collaborators
collaborators
Proponents
The Digital Narratives Studio (DNS) is a space for storytellers, researchers, and activists to explore how stories are shaped, shared, and weaponized in the digital age. Rooted in the ethos of hopeful collective action, the studio ventures into narrative change practices that examine, reframe, or challenge dominant narratives to open alternative imaginaries. DNS is housed at the School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
DAKILA – Philippine Collective for Modern Heroism is an artist-activist group building a broad-based citizen movement for social transformation. Founded in 2005, it is at the forefront of the advocacy for human rights and democracy in the Philippines through its work in pioneering creative human rights campaigns, innovating movement-building strategies, and integrating narrative approaches to social change.
Active Vista Center is an institution established by DAKILA to facilitate the social consciousness formation of citizens toward being active agents of change. Utilizing the arts, media, and popular culture in public advocacy and engagement, it runs programs on civic education, advocates’ development, creative labs, social impact film campaigns, and digital activism. It organizes the annual Active Vista Human Rights Festival in the Philippines.
Knowledge Architects
Knowledge Architects will represent various knowledge networks in intersectional areas such as gender and sexuality rights and freedom of speech, distributed across different parts of the Global South. They embody innovative and reparative scholarship and expertise, documenting, mapping, and contextualizing their knowledge about Generative AI Facilitated Information Weaponization (GAFIW) through collaborative dialogues, learning calls, exchanges, and writing.
Namita Aavriti’s trajectory moves restlessly between law, media, art, and digital rights — but always with a political eye and a curatorial instinct. From organising one of South India’s most beloved queer film festivals to being part of coordinating large-scale feminist internet research projects across multiple countries, her work has consistently held space for dissent, pleasure, criticality and care. Whether producing a zine on the labour of queer film curation or designing an interactive video on censorship and sexuality in Asia, Namita’s practice reveals the often-overlooked textures of resistance — in archives, in code, and in affect.
Her work at APC as co-manager of the Women’s Rights Programme builds on two decades of entanglement with questions of visibility, speech, and technology. She leads research and policy projects that navigate the messy terrain of internet governance, surveillance, AI, and gender-based violence — but always from a standpoint that refuses extractivism and easy answers. She brings to the conversation on generative AI and misinformation, critical, grounded, occasionally feminist and creative responses to how technologies shape public discourse and collective imaginaries.
Areas of Interest: Feminism, Archives, Online Violence, Misinformation, Hate Speech, Islamophobia, Occupation, Film • Affiliation/s: Association for Progressive Communications, badnām film festiva • Geographical Scope of Work: India, Asia, Global
Sam Chua is a cultural entrepreneur, occasional consultant, and founding curator of Seapunk Studios (seapunk.asia), a research-and-imagination collective interested in fresh solarpunk-inspired futures for Southeast Asia (one of the ‘SEA’s in ‘seapunk’).
Sam’s practice explores the relationships between strategy, system, curiosity, care, spacemaking, self-cultivation, and civilizational change.
He has collaborated, worked, and facilitated with the likes of Digital Asia Hub, Metagov, Samsung, Chanel, Li & Fung, CMKL, and the Ethereum Foundation. Based in Asia, he currently lives in Kuala Lumpur.
Areas of Interest: Seapunk, Solarpunk, Research & Imagination, Philosophy, Contemporary Liberal Arts, Protocols, Design / Futures / Systems Thinking, Imaginary Innovation • Affiliation/s: Seapunk Studios • Geographical Scope of Work: Asia broadly, with focus on Southeast Asia
Ms. Chung brings an environmental science background to gender justice work, collaborating with Asia Pacific NGOs and specializing in Indigenous women’s environmental defender networks and marginalized communities. She is a recognized expert in open knowledge systems and inclusive data governance, supporting Indigenous groups and women in managing environmental systems and cultural heritage with respect for data sovereignty. Her work bridges technology and social equity, focusing on digital transformation and the implications of Artificial Intelligence. Her research explores how AI in the climate change sector may affect Indigenous rights, ensuring ethical approaches that honor cultural and environmental integrity.
