Dr. Oliver JÜTERSONKE
President
With around a hundred employees spread between the headquarters in Geneva and nine national representations, the Coginta team is constantly evolving. It is represented by a committee and its operational activities are managed by the executive management in conjunction with the various country directors.
Dr. Oliver JÜTERSONKE
President
Dr. Luna IACOPINI
Committee member
Dr. Alexandre DORMEIER FREIRE
Committee member
Dr. Silke GRABHERR
Committee member
President
Dr. Oliver JÜTERSONKE has been President of Coginta since 2023. A researcher, lecturer and conflict analyst, he has over 20 years' experience in peacebuilding, humanitarian action and sustainable development. Oliver is a political scientist by training, with a specialisation in critical security studies. He focuses on applied research methodologies, foresight and strategic anticipation, the facilitation of organisational reflection processes, and the design and delivery of training curricula and analytical tools. Between 2008 and 2022, Oliver was Head of Research for the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.
Committee member
Dr. Luna IACOPINI has been a member of the Coginta board since 2019. She is responsible for international affairs at the University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland (HES-SO). A Doctor of Education, Luna has 15 years of experience implementing educational programs and partnerships in Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. She is a member of the Technical Commission of the Geneva Cooperation Federation (FGC) and of the Regional Commission of Experts of the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie.
Committee member
Dr. Alexandre DORMEIER FREIRE has been a member of the Coginta committee since 2019. He is a teaching and research fellow at The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, where he serves as director of programs in Development Policy and Practice and Associate Researcher at the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding. Holder of a doctorate from the University of Geneva, his recent research focuses on the importance of family structures in mitigating violence in fragile contexts.
Committee member
Dr. Silke GRABHERR joined the Coginta committee in 2020. She directs the French-speaking University Center for Forensic Medicine and is head of department at the Vaud University Hospital Center (CHUV) and the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG). She is also a full professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva and the Faculty of Biology and Medicine of the University of Lausanne. She published the Atlas of Postmortem Angiography, as lead editor, and trained teams on all continents in this field. It is considered a reference in forensic imaging. As a forensic doctor, she is called upon as an expert in several national and international cases and participates in various humanitarian missions.
Sébastien GOURAUD
Executive Director
Dr. Dominique WISLER
Scientific director
Jérôme BERNARD
Administrative and financial director
Hervé GONSOLIN
Programmes Director
Executive Director
Sébastien GOURAUD is the Executive Director of Coginta. With a degree in law, political science and international security, he is a specialist in public policies on internal security and judicial and security reform processes in fragile or transitional states. After working for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Sudan, he joined the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) in Geneva as a “Rule of Law, Justice and Security” Programme Manager. In this role, he has covered numerous countries, including the Central African Republic, Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Chad and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. With a wealth of experience in technical assistance and project management, he participated in the creation of Coginta and became its Executive Director in September 2011.
Scientific director
Dr. Dominique WISLER is co-founder of Coginta. Specializing in local security issues and methodologies, he develops security analysis tools and conducts thematic and impact monitoring studies in Coginta's areas of activity. He is the author of studies and comparative works on public security in sub-Saharan Africa. Dominique also leads project development and technical assistance missions related to community policing and mining security. He has a doctorate in political science and a degree in philosophy.
Administrative and financial director
Jérôme BERNARD has been Coginta's Administrative and Financial Director since 2017. For more than 20 years, he has been involved in transition management processes both in the non-profit sector and in the private sector for small-scale groups with a European or global focus, mainly focused on financial and organisational accountability. Jérôme holds a master’s degree in management and development of small and medium-sized companies.
Programmes Director
Hervé GONSOLIN has been Coginta's Programmes Director since 2024, after having notably served as Programme Manager and principal technical adviser since September 2021. He has more than 25 years' experience in various fields focusing on security sector reform, reducing armed violence and community engagement. Previously, he was Senior Programme Coordinator for Sub-Saharan Africa at DCAF Geneva. He has also held the position of Special Adviser on Peace and Security at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. As an independent consultant, Hervé Gonsolin has provided expertise in the identification, formulation, monitoring and evaluation of projects and programmes in countries such as Guinea, Tanzania and Nigeria. His professional background also includes roles as a Project Manager and Programme Coordinator for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and non-governmental organisations in emergency humanitarian contexts.
Bertrand CAVALLIER
Technical Adviser
Michel COAT
Technical Adviser
Technical Adviser
Bertrand CAVALLIER is technical advisor for Coginta. A graduate of the Special Military School of Saint-Cyr, a graduate of the War School, he spent his military career in the French national gendarmerie. He exercised numerous
operational commands, but also served in high-level staffs and in training structures. In particular, he served as commander of the national training center for the gendarmerie forces in St-Astier. A European expert, he contributed to the development of crisis management concepts for the European Union and to the creation and development of the European Gendarmerie Force. Since 1993, he has participated in the design and implementation of numerous projects, mainly European, for the benefit of internal security forces, in Cambodia, Romania, Ukraine, the Balkans, Jordan, and since 2014, under the banner of Coginta, Africa.
Technical Adviser
Michel COAT has been a technical advisor to Coginta since 2024, after having successively held the positions of project manager since 2018 (notably in Ivory Coast and Chad) as well as those of program director at headquarters in Geneva. A graduate of the Special Military School of Saint-Cyr (international relations major), with significant experience in development aid, Michel is a specialist in security and defense issues who has a rich and long executive career. manager in France but also internationally.
