About D+

Leart Hoxha

Democracy Plus (D +) is an independent and non-profit organization founded in March 2016. D + is committed to building a democratic society by increasing citizen participation in political processes, increasing accountability and influencing decision-making processes.

Refki Morina

Democracy Plus (D +) is an independent and non-profit organization founded in March 2016. D + is committed to building a democratic society by increasing citizen participation in political processes, increasing accountability and influencing decision-making processes.

Diella Rugova Begolli

Democracy Plus (D +) is an independent and non-profit organization founded in March 2016. D + is committed to building a democratic society by increasing citizen participation in political processes, increasing accountability and influencing decision-making processes.

Valmir Ismaili

Valmir is the cofounder of Democracy Plus (D+). He has completed his Master’s in Public Administration at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Business school ‘Stuart’. Beforehand he served as Coordinator for the Secretariat at Democracy in Action, the largest committee for the monitoring of elections in Kosovo. For many years prior to this, he worked with varied other non-governmentaorganisations (NGOs) in Kosovo, including the Kosovo Democratic institute (KDI), Democracy for development (D4D), The Ethnic relations project and the Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development (KIPRED). Valmir has vast experience with elections as well as political parties and has been involved in the monitoring of the central government agencies’ performances, with the main focus being on the Assembly of the Republic Kosovo and Central Election Commission (CEC). His work has also involved increasing public participation in policy-making and the strengthening of local NGO’s. Overall, the areas in which he maintains his focus are elections, political parties and public participation in policy-making.

Executive Director
Valmir@dplus.org

Gani Asllani

Gani has completed his studies in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Prishtina. Before joining D+, he was the Administration and Finance manager at the Advocacy Training and Resource Centre (ATRC) where he dealt with financial management, the designing of budget plans and regulation of expenditures in over 100 NGO partners of the ATRC via projects funded by USAID. As a mentor and consultant with experience in this field, he has contributed to the development of training models centred around growing capability and competence within the field of Financial management for local and international NGO’s. Gani has over 20 years of experience within the public sector in Kosovo, where he has worked with various organisations such as: The Forum, the East West Management Institute, as well as consulting for KOD, PIPS, D4D, BIRN, IKS, GAP, CBVP and other local and international NGO’s.

Director of Finance and Administration
Gani@dplus.org

Albert Krasniqi

Albert has completed his studies in Philosophy at the University of Prishtina. Before joining D+, he was the Program Manager at the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), where he dealt with the support of the political parties in Kosovo, specifically in the democratization and development of their capabilities. Albert has over ten years of experience in the public sector of Kosovo, where he has worked with varying organizations such as the Democratic Institute of Kosovo (KDI) and the Kosovar Institution of Policy Research and Development (KIPRED). During this time, he was involved in the monitoring of the Assembly of Kosovo’s work, as well as in supporting the development of its capabilities. Through the USAID project, he has supported the Parliamentary committees with external research. He has been part of the KIPRED team in which they offered support for the establishment and empowerment of the Budget Committee. For four years, he has led the secretariat of the coalition of local organizations for election monitoring at ‘Democracy in Action’.

Program Director
Albert@dplus.org

Visar Rushiti

Visar Rushti is a Policy Analyst at Democracy Plus. Beforehand, he worked in the same capacity at the GAP institute. Prior to joining the civil society sector, he worked within the government of Kosovo, firstly in the Department of Public Safety (2005-2007) and following that, in the Prime minister’s office (2007-2009). Later on, he also worked with the Kosovo Security Council’s secretariat (2009-2012). During the year 2012, he took part in the program called the ‘Western Balkan Fund’ and continued on to complete an internship with the Ministry of Public Affairs as well as with the Ministry of Defence in Austria. Having attained his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Prishtina (2001-2005), he continued on to achieve a Master’s in Professional Studies from the Rochester institute of technology at the American University of Kosovo (2009-2010). Furthermore, he has a Masters in European Studies from the International Center for European Studies and European Academy for Studies in Distance (2009 – 2011)

Policy Analyst
Visar@dplus.org

Roberta Osmani

Roberta has completed her Master’s studies in Public Policy at the School of Public and Environmental affairs at Indiana University, with a focus in Public Policy Analysis and International Development. She holds a scholarship with USAID’s Transformational leadership Program. During her studies in the USA, Roberta was an assistant in her Statistics class. This is in addition to her role as student representative for the Master’s Student Association. Roberta has work experience within the Central Level Institutions, where she has been involved as a foreign advisor with the Capacity Development Facility. Furthermore, she has served as a consultant for non-government-organisations in international field. Her previous experiences include working with minority groups in Kosovo, as well as being part of the team who drafted the strategy for the Ministry of Communities and Returns (2014-2018) and implementation plan 2014 - 2016. Her areas of professional interest are public policy analysis, in particular the quantitative results of the impact of good public and local level government programs. Mainly researches fiscal and social policies related to the tax system in the developing country, as well as the fight against poverty and corruption.

Senior Researcher
Roberta@dplus.org

Albana Rexha

Dr. Albana Rexha joined our organisation in September 2020 as a Senior Public Policy Analyst. Albana received her title of Doctor from the University of Southeast Europe in Northern Macedonia and took part in the Doctorate program at the Central European University (CEU) in Hungary and the School of Public Policy ‘Willy Brant’ located in Germany. She also completed her Master’s in Public Policy at CEU and her Bachelor’s at the American University Kosovo. Albana holds many prestigious awards and scholarships including the DAAD grant; the Civil Society Scholar award OSF; the scholarship of excellence at AUK; the IPKO foundation scholarship and was selected as student speaker for her graduating class. Her ten years of work experience in the capacity of senior analyst of policies, senior project manager, mentor, advisor and national coordinator for government and non-government organisations, are in addition to her current role as a professor of Public Administration and Gender Integration in Public Policy at UBT. Her work is concentrated in the good governance program, public administration, gender equality and environmental policies. At D+, she is also responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of projects within the organisation.