Areas of Interest: Indigenous Data Sovereignty, Indigenous People’s Rights, Environmental Justice, Gender Rights, Digital Transformation • Affiliation/s: East West Management Institute’s Open Development Initiative, Knowledge for Development Foundation • Geographical Scope of Work: Asia, focus upon Southeast Asia with Indigenous Peoples
Isabel Crabtree-Condor is a mother, political economist, feminist, and climate justice strategist based in Amsterdam, with Peruvian British roots. She explores the connections between offline and digital movements, mobilisations and narratives claiming civic space. She weaves connections between people, cultures, bodies of knowledge and territories to create ideas that connect with many more people.
Isabel’s work focused on fostering creative collaborations that enhance knowledge and practices essential to civil society, activists, and movements. She is a Senior Influencing Advisor and Strategist within the Climate Justice team at Oxfam Novib. Currently, she is co-developing the Pause Fund (2025) with climate justice activists and knowledge partners Elemental and Digital Narratives Studio. Isabel is the co-curator of the ‘Feminist Influencing Basket of Resources’ (2023) with Rukia Cornelius and Mela Chiponda, which gathers and shares back feminist practices to transform power dynamics. This resource has been used diverse collectives. Isabel also curated the ‘Narrative Power + Collective Action’ (2020) anthologies, which presents diverse perspectives on narrative change practices.
Areas of Interest: Feminist Influencing, Intersectional Climate Justice Organising, Feminist Narrative Change, Emerging Tech and Movements, Care in the Digital Space, Supporting Movements to strengthen themselves, Being part of nature, Feminist Funding to Movements, Digital Organising and campaigning • Affiliation/s: Oxfam Novib, Oxfam International, Peru Support Group • Geographical Scope of Work: Global, Climate Justice Movements and Territorial Movements
Kecheng Fang is an Assistant Professor and Director of the M.A. in Journalism Program at the School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). His research interests include journalism, political communication, and digital media.
He received his Ph.D. degree from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Before joining academia, he worked as a political journalist at the Chinese newspaper Southern Weekly. He received the Early Career Award from the Association for Chinese Communication Studies (ACCS) in 2024.
He is also the founder of several public-facing projects, including Newslab, CNPolitics, and Beyond the Bubble Studio.
Areas of Interest: Journalism, Social Innovation, Entrepreneurship • Affiliation/s: The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Geographical Scope of Work: China, diaspora Chinese
Maya Indira Ganesh is Associate Director (Research Partnerships) and Assistant Research Professor at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, UK. She is a cultural theorist who studies the social and public adoption of AI across different contexts. From 2021-2024, Maya worked to co-develop and co-direct a master’s program in AI, Ethics & Society. Prior to academic work, Maya was a researcher working with civil society organisations in India, SE Asia, and Europe on gender justice, digital security, and freedom of speech and expression. Maya is also a freelance speaker, curatorial advisor, and essayist specialising in media arts, culture, and technology. Maya has a doctoral degree in Cultural Studies from Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany. ‘Auto-correct: The fantasies and failures of AI, ethics, and the driverless car’ is drawn from her doctoral thesis and was published in March 2025 by ArtEZ Press.
Areas of Interest: Studies of Automation, Public and Social Adoption of AI, Cultural and Material Politics of Tech, Digital Culture; ‘AI Ethics’ • Affiliation/s: Leverhulme Centre for the future of Intelligence, University of Cambridge • Geographical Scope of Work: Europe, India, UK
Artur C. Jaschke (PhD) has obtained his Bachelor degree in Music (Contrabass and Drums) at Dartington College of Arts (United Kingdom) and the University of Otago (New Zealand). During this period he already developed a strong interest in music cognition and the neurology of music, which led him to complete his Master’s degree at the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands), in Musicology and Music Cognition (thesis title: Controlled Freedom: Cognitive Economy versus Hierarchical Organisation in jazz improvisation) and his PhD at the VU University Amsterdam (The Netherlands) in clinical Neuropsychology with a specialisation in clinical Neuromusicology (title: Is Music a Luxury?).
