Logo (c) Leah Doellmann
Our #GEONext Co-Mentors!
In what is already the 5th year of cooperation between Polis180 and the Georgian Institute of Politics, in #GEONext the two organizations bring together various actors from the civil society, private and public sectors to jointly bring youth participation in Georgia to the next level through cross sectoral cooperation. In addition to mentors from business companies and international organizations, we have selected 4 German youth representatives who support them as Co-Mentors from an international grassroots perspective. And here they are!
Jil Kaiser is originally from Luxembourg. After her highschool graduation, she moved to Vienna, where she studied political science with a focus on EU policy and international relations. She completed her Master’s degree at Goethe University in Frankfurt and Technical University Darmstadt in the field of international development cooperation with a specialization in peace and conflict studies. Currently, she lives in Bonn where she works for a social impact start-up as a junior project manager in the field of digitalization and education. Jil will be the co-mentor in the field of Climate Change/Sustainability.
Esther Kern is a research fellow at the Brandenburg Institute for Society and Security since August 2019. She works in national as well as European projects on various societal, security policy and economic issues related to technology and security. Her research focuses in particular on cyber and space security. She holds an M.A. in North-American Studies from the Freie Universität Berlin and a B.A. in political science and history from the University of Freiburg. Since fall 2016, Esther has been an active member of Polis180 and she was the program lead of The America(n)s from August 2017 to June 2020. Esther will be the co-mentor in the field of Digitalization.
Jonas Nitschke studies Political Science (M.A.) with a focus on International Politics & Development and Eastern Europe at the University of Vienna. Currently, he is Climate Pact Ambassador for the European Commission and a member of the Youth Task Force of the European Climate Pact. He was a member of the EU-Africa taskforce of the ONE campaign for the Youth track of the EU-Africa week. In addition, he was part of the project team of “Zeitz im Dialog”, targeting people in East Germany to talk about democratic participation ahead of the German elections. He was also involved in the creation of the Young Indo-Pacific Forum, a collaboration between Polis180, European Guanxi and STEAR to bring together European and Asian youths and develop a policy communiqué following a series of expert panels with over 300 participants from 40 countries. Jonas will be the co-mentor in the field of Regional Economic Development.
Nora Pohl had been an active member of Polis180 for more than two years and is currently one of the heads of the Polis180 program “Perspektive Ost / Perspective East” which targets Germany’s Eastern Neighborhood from Poland to Central Asia and is also where our German-Georgian cooperation is anchored. After graduating in Eastern European Studies, Nora worked as a coordinator in various projects aiming to connect young people from Eastern and Western Europe. Through those projects, she aims to reduce stereotypes, improve cooperation and support the participation of marginalized groups in society. Currently her focus is on helping people who fled the war in Ukraine and she has recently taken over the management of a Berlin-based refugee center. Her culinary interests include Georgian badrijani nigvzit and pancakes. Nora will be the co-mentor in the field of Inclusion.
Find out more about the #GEONext project groups here!
Project term
01 March- 31 December 2022
Our supporters
The project is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office in the framework of the programme “Expanding Cooperation with Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership Countries and Russia”.
