Board of Directors
(2022-2023)
Lina Chawaf
(France)
President
Executive manager in Rozana for Media, Paris, France since June 2013. Over 25 years experience in broadcasting, management directing, and producing. A journalist who has been working for TV, radio, newspaper since 1992. She has made hundreds of TV commercials and many TV clips for Unicef. She has established 2 radios station in Syria (Arabesque – Mussika) and she has been a program manager of Arabesque radio for 7 years. She has written some articles for newspapers (Baladna in Syria – Almoustakbal in Canada) and Magazines (Shabablek and Sabaya in Syria ). She has been working as a media consultant with IMS and she works as a trainer for journalists. She has been working as a TV reporter (Orient TV) and she had her program on the radio for 2 years (Arabesque). which defend human, women, and children's rights. She is now the Editor in Chief in Radio Rozana, the Syrian radio that exists in Paris /France. It’s a radio which is the voice of all the Syrians and to whom have no voice.
Larry Macaulay
(Italy)
Vice President
Larry is an award-winning Founder of Refugee Radio Network, a political commentator, public affairs analyst, and social critic with experience in refugee rights advocacy.
Larry has been an open critic of Mainstream Media’s lack of ethnic diversity and inclusion in its programs and reporting on migration issues. This has seen him present his opinion in keynotes, talks with Q&As in Europe, Africa, and the Middle east. Based in Rome, Italy, and Hamburg Germany, Larry daily inspires tens of thousands of Refugees via his Radio show and motivational speeches, workshops, and seminars. Larry is also the Founder / convener of the CMMA Conference.
Nicolas Horber
(France)
Vice President
future of distribution issues/
student and university media
A representative of the French radio Campus network to the national and international partners (audiovisual authority, public services, the state), Nicolas’ role is to help new stations with their organisational structure, to get authorization to broadcast (FM and DAB+ frequencies), to sign an agreement with partners, and for them to be able to debate their project autonomously in the democratic manner of a non-profit organisation.
Furthermore, Nicolas is, since the onset, in charge of the only autonomous and independent DAB+ Multiplex (Mulhouse, Dreyeckland), and involved in an experimental radio station called Pi Node (p-node.org). Starting with Radio WNE at the beginning of 2000s, Nicolas furthermore developed the European Sound Delta.eu project involving more than 100 sound artists on the Rhine and the Danube (2008). Fan of experimental radio approaches, not only contents but radio art, Nicolas would be very pleased to support the idea of a band of frequencies dedicated to citizen and community media as well as Internet networks.
Gabriella Velics
(Hungary)
Vice President
Research, Education and Expert Group
is an associate professor of Eötvös Loránd University, Institute of Education and Psychology – based in Szombathely. Her commitment to radio started in one of the first community radio of Hungary in the early 1990’s; she was a volunteer,
news editor and presenter. Next to all these, she has a background as a
sociologist and journalist. Later, following academic career, she managed
the University’s community radio station – Berzsenyi Radio –, and led several award-winning student radio projects during its seven years operation.
In 2010 she completed her doctoral research about the role of community radio in social communication. She was Member of the Board (2011-2017) and Vice President (2016-2017) of Community Media Forum Europe.
Now, without connection to community radio she teaches sociology, communication theory and practice for the student of Community Coordination BA, which focuses on local development: culture, heritage, human resources, youth, etc. She started a digital student project during lockdown: the Community Assembly Workshop. The main research area is still community participation in local development projects, community radio both in national and international context, its role in community development and strengthening democratic culture.
Valentina Rajakovic
(Slovenia)
Secretary
Valentina Rajakovic works for one of the oldest independent non-profit community radios in Europe, Radio Študent. Radio Študent provides a media platform to various social groups, minorities, and marginalized communities. Starting as a journalist, continuing as a project manager and now as a director, she has gained important experience and skills in various fields of the third media sector. She has been gaining experience in project work since she was 15 when she joined a local voluntary cultural association as a board member. There she contributed to the projects as a festival and youth center program manager. Both her work in the local community and her work at Radio Študent has taught her the importance of fighting for the promotion of marginalized content.