Currently, he is Reader Music-based Therapies and Interventions and in Ecologies of clinical Neuromusicology: creative AI, Music Sciences and Health Care Applications at the department of Music Therapy at ArtEZ University of the Arts in Enschede the Netherlands, specialising in the interrelation of music, technology and brain maturation in clinical and non clinical populations as well as clinical Research Fellow cognitive neuroscience of music at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the University Medical Center Groningen and the Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research (UK). Additionally, he works as Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge (UK).
Areas of Interest: Ecologies of Neonatal Clinical Neuromusicology: Music-Based Therapies and Interventions, Artificial Intelligence and Technology • Affiliation/s: University of Cambridge, ArtEZ University of the Arts, University Medical Centre Groningen • Geographical Scope of Work: EU, US, South America, Asia
Prof Geci Karuri-Sebina currently serves as an Associate Professor at the Wits School of Governance coordinating the Tayarisha Centre for Digital Governance and the Civic Tech Innovation Network. She is the ICESCO Chair on Innovation and Futures in Africa; Principal at the School of International Futures; and Adjunct Professor at UCT’s African Centre for Cities. She serves as Vice President of Africalics, a director of the Southern African Node of the Millennium Project and the Africa Innovation Summit, and is a Desmond Tutu African Leadership Fellow.
Geci holds Bachelors degrees in Computer Science and Sociology (Iowa); Masters degrees in Architecture and in Urban Planning (UCLA); and a PhD in planning and innovation studies (Wits University).
Areas of Interest: Digital Governance, Anticipation and Foresight; Public Sector and Civic Tech Innovation; Postactivism • Affiliation/s: University of Witwatersrand, African Centre for Cities, Dancing with Mountains, School of International Futures • Geographical Scope of Work: Africa mainly, Global South, US
Adeline is a visual artist who makes installations and socially-embodied works that reconsider the relationship we have with things and rituals around us. Using drawing as a conceptual tool, she looks to cartographies, craft and oral tradition to map out the historical trajectories across time and space through her use of found objects and new productions. As a co-founder of the Critical Craft Collective (Singapore) and the pan-Borneo/UK Serumpun Collective, the centrality of craft in contemporary practice as well as the politics of care are the core foci in her research practice. In light of the ecological turn, Adeline’s immediate concerns have shifted towards ideas around intimate labour, and the politics and poetics of care. Works made are seen as social objects inscribed with histories and narratives while simultaneously questioning the kinds of knowledge that are produced.
Presently a Senior Lecturer with the MA Fine Arts programme at LASALLE College of the Arts, Adeline has exhibited internationally. She was involved in the World Architecture Festival (2016-7), Hermes Singapore (2016), Venice Biennale (2019), and Singapore Tyler Print Institute’s Visiting Artists Programme (VAP) Residency (2021). In 2023, she was involved in NTU CCA IdeasFest 2023: Eat. Secure. Sustain, and Asia NOW Paris. In January 2024, Adeline was involved in The Fabulous Stories to Save the Green Planet, 2024 Cultural Olympics Exhibition Programme, Gangwon Cultural Heritage Exchange Exhibition, Gyeongpo Beach, South Korea. Adeline is a 2024-2026 Ewha Global Fellow with Ewha Womans University, South Korea
Areas of Interest: Human-Nature Entanglement, Magic Realism/Animism in the Age of Technology, Digital Intimacy, Trust • Affiliation/s: LASALLE College of the Arts-UAS • Geographical Scope of Work: Singapore, Malaysia
Dr. Sushant Kumar is an Assistant Professor and Assistant Dean of Social Outreach at Jindal School of Government and Public Policy. He is a PhD in Public Policy from Northeastern University, Boston and has been a Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, Program in Science, Technology and Society. He works on science and technology policy issues, specifically focusing on the governance of Artificial Intelligence technologies currently. He uses a constructivist approach in his research to understand how ideas come to be, the role science and framing plays in legitimizing policy ideas, and how scientific evidence itself is socio-politically situated. He deploys interdisciplinary analytical frameworks from policy studies, STS and political communication.