Marguerite TEWA CAMARA
Guinea
Yahaya NOUHOU
Niger
Hippolyte HARKITE SIB
Ivory Coast
Salifou OUEDRAOGO
Burkina Faso
Appolinaire DOUANODJI
Chad
Emmanuel KAMATE LIMASI
Dem. Rep. of Congo
Clement AAPENGNUO
Ghana
Guinea
Marguerite TEWA CAMARA holds a diploma of in-depth studies in agri-food engineering. With more than 15 years of professional experience within non-governmental organizations and national institutions in Guinea, she is a specialist in the management of cooperation projects and procurement. She was notably responsible for security sector reform, decentralization and deconcentration programs. She joined Coginta in 2018.
Niger
Yahaya NOUHOU holds a master's degree in management, finance and accounting. He has more than 15 years of experience in national and international non-governmental organizations and bilateral and multilateral cooperation agencies in Niger, Chad and the United States. For ten years, he was responsible for operations at the United Nations for development, on projects in governance, justice, security, rule of law, resilience, demobilization and reintegration. He has been working with Coginta since 2019.
Ivory Coast
Hippolyte HARKITE SIB is a graduate in public affairs management and a doctoral student in geopolitics. He has nearly 15 years of professional experience, including 6 within Coginta. In particular, he coordinated cooperation and development projects focused on community policing and access to law and justice in Guinea. Since 2006, Hippolyte has contributed to several development and international exchange programs in Africa and the United States.
Burkina Faso
Salifou OUEDRAOGO holds a university degree in management sciences. For more than 20 years, he was administrative and financial manager within development programs (Togo, Chad, etc.) in the areas of livestock, justice, the rule of law and good governance or reform. of the security sector. His skills include the development of procedure manuals and internal control and risk management tools and even procurement. He joined Coginta in 2021.
Chad
Appolinaire DOUANODJI has a degree in geography and has a Master's degree in business administration management, project management option. He specializes in steering, setting up and organizing development projects on issues of social cohesion and local, judicial and security governance. He has 17 years of professional experience in Chad in the area of development and promotion of human rights. Appolinaire has worked for Coginta since 2016.
Dem. Rep. of Congo
Emmanuel KAMATE LIMASI is a graduate of the Higher Institute of Rural Development of Bukavu and a specialist in planning and management of development projects in rural areas. He worked for more than 30 years in the management and coordination of humanitarian emergency programs (assistance to those displaced by war and those affected by natural disasters) for several non-governmental organizations. He joined Coginta in 2021.
Ghana
Clement AAPENGNUO has worked for Coginta since 2021. A graduate in conflict analysis and resolution, he has extensive experience in conflict transformation, peacebuilding and facilitating community dialogues. Clement has worked for over 23 years on community conflicts in northern Ghana, linked to questions of power, social identity or resources.
Vanina ECKERT
Programme manager
Romain LÜSCHER
Programme Manager
Mireille WIDMER
Programme manager
Ilaria BRACCHETTI
Programme manager
Frédéric WASMER
Communications Manager
Mélanie FILIPPELLI
Administrative and HR assistant
Solène DEBOVE
Financial controller
Derya OZBAHAR
Financial controller
Programme manager
Vanina ECKERT has been a program manager at Coginta since 2022, after working in the field since 2018, as project officer and project manager in Conakry (Guinea). She holds a Master's degree in international and European law from the University of Strasbourg (France) and an LLM in international human rights law from the University of Lund (Sweden), and worked for various organizations, including the Danish Institute for Human Rights (Denmark), the UN Global Compact (USA), and the Council of Europe (France), capitalizing seven years of experience in the field of human rights, capacity building, and project management.
Programme Manager
Romain LÜSCHER has been a program manager at Coginta since 2024, after having worked for four years within the federal administration in Bern, as well as for the United Nations in Kyrgyzstan and Sudan. A graduate of political science and international relations, he has extensive experience in peace policy, project management as well as political and security analysis.
Programme manager
Mireille WIDMER joined Coginta in 2024 after a multifaceted career centred on peace and development issues. She worked among other on small arms control at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, implemented community security projects with UNDP in Haiti and Somalia and a rule of law project in the Central African Republic, and designed and conducted an academic study on local security governance in Nepal. She holds a Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Sydney, and a PhD in Development Studies from the University of Sussex (Institute of Development Studies).
Programme manager
Ilaria BRACCHETTI joined Coginta in January 2022 as a programme officer, after working for more than 15 years as a project manager in the field in Africa (Mozambique, Tanzania and Angola) and Latin America (Brazil) with international NGOs. Ilaria has a law degree and a postgraduate master course on international cooperation, as well as additional training courses on PM, M&E and a professional certificate in Euro-project designing. She has a proven track record in project and grant management, as well as sound skills in governance, capacity building and human rights.
Communications Manager
Frédéric WASMER joined Coginta in 2023 as the Communications Manager. Frédéric holds a master’s degree in socioeconomics from the University of Geneva, and also studied graphic design and visual communication. Particularly interested in issues related to international cooperation and development, he has sought to combine his skills in positions within NGOs and international organizations since 2015. He has notably worked as a Communications Officer for the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Administrative and HR assistant
Mélanie FILIPPELLI joined the Coginta teams in December 2022, as an administrative and HR assistant. Mélanie has extensive experience in administrative and HR support acquired in the private sector, mainly in Switzerland. She is notably in charge of the deployment and contracting of long/short term experts to different countries. She is also an office manager, supporting finances at headquarters.
Financial controller
Solène DEBOVE has a degree in Economics and Management. She first worked in international groups specializing in aeronautics and then luxury as part of the implementation of financial and industrial reporting processes. In 2022, she joined Coginta as a management controller and supports financial managers in different country offices in ensuring compliance with the organization's financial and administrative procedures.
Financial controller
Derya OZBAHAR joined Coginta in 2023. A versatile management controller with federal certification training, she specializes in finance and accounting. She has over 10 years of experience in demanding business environments requiring strong organizational and analytical skills.