Our staff and volunteers

Jessica Johnston - Northern Ireland, has been In Country Coordinator for PBI Nepal since March 2011, having previously served on the PBI Nepal field team from December 2008 to December 2009.  She has a background in international relations, with an MA in International Peace and Security from Kings College, London,  and has worked on several projects in Nepal, including human rights, monitoring and psycho-social wellbeing. 

Jochen Riegg - Germany, holds a Master degree in Peace and Conflict studies with a focus on Human Rights in Nepal. After working with a Nepali Human rights Organisation and doing election monitoring in 2008, he served on the PBI-Nepal team from November 2009 until October 2010. In January 2011, Jochen rejoined PBI as Protection Officer, focusing on political analysis and security related issues.

Tini Hermsen - Germany, joined the team in January 2012. She holds a Master degree in Comparative Social Studies, with a special focus on Human Rights Education, from the London Metropolitan University, UK, and the University of Applied Sciences Maastricht, the Netherlands.  Prior to that, she completed her Master in Social Work at the University of Applied Sciences in Münster, Germany and her Diploma in Special Needs Assistance. She has worked for the German Human Rights Institute in Berlin, acted as a social worker in a school for deaf children in Namibia, researched Human Rights Education in South Africa and completed an internship in 'youth development through sports' at GIZ (German Development Cooperation) in South Africa.

Gráinne Kilcullen - Ireland, joined the PBI team in November 2011. She has a BA degree in history and philosophy and an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the Irish Centre for Human Rights.  She has worked with Amnesty International's United Nations Office in Geneva, and as the personal assistant to the Directors of Front Line, the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.  She has also been commissioned as an external consultant for; Tróciare, an Irish Development Organization, Dochas, the Irish Association of Non-Governmental Development Organizations, and the United Nations.

Tracy Baumgardt - United States, joined the PBI in November 2011. She holds a master degree in Global Public Policy and a minor in Human Rights. Previously, she held the position of Program Coordinator at the Democracy Coalition Project, a Washington, D.C. based NGO that advocates for the advancement of human rights internationally, particularly through the UN Human Rights Council. While pursuing her degree she co-founded an NGO to address child abduction in South Sudan called Child Protection International.  She also completed internships with the Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CONGO) in Geneva, Switzerland.

Yannick Creoff - France, joined the PBI team in September 2011. He holds a master of sociology with a focus on the issue of poverty and especially the homeless. He used to work for an umbrella organization of grassroots social work NGOs in France and was working last year in the main humanitarian NGO dedicated to the homeless in Paris as a coordinator of the teams working overnight in the streets. He also worked in Hanoi, Vietnam as a coordinator of a school and social project dedicated to a local shantytown. He used to volunteer with Amnesty, PBI and other human rights organizations helping migrants back in Paris.

Emilie Aubert - Switzerland, joined the PBI team in August 2011. She has a Master degree in International Relations, with a focus on International Human Rights Law and a second Master degree in Development Studies with a concentration in peace and conflict studies. Before joining PBI, she volunteered as a Peace and Human Rights Observer for El Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolome de Las Casas in Mexico, worked as a trainee in the Human Rights Policy Section of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in Switzerland and has been Coordinator for Peace Watch Switzerland.

Adele Morreale – Italy, joined the PBI Team in November 2010.  She holds a masters degree in Science of Education and is specialized in intercultural communication. Adele was engaged for several years in children’s rights, working for Terre des Hommes in Germany. After graduation she worked as a teacher in a refugee camp and as a network coordinator focused on integrating immigrants into the labour market, where lobbying and facilitating nationwide workshops constituted the main part of her role. Previously in Nepal, Adele set up a day care center in 1999 and a project to support Tibetan nuns in 2007.

Bernhard Emmerich - Germany, joined PBI-Nepal in December 2010. Before joining PBI he finished his Masters degree (Magister) in Political Sciences South Asia. Former working experience in the field of Human Rights included an internship with IDASA/South Africa and voluntary work in Nepal, India and Pakistan. Currently his main focus is political analysis in the Mid-West region of Nepal.

Markus Morawietz - Germany, joined the Midwest field team in January 2012. He is an engineer by trade in the fields of mechanical and business administration engineering. He also freelances and has worked on project management.  Over the years he has led and participated in a wide variety of projects in different intercultural settings. E.g. from 2003 to 2005, he worked on capacity building for the German Development Service in Niger, West Africa.

Elizabeth Morrissey - Ireland, joined the Midwest field team in November 2011. She graduated with a BA in History and Psychology in 2005 and subsequently completed post-graduate degrees in International Relations (MA) and in International Human Rights Law (LLM).  She has work experience in the private sector, as well as with Amnesty International (Ireland), the Corrib Monitoring Initiative (Ireland), the International Council on Human Rights Policy (Switzerland) and with the UN Independent Expert on the question of human rights and extreme poverty. Her research interests are varied and include human rights education, particularly at the grass-roots level, conflict mediation and human security.

Tessa Pariyar - Germany, joined the Midwest field team in October 2011. She has a Masters degree in Social Anthropology, Political Science of South Asia and Indology, with a focus on identity politics and the Maoist movement in Nepal. During the last ten years, she spent around three years in Nepal, doing volunteer work in an environmental project and a street children center in Kathmandu, as well as conduction anthropological fieldwork in different parts of the country.  Prior to her work with PBI, she has been working as a research assistant for the University of Heidelberg. 

Veronica Miranda - Colombia, joined the Midwest field team in august 2011.  She studied finance and international affairs and did her master studies in International Law, Conflict Resolution and Conflict Transformation. She worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee in Colombia for approximately two years in different projects providing technical assistance to local or national government in strengthening Internal Displaced Population (IDPs) legislation. Her fields of interest are human rights, psychosocial wellbeing, human development and conflict transformation. She is currently also working on her thesis research on social integration in Nepal and Colombia.

Roman Gnaegi - Switzerland, joined the Midwest field team in April 2011. He has a BA in Social Anthropology from the University of Berne and a Masters in Development Studies from Macquarie University. Prior to PBI, he spent a year teaching English and computer courses in a college in southern Tanzania. His first visit to Nepal was in 2007 as a volunteer teacher. His main fields of interest are international politics, education, food security and, of course, human rights.

Kyasingmong Marma (Mong) - Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, joined PBI as a field officer in June 2011. He has a BA in Legal and Justice Studies with a major in Social Justice from Southern Cross University, Australia. While studying at the University of Dhaka he was actively involved with CHT Indigenous Students’ political activities.  His work experience with human rights issues includes an internship with Diplomacy Training Program, UNSW and work at the office of Janelle Saffin MP (Australia Federal Parliamentarian). He has also participated at a number of international human rights training programs, seminars and conferences, including in 2008, when he participated as a delegate from Bangladesh at the Commonwealth Youth Leadership Program in Cyprus.