His work has been published or forthcoming in leading journals including The Lancet, Journal of South Asian Studies, Behavioral Sciences, Economic and Political Weekly and in media platforms like The Wire and scroll.in. He has presented his work at leading international annual conferences of Society for Social Studies of Science, Association of South Asian Studies, Association of Asian Studies and Science and Democracy Network at Harvard. He has taught courses in Science, Technology and Public Policy, Techniques of Policy Analysis and Data Analysis using Python programming language.
Areas of Interest: Governance and Democratization of AI and Other Critical Emerging Technologies, Science and Technology Policy, Public Policy, Political Communication, Framing, Narrative and Discourse Analysis, Health Policy and Politics • Affiliation/s: Assistant Professor, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy • Geographical Scope of Work: India, Global South, United States
Paula Miraglia is the founder and CEO of Momentum – Journalism & Tech Task Force. She is also the co-founder and publisher of Gama Revista. She co-founded and directed Nexo Jornal for eight years.
Paula holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of São Paulo (USP), where she also completed her master’s and undergraduate studies in Social Sciences. She is a Sulzberger Fellow at Columbia University.
Paula has held leadership roles in international organizations and served as a consultant for the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. She serves on the boards of the Center for News Technology and Innovation, the International Press Institute, Instituto de Referência Negra Peregum, and Brazilian Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BPBES).
Areas of Interest: Journalism, Technology, Media, Big Tech, Narrative • Affiliation/s: Momentum – Journalism and Tech Task Force • Geographical Scope of Work: Brazil/Global South
Micheline – a co-founder of DAKILA – is an artist, researcher, and international development professional with a multidisciplinary background in strategy, behavioral science, social change campaigning, advocacy communication, and human-centered design. She has leveraged this diverse skill set in developing and implementing social impact initiatives, training programs, academic courses and research projects. Her published works have been cited in the Routledge Handbook of Civil and Uncivil Society, served as bases for civil society program designs, and are included on academic resource hubs on disinformation and narrative studies.
Meanwhile, Micheline’s artistic practice has yielded textile artwork and multimedia pieces featured by cultural institutions such as the British Council, the Japan Foundation, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center – Parsons School of Design, Pineapple Labs. Alief Art House and Gravity Art Space.
Micheline graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science – Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science with a Master of Science in Social and Public Communication after completing the programme on a Chevening Scholarship. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication from the University of the Philippines, and completed residencies at the New York School of Visual Arts, and Johns Hopkins University.
Areas of Interest: Art & Social Practice, Civic & Political Participation, Creative Activism, Design & Systems Thinking, Human Rights, Narratives, Social Psychology & Behavior Change, Strategy • Affiliation/s: DAKILA, Active Vista, RAIDAR – Researching Asian Information Disorder and Responses • Geographical Scope of Work: Global, Global Majority, Asia, SE Asia, The Philippines
With over 25 years of experience in the international higher education and the intersection between the public-private sector, I held various international leadership roles, focussing on cross-sector and cross-border collaboration, setting up and leading international consortia in Europe, Asia and North America (mostly Canada).
My work includes (new) educational and research program developments, social innovation and impacting. I work cross faculty with international teams on designing interdisciplinary, arts-based research and (short) educational programs around questions of social change, urban(in) justices, mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion and urban governance. In my current role at the Amsterdam University of Applied Science (AUAS – Centre of Expertise Just City) – I am involved in numerous advisory and research roles in the cultural and economic domain, working closely with the Municipality of Amsterdam (Community Wealth Building Economic Development and Urban Regeneration Nieuw West). My research is mostly practice-oriented, action based, arts-based and highly collaborative and participatory. I currently work in 3 neighbourhoods in the city of Amsterdam where topics like sense-of-belonging, hospitality and collective memory building play an important role in building urban environments for new residents finding a place, a process called ‘home-ing’.
