Team

Robin Sclafani

Executive Director
Robin Sclafani has over 25 years experience in developing and delivering anti-bias training programmes for various target groups. With a Masters Degree in Conflict Resolution, Ms. Sclafani uses training and facilitation as methods for transforming social conflict into opportunities for social cohesion. Originally from New York City, Ms. Sclafani came to Brussels in 1998 as a Fulbright Scholar to the European Union.
robin.sclafani@ceji.org

Melissa Sonnino

Facing Facts Director
Originally from Rome, Italy, Melissa has extensive experience in managing EU projects. Since its inception in 2011 she has managed and enhanced the European project Facing Facts! – make hate crime visible. Her passion for identity issues, inclusion and communities’ development found a natural fit in the work of CEJI where she also develops and delivers training programmes on issues related to antidiscrimination and hate crime monitoring. She has strengthened the Jewish outreach of the organisation with local Jewish communities and institutions across Europe. With a Master degree in International Relations, before joining CEJI, she coordinated two research projects on Jewish Identity in Italy.
melissa.sonnino@ceji.org

Stéphanie Lecesne

Training Director
Born in France in 1974, Stéphanie graduated from Caen University, where she completed a professional master’s in ‘European Local Development Projects Expertise’ which included an internship with CEJI in 2004. Stéphanie has worked for over a decade in the area of European projects in France. She has developed several courses related to intercultural learning employing non-formal education techniques in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Stéphanie returned to CEJI, joining our team in April 2011 as Training Coordinator.
stephanie.lecesne@ceji.org

Jean-Christophe Donck

Operations and Finance Manager
Jean-Christophe started his career in the field of financial risk management in New York. After having completed a Master of Business Administration at INSEAD (France), he joined the biopharmaceuticals field evolving from strategic roles into operations. After more than 25 years in the corporate world, he decided to join the Institute of Tropical Medicine as General Manager (Antwerp, Belgium). In 2018, he took on the CEO role of Virunga Energies (DR Congo), a green electricity producer and distributor. Jean-Christophe joined CEJI in March 2023 as Operations and Finance Manager with the goal of developing and implementing efficient management processes to ensure operational efficacy and economic sustainability.

jc.donck@ceji.org

Adam Coventry

EU Project Finance & Administration Officer
Born in London, Adam received his Bachelor degree in Business Management from Brunel University in 2006. Adam gained 5 years of experience working on the financial side of collaborative projects both domestic UK and EU-funded, before relocating to Belgium in 2017. Once in Belgium, Adam worked in an administrative role for an NGO and then moved to CEJI to focus on EU projects.
adam.coventry@ceji.org

Camila Piastro

Intersectional Action Officer
Born in Barcelona, originally from Mexico, Camila is a graduate of International Relations and holds a Peace and Gender studies diploma. She also has a joint M.A. in Euroculture: Society, Politics, and Culture in Global context, where she wrote her Masters’ thesis on the institutionalization of Intersectionality in European Institutions. Passionate about intersectional justice, Camila has worked in the Jewish community in Barcelona and other projects such as Salam-Shalom Barcelona and Women lawyer for Social Justice in Tel Aviv. In addition, she has recently been elected to Board Member and Vice-President of EUJS.
camila.piastro@ceji.org

Daniel Heller

Project Assistant
Originally from Rome, Italy. Daniel holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences with a specialisation in Political Science and a Master’s degree in Conflict and Development from Universiteit Gent, where he researched for his Master’s thesis the challenges and advantages of an intersectional-informed approach to hate crime policies. His interests include concepts of violence, racism, the political, and intersectionality.
daniel.heller@ceji.org

Marta Roca

Communications Officer at CEJI
Originally from Barcelona, Marta completed her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and a Master’s degree in International Studies at Mendel University (Brno, Czech Republic). There she developed projects related to international cooperation in different countries from the Global South. Passionate about social justice, Marta has participated in several volunteering programs and has experience working for the NGO sector. In addition, she collaborates with a Catalan magazine that creates content around the social solidarity economy.
marta.roca@ceji.org

Annabelle Betz

Communications Officer at Facing Facts Network
After her studies in Lyon, Weimar, Lisbon and Leipzig, Annabelle joined the team as a Communications Officer in November 2022. Previously, Annabelle worked as a video editor for the digitisation of teaching content and in the Communications team of a non-profit organisation. Annabelle holds a Bachelor’s degree in European Media Culture with a specialisation in “Organisations, Institutions and Digital” and a Master’s degree in European Studies, where she wrote her Master’s thesis on the role of tour guides in decolonising Lisbon’s cityscape. Her interests include the history of activism, specifically anti-racism and queer rights, as well as media representation.
annabelle.betz@ceji.org

Moussia Garelik

Research assistant
Fascinated by the way humans think and behave, Moussia Garelik is a graduate of Social and Human Sciences, where she could get a social, historical, political, legal, and psychological perspective on human beings’ behaviour. As a current student of Informatics and Systems at HE2B (Brussels), Moussia works at CEJI as a part-time research assistant.
moussia.garelik@ceji.org

Joanna Perry

CEJI Collaborator – Facing Facts
Joanna Perry is an independent hate crime consultant, research fellow and associate lecturer on hate crime at Birkbeck College, University of London. Joanna’s previous roles include Hate Crime Officer at the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, criminal justice policy lead at Victim Support UK, and hate crime policy and performance lead at the Crown Prosecution Service. She has published on disability hate crime and current challenges in achieving a shared concept of hate crime at the international level among policy makers, civil society, practitioners and scholars. Joanna has a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Bristol University and later gained a graduate diploma in Law from the College of Law, and a Masters in research in law from Birkbeck College.

Khalissa El Abbadi

CEJI Collaborator – Trainer
Khalissa El Abbadi has been working in the field of integration for 20 years. She has been coordinating a frontline service that organises the integration of foreigners, and she is also a trainer on intercultural issues for social workers, frontline professionals and in schools. For the past two years, Khalissa has been a pedagogical referent at the Fédération des Maisons de Jeunes in French-speaking Belgium. Since 2013, she has been co-facilitating CEJI trainings and working regularly as a trainer on topics such as antisemitism, islamophobia, stereotypes and prejudices.

Cathy Del Rizzo

CEJI Collaborator – Trainer
Cathy Del Rizzo has been working for EPTO, the European Peer Training Organisation, for 7 years. With formal and non-formal education backgrounds in training, youth work, art and theatre, Cathy is now mainly focusing on organisation management and training. She has been involved in the design and delivery of many anti-bias training and workshops.

Chiara Piccolo

EU Policy Advisor at Learning for Wellbeing
Chiara grew up in Napoli (Italy) where she internalised the passion of the culture underneath the Vesuvio. She always had a deep interest in pedagogy, philosophy and psychology. She moved to Brussels in 2006 where she worked as a project coordinator for education and training EU-funded projects. She takes care of relationships with EU Institutions and European partners, NGOs and key stakeholders. She oversees the advocacy work and strategy for EU policies on social welfare, well-being, child rights and participation.
camee@learningforwellbeing.org