.
Kristian Turkalj is the Long Term Expert for structure of the MoJ at the European Union / Kosovo Justice Sector Program. He act as advisor to Ministry of Justice. He is responsible for the improvement of the structure and organisation of the MoJ, and implement activities aiming the strengthening of ministerial departments. Also, he is the strategic advisor to the MoJ, permanently available to the top level of the MoJ as well as to all involved departments, ensuring ad hoc-advisory function, early identification of additional needs and close and trustful communication.
Kristian has more than 25 years of experience in the Justice sector with a special focus on EU requirement concerning judicial reform, combating corruption and protection of human rights. He served as an acting minister of justice, state secretary in the MoJ, negotiator for accession to the EU in charged for chapter 23 and 24 as well as first justice and home affairs attaché at the Croatian Mission to the EU. He also worked as expert on multiple Justice Sector projects in Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership countries. He received PhD at Zagreb University and had studied in different European countries and the USA.
Outside work Kristian enjoys travels, painting, hiking, skiing and spending time whit his family.
Dr Idlir Peçi is a Long-Term International Expert on Legislative Framework and EU Approximation. In the context of EUKOJUST project he works closely with the Legal Office of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Official Gazette and the Ministry of Justice.
Idlir has more than 20 years of experience in rule of law issues gained in various positions that he has held. He holds a PhD in Criminal Law and Human Rights from the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the Netherlands. He started his academic career at the same university and developed it later on at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. In 2013 Idlir joined the Government of Albania where he served first as Deputy Minister of Justice and later on as Deputy Minister of Defense. During his work as Deputy Minister of Justice Idlir was closely involved in the deep reform of the Justice System in Albania. In 2017 he started to work as an independent international legal expert in EU funded projects and for the Council of Europe. Before joining EUKOJUST Idlir was a long-term expert in training programs for judges and prosecutors and legislative drafting and capacity building for the Ministry of Justice in the EURALIUS V project which oversaw the implementation of the Justice Reform in Albania.
Idlir has a passion for improv theater and believes that ‘It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock ‘n’ roll”!
Rondinella Hoxha Gashi is the Chief Administrator at the European Union / Kosovo Justice Sector Programme. She is responsible for overseeing as well as managing the internal administrative operations and the admin team, and for providing managerial support to all experts.
Rondinella is a senior management professional and Executive MBA graduate of IEDC Bled School of Management. With over 16 years of management experience across various sectors and industries, including international education institution, donor-funded projects, NGOs, national public institutions and private sector, she is highly skilled in general management, financial planning and control, HR management, project management, business analysis, stakeholder’s analysis and management, corporate communications, reporting and content writing.
Besides management in general, her personal interests also include education, entrepreneurship, and psychology, which is also the field of her basic studies. She continuously strives for personal and professional growth and development.
Rondinella is a mother of two, who enjoys spending time with her family, reading, doing yoga, and occasionally binge watching her favorite TV series and movies.
Arben Isufi is our Judicial Infrastructure Expert at the European Union Justice Sector Programme Kosovo. He is responsible to provide support to the beneficiary institutions: Ministry of Justice, Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, Courts and Prosecution Offices to further enhance Court Infrastructure, Information Communication Technology Systems and Archiving capacities.
Arben has an extensive experience working for various international organisations. Over the last 12 years, he has been working in different capacities for US Embassy/OPDAT, USAID, UNDP, UNHCR, EU Funded Projects, Council of Europe, OSCE, GIZ and Global Fund in the field of justice, democratization, good governance and international relations. Throughout his career, he has supported key State Institutions: Kosovo Assembly, Cabinet of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Justice as well as institutions in the justice sector: Kosovo Prosecutorial Council, Special Prosecution Office (SPRK) and Justice Academy.
Arben holds a Master of Laws (LL.M) in International Law with Specialisation in U.S. and Transnational Law (University of Miami, USA), Master of Laws (LL.M) in Investment Treaty Arbitration and Protection of Foreign Investments (Uppsala University, Sweden), Master of Laws in Advanced Studies in EU Law (Ghent University, Belgium), Bachelor of Laws (University of Prishtina, Kosovo) and Bachelor of Political Science and Public Administration (University of Prishtina, Kosovo).
Tea Blakaj Hoxha is a Capacity Building Expert at the European Union/Justice Sector Program in Kosovo. She is responsible for establishing inter institutional coordination mechanism, digitalization of the justice sector, implementation of the Functional Review Sector Strategy, including trainings for capacity building. She is also seconded by the project to the Ministry of Justice, serving as an external advisor to the Minister.
