Hey, my name is Maria and I’m a journalist from Russia. It is a great challenge and honour for me to become a part of the Central Asia Solidarity Groups. I have been writing a lot about human rights, migration and covered activities of NGOs, and now I will be a part of an NGO myself, what a change!
I believe that working with information-raising efforts and education itself can lead to a lot of positive changes if you properly make use of them. That is why I became a journalist and communication specialist. I use the media to promote human rights values. I hope my knowledge and skills will increase the visibility of civil society organizations and human rights issues in Central Asia among the general public in Sweden and beyond.
Several previous years of my life were connected to post-Soviet space and building bridges between Russian civil society and civil society of other countries. Thanks to my job as a journalist and work on Master’s Degree in Human Rights in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, I had a chance to live in different countries in the region: Armenia, Ukraine, Georgia, Latvia and others. This experience provided me with multiple opportunities to meet local activists, research and explore how people live and what challenges they face. Also I have spent two months in Germany working with Deutsche Welle and write about social issues that people face in the post-Soviet space.
Personally, my stay with CAG is an opportunity to сontinue my journey exploring the wonderful, but so complex region, and the world in general. I am very excited about this challenge and I hope that my curiosity in the region, and willingness to learn more about project management, my passion for media and communication will be helpful for CAG and my new colleagues! I am sure that we will create something really great together!
With my warm wishes,
Maria.