Meet Vese: Supporting Community Resilience in the Western Balkans

We are pleased to introduce Vese, GCERF’s Regional Manager for the Western Balkans, covering Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and North Macedonia. She is a committed advocate for human rights, community resilience, and locally led initiatives to prevent violent extremism.

Vese comes from a human rights background and has spent the past decade conducting research on violent extremism leading to terrorism. Her field work has included interviewing former foreign fighters from Syria and Iraq, as well as returned women, and publishing analytical reports on prevention and rehabilitation.

Beyond P/CVE research, she has contributed to wider security-sector efforts in Kosovo and led the two-year MotherSchools programme implemented by Women Without Borders, focused on strengthening family resilience.

For the past four years with GCERF, Vese has supported local partners across Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia through capacity-building, advisory support, and monitoring and evaluation. She has witnessed tangible community-level change, seeing individuals regain hope and vulnerable children reclaim their future through safe support systems, trust-building, and meaningful reintegration opportunities.

“Real change happens when people who have been forgotten feel seen again. Hope is not just given; it is built, one life at a time,” Vese reflects.

Through her work, Vese ensures that GCERF-supported initiatives are responsive, locally driven, and impactful, helping communities across the Western Balkans build resilience and prevent violent extremism.