Ginka Kapitanova is Bulgarian and one of TULUM’s senior specialists in local government and regional development. After being elected as a municipal mayor in Bulgaria’s first democratic elections, Ginka gained hands-on experience in juggling intergovernmental relations, complex institutional reforms, municipal planning, policy implementation and establishing inclusive civic engagement mechanisms at municipal level. Since leaving public office, Ginka continues to work in the public advocacy sector focusing on issues of local economic development, public-private partnerships, training and strengthening local government institutions and local associations, such as the FORUM program. She closely works with communities and citizen groups to improve collaboration and civic life at municipal and community level.

Wolf joined TULUM’s board of directors in 2006 and has since then been our specialist in advising private companies in corporate governance and management. He started his career as livestock training advisor in a SDC funded program in Senegal, worked with Nestlé and subsequently was seventeen years at the helm of the Groupe Minoteries, which became the biggest milling group in Switzerland under his tenure. Wolf’s key interests lie in finding solid and common ground in companies faced with challenges of evolving market outlooks, quality management requirements and of coping with deteriorating energy supply and climate change.

Alex Melzer is a senior partner at TULUM, an economist by training and a 25-year veteran in solving diverse international development question marks in over 20 countries. He specialises in concept, methods and analytical designs. This expertise has led him to father a number of leading research studies, analyses and large-scale program evaluations pertaining to Swiss foreign and development assistance policy. Alex has also provided technical assistance in the fields of micro-credit systems and SME sectors development; multi-level policy and program assessments; institution building; decentralisation, local governance and civic participation. When Alex is not conjuring up new development concepts, he hones his intellect by writing creative fiction.

Markus Reichmuth is also a senior founding partner at TULUM. For the past 25 years, he has specialised and published internationally on the conceptual design of market-oriented SME development programs in financial and non-financial services. In the 1990s Markus designed new national credit guarantee systems for SMEs in Indonesia and Namibia, and has since become involved in providing technical assistance on policy design, training and implementation of regional, local economic and SME sector development programs, international trade promotion and public private partnerships in Latin American countries. His former clients include SDC, SECO, UNDP, GTZ, Interamerican Development Bank, World Bank and IFAD. Markus also consults private companies on financial planning, marketing and corporate social responsibility strategies.

Francesco has a professional background of agriculture and livestock, a field of activity in which he was active in Nicaragua for over a decade in the framework of an integrated rural development program funded by SDC. He joined TULUM in 2005 to take over the local coordination of the decentalization program in Rwanda where his professional background and managing skills were instrumental in successfully coaching a demanding process of transition in the Western Province of Rwanda. In the years to come, he will again focus his attention to agricultural practices.

Jordanka Tomkova has a background in analysing governance frameworks, public institutions and development policies in various fields. Prior to joining TULUM, Jordanka worked as a senior researcher at the University of Pretoria in South Africa; development policy chain analyses and the impact of South Africa’s land reform on rural development, poverty reduction, local governance and community dynamics were among her key research areas. In a consulting capacity she has also worked for the UNECE, ILO, the WEF, and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade on bilateral aid programming (Eastern and Southern Africa), trade facilitation, emerging markets in Central Europe and gender equity labour standards. She is currently in the process of completing her doctoral studies in political science at the European University Institute.

An agriculturalist by training, Pierre-François entered the board of directors of TULUM in 2008 to replace Dominique Kohli who followed a call to become Deputy Director of the Swiss Federal Office of Agriculture. Pierre-François has taken over the lead in the decentralization program in Rwanda. Otherwise, he is much absorbed by his tasks as federal legislator and President of the Control Committee of the Swiss National Council. This function endows him with an ample oversight in matters of policies and governance at large.