Harriette Wendel
(Luxembourg)
Treasurer
called Jet, is quite new to the community radio field, this however does not undermine her motivation and enthusiasm when it comes to taking action. With a background in finance and HR, she is involved with Radio ARA in Luxemburg and since …. she is the driving force behind the financial strategy within the radio station.
Due to her work-related travels all over the world plus the 30 + years of work experience bring a lot of flexibility and knowledge to the table within Radio Ara.
Jet is of Dutch origin, but since 2004 living in Luxembourg.
Vladimir Radinović
(Serbia)
Communication & PR
Vladimir has spent half of his life in community radio. As a practitioner, producer and advocate he has been closely following the development of the scene in the Balkans and has actively worked across the region in order to support it. His work in the field led him to cross paths multiple times with colleagues from CMFE which eventually led to the idea of joining the organization and representing the Balkan region in it. His current work focuses on developing various IT tools and solutions for radios and podcasters.
Fabian Ekstedt
(Germany)
Member
Fabian Ekstedt is managing director at LORA Munich, board member of the Federal Association of Free Radios (BFR) and founding member of the Verband Community Media Bayern (VCMB), which is currently being established. As an advocate for community media as well as editor and program coordinator at LORA, he works to ensure that as many different people as possible can participate in the media discourse and enrich society with their perspectives.
In addition to studying political science, Fabian worked for about 5 years as the editor in charge of the LORA magazine on Thursdays. He got involved in the BFR through cooperation with other independent radio stations in the course of jointly organized reporting on the pronouncement of the verdict in the NSU trial in Munich.
Even before he started working for the community radio LORA Munich, Fabian was familiar with the topics of self-management and empowerment. In 2010 he founded the youth association eigeninitiativ e.V. and together with it realized the construction of the “Kulturhaus zur golden Park Bank” in Miesbach, which is still the largest self-administered youth and cultural center in Upper Bavaria.
As a trained carpenter, Fabian still enjoys handiwork, is a self-declared news junky and has been writing the column "The social thistle thing", which now has over 55 parts, since the beginning of the Corona restrictions.
Nyima Jadama
(Germany)
Member
Nyima is an award winning feminist, social activist, and journalist from The Gambia, West Africa, now based in Berlin Germany. She is the founder and producer of the Nyima’s Bantaba talk show on Alex Berlin TV channel, a bilingual German-English TV show that aims to connect migrants, refugees, and women from diaspora communities across the globe.
In 2017-2018 she worked in the multilingual radio talk show “Our Voice” for the non-commercial station Radio Dreyeckland in Freiburg where she produced weekly radio reports about the realities of life for refugees in the Freiburg (South Germany) region and its surroundings in Baden-Württemberg. There she also operated as a media trainer for refugees with or without experience in Journalism to produce their own radio content for the Our Voice” project.
Nyima works Part-time at the r0g_agency as a #MMN-Migrant Media Network-community coordinator and an advisor on issues of women & migration. She also co-host the African Women in Trade (AWT) monthly webinar online and is active in public speaking on issues regarding women and migration.
Rui Monteiro
(Aarhus, Denmark)
Member
One of the founder members of the Community Media Forum Europe. Chairman of SAML, Danish Association of community radio and TV. Chairman of NORDSAM – Nordic Multiethnic Media Association.
More than 25 years of experience working with Community Media, special Community TV.
ISABEL Lema Blanco
(Spain)
Member
is a researcher and lecturer the University of A Coruña, where she teaches social communication and media literacy. Her academic interests focus on the analysis of social learning and empowerment processes in social innovations. She has been involved as in the community media movement for the last 25 years. She has been the president of the on the community radio CUAC FM (2003-2006) and she is currently a member of CUAC FM Board of Directors. She has been a speaker at the European Parliament presenting the AMARC Europe’s report “Recommendations to the European Union for the promotion of minority languages in Europe through Community Media” (2014). She is a founder member of the Spanish Research Network on Alternative and Participatory Community Communication (RICCAP). Her activity can be consulted on the web sabelabranco.com and Twitter @sabelabranco