Civil Society

Clara Volintiru is the director of GMF’s Bucharest office and of the organization’s Black Sea Trust. She is currently on temporary assignment with the Romanian government.

Prior to joining GMF, she was the director of the New Economy and Society Program at the Aspen Institute of Romania, and a consultant for international organizations such as the World Bank, the European Commission, Eurofound and the Committee of the Regions. Her work covered the EU, the transatlantic community, the Western Balkans, and the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries and Southern neighborhood.

In addition to her international policy work, Volintiru is an associate professor of international political economy at Bucharest University of Economic Studies. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Volintiru is a contributor to publications including Forbes, Emerging Europe, and Huffington Post.

Zsuzsanna Végh is a program officer with GMF’s European Resilience program in Berlin. Her research focuses on challenges to liberal democracy in Europe, particularly the rise of the far right and its influence on EU politics, foreign policy, and democratic governance. She also analyzes processes of democratic backsliding and resilience, with expertise in Central Europe and a particular focus on Hungary.

Végh has extensive experience working at the intersection of policy analysis and academic research. She has been an associate researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations and authored reports for Freedom House’s flagship project, Nations in Transit, on her native Hungary. She worked at the European University Viadrina as a researcher and lecturer in 2017–2024, and at the Center for European Neighborhood Studies of Central European University in 2012–2017. She is a frequent commentator in international media and has been quoted in outlets including in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Politico, The Guardian, Le Monde, Deutsche Welle.

Végh holds Master’s degrees in international relations and European studies from Central European University and in international studies from the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary.

Iryna Khomiak is a program officer with GMF’s Ukraine: Relief, Resilience, Recovery initiative, based in Berlin. She works within the emergency response programming for support of Ukrainian civil society and independent media, especially in terms of the full-scale Russian war. Prior to this, she worked as a coordinator of the Master in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Program at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, and on judicial, police, and juvenile probation reforms in Ukraine. She has worked within international projects funded by USAID and Global Affairs Canada as well as on numerous projects of the British Council in Ukraine.

Inspired by the spirit of the Revolution of Dignity and her experience, Iryna decided to pursue her Master’s degree in human rights at the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. There, she focused mainly on peace and conflict resolution policies, women’s rights within this, and the right to education for national minorities. She also holds Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in the theory and history of literature and comparative studies from the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla academy” in Kyiv, Ukraine. In addition to her native Ukrainian, she speaks English and German, and she has basic knowledge of Polish. 
 

Sergiu Panainte is the acting regional director of the Bucharest office, overseeing the strategic and operational implementation of grantmaking and capacity building activities in the wider Black Sea area. He is responsible for conceptualizing and leading programs, engaging with major donors and stakeholders, and managing a diverse team to foster regional cooperation and development. 

Panainte’s professional background spans international relations, grant management, and democracy, with a focus on the Black Sea basin and the administration of programs that support civil society, media, human rights, and democratic development. His expertise also extends to monitoring, evaluation, and learning.

Fluent in Romanian and Russian, Panainte holds master’s degrees in international relations and European studies from Central European University in Budapest and in international relations from Moldova State University. His scholarly work includes several publications focused on Central and Eastern European politics.

Gordana Delić is the regional director of the GMF Balkans program, the Balkan Trust for Democracy and deputy managing director of the Transatlantic Trusts. She has 25 years of experience in the nonprofit sector in the area of civil society development, with extensive experience in program management and development, grant solicitation, corporate philanthropy, research and planning, election processes, get-out-to vote campaigns, human rights, and reconciliation. Delić has knowledge of both the nongovernmental and governmental sectors in the Balkans, as well as of international donor strategies, programs, procedures, and operations in Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe. Prior to joining the Balkan Trust for Democracy, Delić worked at Freedom House Serbia. Her international experience includes five years of work on different democracy development programs in Slovakia. Delić is fluent in Serbian, English, and Slovak. She also communicates in Czech, German, and Spanish.