Ana has 13 years of professional experience in the field of designing and implementing projects in Central and South-East Europe, addressing active engagement of citizens and especially of youth in community/public life, inclusive higher education, cross-border cooperation, inter-ethnic community dialogue and collaboration, transparency and accountability of public institutions. Two of her major accomplishments in this role were: introducing the first disability policy in the universities of West Romania, and setting up partnerships and cooperation networks with civil society organizations, higher education and public institutions in Europe, USA, and the Caribbean, in the fields of inclusive education and active engagement of youth in public life.
Currently, Ana is providing consultancy to civil society in the Eastern Partnership region in the fields of youth, education, and culture, in the context of EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy.
Within the frame of the projects she worked on, Ana conducted research concerning inclusive higher education in Romania, Republic of Moldova, Switzerland, and USA, stereotypes and prejudices about the Roma in Romania, tourism development in the Romanian-Serbian cross-border region, education for democratic citizenship in schools. She wrote studies and articles for international organizations such as Transparency International, Institute for Ethnic and Regional Studies in Maribor, Slovenia, and narrative reports for donors such as the EU, The Swiss-Romanian Cooperation Programme, IREX & U.S. Department of State, Open Society Foundations, EEA and Norway Grants.
Ana was a guest speaker on several international conferences on democracy-related topics, which brought her important opportunities for cooperation worldwide. Ana was a Blue Book Trainee at the European Commission in Brussels, and was also awarded a fellowship by the US Department of State, under the Community Solutions Program, a program for the best and brightest community leaders in the world.
Ana holds a BA in Economics, and an MA in Management and Marketing in Mass Media from the West University of Timisoara, Romania, as well as a community leadership diploma from the George Mason University, USA.