I hold an MBA in Social Venture Innovation (University of Groningen, Netherlands) and an MSc in Communication Science and Media from the University of Amsterdam (UvA, Netherlands). I is the Chair/Director of the (non-profit) initiative Stichting Doubleyoutee (2021) and Chair of the Board Stichting TILT Performance Art (2021), two innovative experimental platform for artistic research and the incubating of open educational programs.
Areas of Interest: Social (in)Justice, Community Wellbeing, Urban (in)Justice/Governance • Affiliation/s: Amsterdam University of Applied Science, Board & Advisory Member of Various Cultural Institutions • Geographical Scope of Work: Europe, Asia
Dr. Nishant Shah is a feminist, humanist, technologist working in digital cultures. He wears many hats as an academic, researcher, educator and annotator, interested in translating research for public discourse and being informed by public discourse to orient his research.
He is a Professor of Global Media and Director of the Digital Narratives Studio at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, School of Communication and Journalism (Hong Kong). He was the founder of the Centre for Internet and Society, India, the Director of the Digital School at Leuhpana University, Germany, Vice-President of ArtEZ University of the Arts, The Netherlands, Faculty Associate at the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University, USA. and a Knowledge Partner for the Dutch Human Rights Organisations Hivos and Oxfam.
Areas of Interest: Intersections of Body, Identity, Digital Technologies, Digital Governance, Artistic Practice, and Activism, Questions of Authorship, Authority, and Authenticity in the Context of Evolving AI and Platform Technologies • Affiliation/s: Digital Narratives Studio at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, School of Communication and Journalism • Geographical Scope of Work: Global
Cristina Vélez (b. Medellín, Colombia) is a digital social researcher and a Digital Civil Society Lab Fellow 2024-2025 at Stanford University. Her work lies at the intersection of platform research and social movements in Latin America, building the field through the design of tools and methodologies. She has co-founded and led pioneering initiatives in the region, such as Linterna Verde and the Lupas Project at somos-puentes.org which support civil society organizations and journalists with social listening tools, insights, and training. Cristina has 15 years of experience in the civic tech/transparency community, working at Transparency International (TI-S), The Engine Room, and La Silla Vacía. She is a political scientist with a Masters in Public Policy at the Hertie School of Governance as a Heinrich Böll Stiftung fellow. She serves on the board of the Karisma Foundation.
Areas of Interest: Digital Platform Research, Social and Gender Justice Movements In Latin America, Platformization of Care Work, Data Justice • Affiliation/s: project lead Puentes, co-lead and co-founder Las Escuchadoras • Geographical Scope of Work: Latin America
Kalindi Vora is a Professor of American Studies, of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies, and is an affiliate of the program in History of Science and Medicine at Yale University. She is currently a visiting Professor at the Center for Science and Thought at University of Bonn. Dr. Vora’s current research includes ongoing writing and publishing on artificial intelligence and automation through the lens of STS and critical race and gender theories. She is also beginning a book project, supported by a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Studies award (2022-2024) tentatively titled, Autoimmune: Chronic Conditions and Care in a Time of Uncertain Medicine. It places contemporary narratives of illness by patients facing racism and sexism in their daily lives within an analysis of the history of the concept of autoimmunity and contemporary practices of healthcare self-monitoring to understand the potential for patient-physician co-production of medical knowledge. She is author of Life Support: Biocapital and the New History of Outsourced Labor from the University of Minnesota Press (2015), of Reimagining Reproduction: Surrogacy, Labour and Technologies of Human Reproduction (2022) and co-author with Dr. Neda Atanasoski of Surrogate Humanity: Race, Robots, and the Politics of Technological Futures from Duke University Press (2018) and of Technoprecarious from MIT Press (2020) as a member of the Precarity Lab.