Tea has more than 10 years of work experience in the justice sector. Through the support programs of United Nations and the British Embassy in Prishtina, Tea advised Kosovo Judicial Council and the Ministry of Justice on judicial reform. In this regard, Tea was one of the first experts that drafted the terms of reference and the preliminary analysis on functioning of judiciary and prosecution, under the Functional Review of the Rule of Law Sector. Finally, Tea is also experienced in commercial matters testified through her work in the law firms in Kosovo, as well as to the field of human rights, working as a consultant to the Ombudsperson Institution in Kosovo, for more than three years.
Tea is a mother of one. In her free time, she enjoys playing and writing music.
Alban Krasniqi is the Monitoring Law Implementation Expert at the European Union / Kosovo Justice Sector Program. He is responsible to for aspects related to legal framework, and legal approximation and strengthening the system of monitoring of law implementation.
Alban has served in a number of honourable legal positions working with main rule of law and justice related domestic and international stakeholders, including Law Schools, Judiciary, Chamber of Advocates, Kosovo Judicial Council, Kosovo Judicial Academy, Ombudsperson international organizations such as EU, USAID, OSCE, ILO. He has worked extensively as external legal expert for domestic and international organizations. He has demonstrated skills working with high-level stakeholders in his experience as USAID’s Dialogue Consultant at the Office of Prime minister and in his position as Senior Officer of the Rule of Law at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Kosovo.
He has graduated in Bachelor and Masters of Law at University of Pristina. He also graduated in 2017 in the area of Comparative Constitutional Law and Human Rights from the University of Texas in Austin School of Law. He is currently enrolled in the Doctoral Program in the Department of Constitutional Law in the University of Pristina.
Bardhë Krasniqi is our Public Legal Education Expert: Domestic Violence and Marginalized Groups at the European Union Justice Sector Programme Kosovo. She is responsible to support the Kosovo institutions to improve the access to justice for women and marginalized groups, particularly in the field of domestic violence, and strengthening the Free Legal Aid system.
Bardhë has more than 17 years of experience as a general counsel and manager, working both in the public sector and high profile international organization and donor-funded projects such as: EULEX, ICO/EUSR, UNMIK European Union Pillar, USAID, and UNDP. She managed a UNDP project on gender-based violence supporting the two main National coordinators in drafting and implementation of the national strategies on prevention from domestic violence and trafficking in human beings, as well as strengthening capacities of rule of law institutions. Prior to that, Bardhë was part of the ICO team that supervised Kosovo’s transition to full independence.
She has lectured at Kosovo Justice Academy on the implementation of domestic violence legal framework as well as the role of the courts in arbitration proceedings. Her realm is on international public and private law, human rights, corporate and commercial law, legislative drafting expertise, and project management.
Bardhë is an accomplished lawyer and holds two Master of Law (LL.M) degrees in International public and private Law, obtained in the USA and in Kosovo.
Nita Bejta is our Junior Legal Advisor at the European Union / Justice Sector Kosovo. She is responsible to provide ad-hoc support, legal analysis, legal research and legal opinions on all issues related to legislation for all project experts.
Nita has over seven years of professional legal experience working for high profile international organizations and donor-funded projects such as EULEX and USAID’s projects. During her engagement with the USAID’s Effective Rule of Law Program she performed and intervened directly on reducing backlog in courts to a great extent.
Her field of expertise is on civil and criminal law, legislative drafting, case-flow management and court administration.
Nita holds a graduated degree in law, has BAR exam, and is eligible to practice law in Kosovo.
Maliq Gashi is the Financial Manager at the European Union / Kosovo Justice Sector Programme. He is responsible for overseeing financial operations of the project. Before taking on this role, Maliq was engaged for more than 20 years in different International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), and Civil Society as a part of their Senior Management team. He studied at Technical Faculty focused in Mechanical Engineering from University of Pristina, Kosovo.
Outside work, Maliq is an avid football follower. He will enjoyably drive couple hundred kilometres only to watch the game of national team.
Blerina JASHARI is the EUKOJUST Interpreter/Office Assistant, working closely with EUKOJUST experts in providing linguistic expertise and assisting the Project with communication and other office management related duties.
She is a professional translator/interpreter, with a progressive experience of over 15 years of related work experience with many international and local organizations as well as donor funded projects in the rule of law. She is graduated from the University of Prishtina in English Language and Literature and holds a Master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Prishtina. Currently she is enrolled in the PhD Programme at the SEEU in the Republic of North Macedonia. Blerina has concluded a few professional training courses in project management, enhancing translation techniques, conference interpretation as well as court interpretation.
