About us marc 28. Oktober 2021

We provide tailor-made consulting and project management services

BiRD (Bureau for Institutional Reform and Democracy) was founded in 1998 as a limited liability company in Munich, Germany, where we are still headquartered. Aspiring to make a real difference and convinced that properly functioning democratic institutions are at the core of societal and individual well-being, development and fulfillment, our founders laid their focus on the then still new governance sector. During the early days of the company, we implemented mostly short-term technical assistance (TA) projects, but soon started partnering for and even leading long-term TA projects commissioned by the European Commission. And still today, we engage in strengthening democratic institutions, promotion of the rule of law, support to civil society – to only name a few – while always extending our fields of activities in the various sectors, we work in. Next to our TA projects, a second pillar has always been central to our work: conducting evaluations, analyses and studies in various development-related sectors for NGOs, public institutions and multilateral organisations.

Our team
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Dunja Speiser
Managing Director

Dunja (MA in International Relations) heads our business development and technical assistance pillar and represents our company in international consortia.

Contact Dunja
Markus
Markus Brunner
Director

Markus (PhD in Political Science) has been with BiRD since 1998. Motto: enhancing democracy requires analytical rigor and political pragmatism.

Contact Markus
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Benjamin Schmich
Senior Project Manager

Benjamin joined BiRD in 2017. He holds a M.Sc. in Human Security and is passionate about Climate Change-related topics.

Contact Benjamin
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Hanna Stadler
Senior Project Manager

Hanna joined BiRD in 2017. She holds a MA in International Relations. One core topic she is passionate about is gender.

Contact Hanna
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Farina Dähnhardt
Project Manager

Farina joined BiRD in 2022. She holds a MA in War and Conflict Studies. A topic she is interested in is the correlation between climate change and human security.

Contact Farina
Silke
Silke Williams
Project Coordinator

Silke has been with BiRD since 2008 in different positions. She supports our project management team from Munich and is the perfect person to contact for any kind of administrative matters.

Contact Silke
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Zhamilya Arzymatova
Project Support Manager
Zhamilya is responsible for supporting our project management, mainly by recruiting qualified experts and maintaining our database. She holds a BA in Linguistics, and is fluent in Russian, French and English.
Contact Zhamilya
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Kamil Stepanenko
Project Support Manager

Kamil is responsible for supporting our project management, mainly through recruiting experts and maintaining our database. He holds a BA in International Relations, and speaks Russian, English and German.

Contact Kamil
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Altynai Maganbetova
Project Support Manager

Altynai is responsible for supporting our project management, mainly through recruiting experts and maintaining our database. She holds a MA in Business Administration. Altynai is a native Kyrgyz and fluent in Russian and English.

Contact Altynai
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Walanga Nabi
Project Support Manager

Walanga is responsible for supporting the management of short-and long-term projects. She holds a MA in Human Rights and Democratization. Walanga is native in Pashto, and fluent in Russian, English, Persian and Hindi.

Contact Walanga
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Daniel Stroux
Founder

Daniel has founded BiRD in 1998 and is until today its sole shareholder.