Areas of Interest: Feminism, Science and Technology Studies, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, New Technologies, Cultural Studies • Affiliation/s: Yale University • Geographical Scope of Work: India, US, EU
Saskia Witteborn is a Professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). She specializes in critical technology studies. She earned her PhD from the University of Washington/USA and has held visiting appointments at the Free University of Berlin, the Berlin Institute for Migration and Integration Research/Humboldt University, Télécom Paris, and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Saskia Witteborn’s research explores how next-generation technologies shape human social interaction and mobilities. Her work spans Europe, North America, Asia, and digital environments, focusing on the geopolitics of identity, the datafication of migration, Web3, and AI in communication research. She has collaborated with various communities, theorizing the social implications of technologies and advocating for fieldwork-driven methodologies. Her scholarship is widely published in leading journals and edited volumes, including the Journal of Communication, New Media & Society, Cultural Studies, Telematics and Informatics, and the Journal of Refugee Studies. She is the author of Unruly Speech: Displacement and the Politics of Transgression (Stanford, 2023), co-editor of The SAGE Handbook of Media and Migration (SAGE, 2020), and co-author of Together: Communicating Interpersonally—a Social Construction Approach (Oxford, 2005).
Areas of Interest: Technology and Migration, AI, Ethnography, Narrative Analysis • Affiliation/s: Chinese University of Hong Kong • Geographical Scope of Work: Europe, East/SE Asia, North America
Narrative Partners
Narrative Partners are experts in Narrative Change Practice who will advise, mentor, and facilitate the exchange and production of knowledge generated by the Knowledge Architects. They will provide feedback on case studies and assist in drafting the final position paper during an in-person writing sprint.
Graciela Selaimen is a Brazilian journalist, writer, and social innovation strategist who bridges storytelling, technology, futures thinking and social change. As the founder and executive director of Instituto Toriba, she catalyzes collaborative imagination processes that bring together diverse actors to develop creative pathways for more sustainable, peaceful and prosperous futures. A proud mother of two amazing adults, Graciela has a profound faith in nature, and approaches her work and life with a deep sense of interconnectedness and hope.
From 2013 to 2021, Selaimen served as a Senior Program Officer at the Ford Foundation, where she strategically developed portfolios in Technology and Society, Creativity and Freedom of Expression, and Civic Engagement and Government.
Selaimen’s leadership extends to several prominent organizations, including board positions with More in Common, Oxfam Brazil, Manos Visibles, and the Brazilian Institute of Consumers’ Rights
Areas of Interest: Narrative Power, Futures Design and Strategic Foresight, Decolonial Language and Repertoire, Social Justice, International Solidarity • Affiliation/s: Instituto Toriba • Geographical Scope of Work: International
Azza Nubi is the Founder and Executive Director of LooM SWANA. She is a dedicated feminist, and LGBTIQ+ human rights advocate with extensive expertise in holistic security, digital rights, community building, and activism.
Azza has played a pivotal role in establishing and strengthening the queer movement, co-founding numerous organizations in Egypt, Sudan, North Africa, and beyond.
LooM SWANA is a regional LGBTIQ+ organization that aims to connect and intersect communities and human rights, internet freedom, digital rights, and holistic security themes to weave better futures for queer and trans people in South West Asia and North Africa “SWANA” region.
Areas of Interest: LGBTIQ+ Rights, Digital Rights, Holistic Security, Feminism • Affiliation/s: Founder and Executive Director of LooM SWANA • Geographical Scope of Work: Southwest Asia and North Africa “SWANA” Region
I have experience in community organizing, narratives coaching, movement building, civil resistance, and leadership mentorship.
I have supported the development of meaningful research on narrative engagement across difference to build a relationships and coalitions among peace builders, dissidents, activists, and academics in the social justice movement.
I am currently studying a masters in International Human Rights at the University of Denver in Colorado,USA.
Areas of Interest: Narrative Strategy and Engagement • Affiliation/s: Horizons Project • Geographical Scope of Work: Africa
A facilitator, trainer, and systems coach, I am deeply committed to fostering collaboration and driving meaningful change in the international development and social impact sectors. I believe in the power of creativity—artistic expression, storytelling, and innovative thinking—to unlock potential and shape transformative solutions. I specialize in designing engaging learning experiences that inspire action and build consensus by integrating creative approaches. As a connector and communicator, I excel at creating inclusive spaces where diverse voices are valued, cultivating shared purpose and sparking collaboration.