Blerina loves reading and writing, while time spent with her two daughters and other family members and friends is a treasure to her.
Sara Seferi is the Office Manager at the European Union / Justice Sector Kosovo. She is responsible for overall administration of the project activities within the project, including procurement and tendering according to EC rules. She maintains regular co-ordination among the local project staff and experts assisting in communication interface with the Kosovar counterparts and national/ international stakeholders. Moreover, she is in charge to updating the website of EUKOJUST based on information taken from staff meetings.
Sara is a lawyer with bar exam completed, and she has more than 10 years of experience with EU founded projects, mainly in Justice Sector. Before that, she used to work for United Nation Mission in Kosovo for more than 10 years.
Sara is known to be very motivated, team player and result oriented type.
Outside work, Sara likes music, reading and enjoys swimming as she sees this sport as multifunctional.
Filloreta Hoxha, in the capacity of Interpreter/Office Assistant at EUKOJUST, bridges the communication between international experts and local beneficiaries and stakeholders and assists in everyday administrative management of the project.
Filloreta, with Albanian being her native language, is fluent in English and Serbian, and has a good command of French.
With more than 20 years of experience in working with International organizations and multi-ethnic environments, as well as local institutions, she started her journey in UNMIK Municipal Administration first and UNMIK Justice Department later, continued in EU funded Project/ Prime Minister’s Office and then EULEX Judges Unit and Special Prosecution, where she worked for 10 years. Before joining EUKOJUST, she was Coordinator of the Language Office in the Supreme Court of Kosovo / Special Chamber.
Filloreta studied English Language and Literature and she also did Press and Journalism in Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. She, also, attended numerous trainings and professional development programs.
Outside work, Filli loves traveling, photo’ing and writing (when muses are around).
What she does best is “bothering’ Blini (her son) all day long!
Eroll Seferi is the Driver/Logistics Manager at the European Union / Justice Sector Kosovo. He is responsible for driving the project members to field operations under assigned official duties, maintenance of office equipment, implementation of procurement, keeping and updating project inventory. Moreover, he supports the project in the preparation of events, seminars, training and other project related events.
Eroll has more than 10 years of experience with EU founded projects in various positions. Prior to that he used to work as Local Assistant of IRZ Bilateral Projects with Kosovo and for 12 years as Interpreter/Translator with US KFOR.
He holds a Master Degree in Physical Education and Sports with University of Prishtina.
Eroll is known to be very friendly and self-motivated type.
Outside work, Eroll likes music, watch movies, and believes that the key to making people happy is if they are physically active.
Fatlije GJONBALAJ is the EUKOJUST Interpreter/Office Assistant. She works closely with the international experts in providing her professional linguistic and communication expertise, and assists the Project with daily administrative and financial assignment.
With a progressive experience of almost 20 years in both public administration and international organisations, Fatlije has a demonstrated expertise in financial and legal terminology with specialisation in civil and criminal law terminology. She started her professional career with the Ministry of Finance, where she worked for five years, to continue with the Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo – EULEX, the National Audit Office, and other donor-funded projects supporting the strengthening of the justice sector in Kosovo. She has contributed in large-scale projects and assignment such as the Medium Term Expenditures Framework, Budget Book, temporary coordination of the Language Unit in the court she was deployed by EULEX, International Conference on the occasion of NAO’s full membership to INTOSAI. She is qualified in English Language and in Professional Translation and Interpretation while she has completed several other professional trainings in procurement, budget, and project management.
Fatlije enjoys a lot spending quality time with her family, travelling, and making joyous memories with her best friends. Artisanship and music embedded in her culture brings peace to her spirit.
Sead Krasniqi is the IT Expert at the European Union / Justice Sector Kosovo. He is responsible for IT Systems, network, and equipment functionality for the project.
Sead has more than 12 years of experience in the IT field. During these years Sead worked for many national and international organizations and projects, Sead was part of CMIS (Court Management Information System) project of the EU for Advancing system and technology on Court. For more than six years he leads the IT department in a local Insurance Company. During these years Sead got certified by Microsoft in: Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS), Microsoft Certified Solution Associate (MCSA), Microsoft certified Professional (MCP) Microsoft Certified Solution Expert (MCSE) etc. as well in Cisco CCNA, CompTIA, Symantec, IBM and many more. Sead studied Information and Technology at the University of Pristina
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