Senior Public Policy Analyst
Albana@dplus.org

Debora Peci

Debora Peci is Project Manager in the Good Governance program at Democracy Plus. She has completed her studies in Political Sciences at the University of Prishtina. Following this, she joined D+ as an intern in 2017 and since then has been a part of the Good Governance program. Throughout this time, she has focused on the aspect of local governance, working to increase transparency and public participation in all Kosovan municipalitie. She has aimed to achieve this via the platform ‘ndreqe.com’. Amongst many other things, Debora is a scholarship holder with SAYP- the Swedish academy for young professionals, and has participated with the Political academy organised by FES; OSCE Dialogue Academy and the PIPS’s Political School.

Project Manager
Debora@dplus.org

Egzona Kozhani

Egzona is a Researcher at D+. She joined the D+ team in October 2018. She is part of the Rule of Law program in which her daily activities include the monitoring of public procurement. Before joining D+, she gained experience at other civil service organisations as well as many Kosovo Institutions. Egzona completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Faculty of Law and Faculty of Finance respectively, both at the University of Prishtina. Part of her studies also took place in Sapienza, the University of Rome. Her fields of interest include the management of public funds and tax policies.

Researcher
Egzona@dplus.org

Ardit Dragusha

Ardit is a Researcher at Democracy Plus at the ‘Rule of Law’ program, with his main focus being the monitoring of public procurement. He has completed his Bachelor’s degree at the faculty of law at the University of Prishtina. Before joining D+, he has worked as a journalist covering national and international political events.

Researcher
Ardit@dplus.org

Liridon Elshani

Liridon has completed his studies in Political Sciences at the University of Prishtina. During his studies, he was involved in varying organisations in a range of capacities, with some of the organisations including NDI, KIPRED, MAM. Liridoni joined the Dplus team in January 2019. He is involved in projects that are related to the prevention of violent extremism.

Researcher
Liridon@dplus.org

Hazir Isufi

Field Coordinator / Administrative Assistant
Hazir@dplus.org

Gezim Zeqiri

Gëzim has joined Democracy Plus as USAID Social Contract Activity Project Coordinator. As a USAID Transformational Leadership Program Fellow, he completed his master's degree in the United States at Syracuse University School of Education, majoring in Curriculum and Teaching. He also completed a master's degree at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Prishtina and a university degree in Sociology at the same University. Gëzim has experience in Non-Governmental Organizations, teaching and central government. Prior to joining the Democracy Plus team, he worked on the USAID After School Support for Teens Program - ASSET at the Kosovo Education Center where he was involved in supporting Teacher Professional Development and activities related to the prevention of adverse events in School. He has also worked as a teacher in schools: American School of Kosovo, Zenel Hajdini and Pandeli Sotiri.

Project Coordinator
Gezim@dplus.org

Elira Salihu

Elira is the Local Coordinator for the municipality of Gjilan within the USAID 'Social Contract' program. She completed her bachelor's degree in political science at the University of Prishtina. Throughout her studies, she has been engaged in various local and international organizations such as: TOKA, Helvetas Swiss Cooperation Kosovo, Kosovalive, Open Data Kosovo, mainly in the fields of human rights, active citizenship and local government. Elira is also a Futuregov Fellowship alumnus from the Center for Policy Innovation (CPI), where she learned about the most innovative methods of public policy design.

Local Coordinator
Elira@dplus.org

Valentina Aliu

Valentina is the Local Coordinator for the Municipality of Obiliq within the USAID 'Social Contract' program. She has completed her studies in the General Psychology Program at Fama College in Pristina. Valentina started her activism in civil society at the Local Youth Action Council in the Municipality of Obiliq, also she worked as a Mentor of the Program for Educational Volunteerism at the NGO TOKA.

Local Coordinator
Valentina@dplus.org

Ardian Muçaj

Ardian is the Local Coordinator for the Municipality of Prizren within the USAID 'Social Contract Activity' program. Ardiani studied Architecture and Spatial Planning as well as English Language and Literature. He has eight years of work experience as a Project Manager and has worked as a Communication Officer at the NGO EC Ma Ndryshe, Lëvizja FOL and Debate Center. Ardiani also has experience in the field of research, digital PR and environmental protection.

Local Coordinator
Ardian@dplus.org

Donika Ahmetaj

Donika joined the D+ team in March 2022 as an intern, currently she is a Project Assistant in the Good Governance program. She completed her studies at the Faculty of Law at the University of Pristina. Before joining D+, Donika was engaged in various civil society organizations, including Initiative for Justice and Equality (INJECT), Advocacy for Training and Resource Center (ATRC), and Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR). During this period, she was involved in the research and monitoring of cases of hate crimes, domestic violence, as well as the direct monitoring of procedural justice in the Basic Court of Pristina. Donika was also part of the internship program with the OSCE, where she was engaged in the Ministry of Local Government Administration, and monitored the work of local bodies. Her areas of interest are Rule of Law and Good Governance. At D+, she is engaged in researching democratic practices that promote transparency and accountability in local government. Donika helps in projects aimed at advancing citizen participation in policy-making, with a special focus on empowering young people and marginalized groups in society.

Project Assistant
Donika@dplus.org