I co-founded Inspirasi Tanpa Batas (INSPIRIT), which pioneered vibrant facilitation training in Indonesia. Currently, I serve as the Executive Director of Roemah Inspirit, a communication resource hub actively building a vibrant and resilient civil society ecosystem in Indonesia through its initiative, Kolaboraya. This effort emphasizes collaboration and experimentation to strengthen the communication capabilities of social change actors, contributing to a more democratic, sustainable, and inclusive Indonesia. My experience in program management and capacity building within international nonprofits complements my Master of Public Policy from the National University of Singapore and Bachelor of Arts from Sophia University, Tokyo. I continue to learn and grow through affiliations with Spring Strategies and Co-Impact.
Areas of Interest: Communication, Facilitation, Building Narratives, Culture, Arts, Anthropology, Systems Change, Building Resilient Civil Society Ecosystems • Affiliation/s: Roemah Inspirit (non-profit), INSPIRIT (social enterprise) • Geographical Scope of Work: Indonesia
Andrei Venal is a communicator, artist, educator, and activist. He is the Strategy and Innovations Director of DAKILA, utilising his expertise in creative design and communications, organizational strategies, innovations in movement building, and cultural work focused on changing narratives and social behaviors.
With his expertise in narrative change strategy, he leads learning sessions in networks such as Forum Asia and Mekong Cultural Hub toward narrative field building in the region.
Andrei is a fellow of Salzburg Global Seminar.
Areas of Interest: Narratives, Communications, Design, Strategy, Gamification, Art, Education • Affiliation/s: DAKILA • Geographical Scope of Work: The Philippines, Mekong
Leni Velasco is the Co-founder and Secretary-General of DAKILA, an artist-activist collective in the Philippines, and the Executive Director of its Active Vista Center. She represents East Asia in the Governance Circle of the global Innovation for Change network. She is actively involved in the intersection of art and activism as a member of the Global Impact Producers Alliance (GIPA), a trustee of the Albay Arts Foundation and the Women’s Day Off. She is currently a fellow of the Centre for Applied Human Rights at the University of York
As an activist and feminist with over 30 years of experience in cross-functional leadership within social movement building, she has worked across a multitude of issues that challenge power relations, advocating for human rights and amplifying the voices of the marginalised through creative campaigning, strategic communications, civic education, and grassroots organising. She specialises in using the arts, media, and popular culture toward driving innovations in civic engagement, social impact campaigns, and movement building.
Her recent work focuses on developing strategies to disrupt the authoritarian regime’s populist, violent, and divisive narratives, organizing campaigns to convey abstract human rights ideals to resonate with the lived realities of the people, nurturing people’s solidarity through relational organizing to cultivate transformative action, expand civic spaces, and foster collective care in the community of practice of human rights defenders.
Areas of Interest: Narratives, Movement Building, Art and Activism • Affiliation/s: DAKILA, Active Vista • Geographical Scope of Work: Global, The Philippines
Project Team
Darlene Gan is a human rights advocate and learning and communications specialist, working with young activists and social movement workers and collectives to reclaim and expand civic spaces and participate in social transformation.
She is the Education Director for artist-activist collective DAKILA, and concurrently leads the Learning & Development program of its Active Vista Center, facilitating the creation of knowledge products and implementation of capacity-building programs informed by narrative change and social behavior change approaches.
Areas of Interest: Digital Activism, Narratives, Youth Civic Engagement Affiliation/s: DAKILA, Active Vista
I am a youth advocate working at the intersections of behavior change, mental health, sexual and reproductive rights, youth engagement, and community development. I serve as the Head of Partnerships and Co-Head for Health at Tara Kabataan, a youth organization based in Manila, and I organize with the Partido Manggagawa Kabataan Women’s Committee.
I am also a young academic, currently teaching at the Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of the Philippines Manila. My research focuses on issues of health, women, and youth.
Areas of Interest: Behavior Change, Women and Youth • Affiliation/s: DAKILA, University of the Philippines, Tara Kabataan