Contact Daniel
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Markus
Dr. Markus Brunner has been working with BiRD since the founding of the company in 1998, initially as a Senior Programme Officer, then as Deputy Director, since 2008 as Director. In this capacity, Markus has both participated directly in the implementation of projects and missions as key expert, and has been involved as Project Director and principal backstopper on the consortium level for the implementation of larger-scale EDF-projects. He is also in charge of business development, including the building of consortia, drafting and submission of proposals and liaising with clients, partner companies and experts. Markus holds a masters degree in Economics and a PhD in Political Science and has more than 20 years of work experience, among them four years in Nigeria and periods of three years in Kenya, Syria, Turkey, and Estonia. Currently, he is based in Vienna, Austria.
Markus Brunner
Director
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Dunja Speiser holds a M.A. in Political Science and has more than 15 years of professional experience in the area of governance, democratisation, state building and post-conflict reconstruction. She is responsible for the preparation, management and realisation of governance related projects as well as the firm’s business development and human resource management. Before having joined BiRD as Project Manager on a permanent basis in 2010 and as Deputy Director since 2016, she has worked for the company on a freelance basis for many years. Numerous projects and evaluations for different bi- and multilateral donors have been directly implemented by Dunja as key expert. She provides specific working, research and living experience in fragile and conflict-affected countries, particularly in the Central and West African region.
Dunja Speiser
Deputy Director
Silke
Silke Williams is a Project Coordinator at BiRD and has been working with the company since 2008. She is in charge of the preparation and coordinaton of short- and long-term projects, the acquisition of consultants and administrative tasks within the company. Before her return to Munich, she lived in the US for six years where she gained comprehensive professional experience working with international corporations such as Sun Microsystems, Cisco Systems, Google, Autodesk and Sony in California as German Translator/Administrative Specialist and Project Coordinator. Silke Williams has graduated as Translator/Interpretor for German, English and French with a focus on economics and international relations.
Silke Williams
Project Coordinator
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Altynai Maganbetova is a Project Support Manager at BiRD. Her responsibilities include the support regarding the management of short- and long-term projects mainly through the acquisition of experts and databank management. Altynai holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration with a specialization in Finance as well as a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. Before joining BiRD, she worked as a special assistant to the Chief Information Officer at the American University of Central Asia. Furthermore, Altynai has worked at a Telecommunication Company holding the position of lead economist. She is a Kyrgyz native and is fluent in Russian and English.
Altynai Maganbetova
Project Support Manager
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Hanna Stadler is Project Manager at BiRD. Her responsibilities include the technical and administrative project management of BiRD’s short- and long-term projects in the governance and justice sector. She holds a Master’s degree in International Relations with a specialization in Public International Law and International Politics as well as a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Sociology. Due to her research and various professional experiences, she has gained expertise in foreign and security policy, especially with regard to China. Before having joined BiRD, Hanna interned among others with the FES China Office in Shanghai and the German Embassy in Paris. She is a German native and is fluent in French and English and has elementary knowledge of Chinese.
Hanna Stadler
Project Manager
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Benjamin Schmich is Project Manager at BiRD. His responsibilities include the technical and administrative project management of BiRD’s short- and long-term projects in the governance and justice sector. He holds a Master’s degree in Human Security from Aarhus University and a double-major Bachelor’s degree in Cultural and Social Anthropology and Geography. Before having joined BiRD, Benjamin worked as a research fellow with ICRAF Vietnam on the topics of climate change adaptation and disaster-risk-reduction. Furthermore, Benjamin has worked with NGOs in development cooperation for more than 10 years in an honorary capacity. In addition to his native German, Benjamin is fluent in English and French.
Benjamin Schmich
Project Manager
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Daniel Stroux is the founder and sole shareholder of BiRD. He has a long-standing experience as election and governance expert with a special focus on electoral assistance, parliamentary and civil society support as well as evaluations. Currently, he is working as the Chief Technical Advisor of the United Nations Electoral Support Team within the UN Support Mission in Libya. Between 2013 an 2015, he coordinated a UNDP Electoral Assistance project in Egypt, following a period of four years as Deputy and Interim Director of the Electoral Division of the Peacekeeping Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) and four years as Chief Technical Advisor for a UNDP project supporting the Congolese transitional institutions. For BiRD, Daniel has participated on all levels of project, programme and business management, while also being part of project implementations and missions as key expert. Daniel holds a Masters Degree in Political Science.
Daniel Stroux
Founder
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Walanga Nabi is a project support manager at BIRD. Her responsibilities include support regarding the management of short-and long-term projects mainly through the acquisition of experts and database management. Before joining BiRD, Walanga worked as interpreter and English and Russian language instructor at the TOEFl Center, and interned with UNDP and the Afghan Embassy in Bishkek. She holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights and Democratization and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. In addition to her native language Pashto, Walanga is fluent in Russian, English, Persian and Hindi.
Walanga Nabi
Project Support Manager