Jessica Valdez demonstrates a remarkable wit in weaving ideas, narratives, budgets and logistics with the artists, activists and communities she collaborates with. She is also a speaker, political educator and content creator on anticolonial perspectives in cinema, climate justice and education. She has also organized within immigrant rights movements, particularly in relation to access to education, health and freedom of movement.

Yasmine Djidel is currently an intern at EA Berlin, supporting the School of Transnational Organising. She holds a Master’s degree in International and European Law, with a focus on migration and decolonial studies, from the University of Angers, France. Her work has engaged with initiatives addressing anti-Muslim racism in Europe and the social and political conditions of the North African diaspora in France. Before settling in Berlin, she collaborated with migration lawyers and NGOs, combining legal counsel with grassroots experience to support displaced populations and marginalised communities.

Lucy Alice Thomas is a multidisciplinary consultant, facilitator, and social movement activist whose work focuses on building sustainable, intersectional, and community-based infrastructures for social and cultural change. After her time as founding Director of Give Something Back to Berlin, she went on to co-initiate the Women*s Funding Initiative and the Fundraising as Movement Work event series. In recent years, she has worked with grassroots initiatives and established NGOs in Germany and internationally, supporting collaboration, funding strategy, and organisational development across movements and sectors. Her practice is grounded in solidarity, collective care and long-term capacity building. (From November 2025, she joins the European Alternatives team to further develop work at the intersection of funding, movement building and programming.

Wissam Sheib is an activist and program manager from Lebanon with over a decade of experience in community organizing, strengthening civil society, and advocacy for digital rights, human rights, and LGBTQI+ justice. His work focuses on gender equality and the advancement of sexual and bodily rights through community-centered advocacy and programming. Building on his grassroots activism, Wissam has led multiple regional initiatives across the SWANA region with international organizations and foundations, working on human rights, migration and forced migration, and labor rights. His approach centers local realities within global advocacy.

Csenge is Head of Events and Culture at European Alternatives Berlin, where they curate and organize the Summer School, Winter Academy, and other translocal gatherings that bring together activists, educators, and artists for collective learning, reflection, and action. They are a cultural organizer and activist committed to building transnational, intersectional networks of solidarity across movements. Csenge also contributes to the SCHOOL OF POLITICAL HOPE, supporting the creation of spaces for political imagination and shared struggle.

They studied theatre in Cluj, Romania, where they were active in the local housing movement with Social Housing Now and the European Action Coalition, fighting against gentrification and displacement, and for the right to housing and the city. These experiences continue to shape their dedication to the intersections of art, education, and political struggle. Csenge believes that care, trust, and creativity are essential tools for resisting alienation and xenophobia, and for building more just and livable futures.

Lawyer, mediator, lecturer, Pilates trainer, and activist, she moves between worlds with a shared purpose: building empowerment and solidarity. Rooted in feminist and antiracist principles and informed by years of grassroots organizing in Berlin, her work seeks not only to support individuals but to change structures and foster sustainable transformation.

Gabriela was an intern at the Berlin Hub of European Alternatives, working on the School of Transnational Organizing‘s education and training programs for migrant workers, East German & Eastern European activists, as well as youth activists and campaigners from across Europe.

She has almost ten years of experience in direct legal services, community organising, and policy work with refugee and immigrant communities, both in Lebanon and the US. Gabriela worked in the US as a movement lawyer, representing low-income undocumented individuals, first in their immigration cases and later on employment and labour matters. She also worked on designing and implementing benefits and policies to support low-income immigrants in New York State. She is currently completing a master’s programme through the Global Labour University on Labour Policies and Globalisation.

Since April 2023, Gabriela has transitioned into her new role as Grassroots Community Manager building, holding, and caring for our community and network in Berlin and across Europe.

Jana is Grassroots Education Manager at European Alternatives, working within the School of Transnational Organizing. She is dedicated to creating transformative learning spaces and building capacity to collaboratively strategize for system change. 

With a background in education, she has a passion for critical and experiential pedagogy and research interest in how social movements learn and engage in counter-hegemonic knowledge production. As a social and climate justice organizer and activist she has experience and a wide network across the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, the UK, and Germany. 

Most recently, she coordinated the programme of the People’s Summit for Climate Justice in Glasgow. Working with the COP26 Coalition, she draws on capacity organizing with a wide range of civil society groups, ranging from environment and development NGOs, to grassroots community campaigns, youth groups, indigenous groups, and migrant and racial justice networks. 

Outside of EA, Jana is a Berlin-based grassroots organizer and activist, steadily pushing towards new imaginaries and strategic wins by the people.

He is a visual artist and performer from Budapest whose work explores queer experiences across local and global contexts, engaging with questions of visibility and identity and weaving personal narratives through a queer lens. Currently completing an internship with European Alternatives, he contributes to design and cultural programming that connects creative practice with social imagination.