Seeded in 2023 in response to the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Dalan Fund´s role is shaped by the two dimensions we are part of – the funding ecosystem and the ecosystem of Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central and North Asia (CEECCNA) movement organizing, facilitating connections and synergies between movement-led political visions, funding strategies, and collective actions to advance human rights and dignity for all.
With participatory movement-guided and driven decision-making, the constellation of advisory communities has been supporting the Fund, making sure that DF’s strategies and tactics are driven by the frontline activists at the closest proximity to the communities DF serves.
In early 2025, Dalan Fund initiated a process of building an Advisory Council that will accompany the Fund throughout the Pilot Cycle in 2025 and 2026 as a year of reflecting on Pilot Period learnings.
The Advisory Council (AC) is composed of six regional activists representing CEECCNA sub-regions and diverse movements. The AC members come with different relationships with Dalan Fund, some being previously Founding Advisory Group members, some DF´s current grantee partners, representatives of the sister funds, etc.
The Advisory Council builds on the work of the Founding Advisory Group (FAG) that accompanied the Dalan Fund for the initial 18 months of the Seeding Period (January 2023-June 2024). FAG played a pivotal role in shaping the vision, mission, and identity of DF, and the FAG members supported the grounding of Dalan Fund´s Theory of Transformation.
Central and Eastern Europe
Ganna Dovbakh
Ganna Dovbakh is the Executive Director of the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association, uniting 342 organizations and activists from 29 countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia to ensure a progressive human rights-based drug policy, sustainable funding advocacy, and quality of harm reduction services oriented on the needs of people who use drugs.
Ganna is committed to enhancing community engagement and self-organization, HIV programs, comprehensive health, and social programs for key populations, and organizational support for LGBTQI, people using drugs, sex workers, and people living with HIV.
She is an LGBT and human rights activist, feminist, and mother of an adult daughter. Originally from Ukraine, she is based in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Ganna holds an MA in social psychology and an MA in cultural studies.
Ganna has served the Dalan Fund as a Founding Advisory Member since early 2023 and is currently DF´s Advisory Council member.
Erika Schmidt
Erika Schmidt has extensive 16 years of experience in grassroots movement building, development of strategic collaborations, resource mobilization, change management, and women’s rights advocacy, particularly in the area of sexual and reproductive health.
In recent years, her focus has been on the situation of women human rights defenders in the Central and Eastern European region.
She serves as executive director in Emma Association, and board member of ASTRA Network. Her deep commitment to women’s rights is not only professional but also profoundly personal, fuelling her dedication to social justice and meaningful, systemic change.
Caucasus
Janette Akhilgova
Janette Akhilgova has more than 20 years of experience in capacity building and movement building of human rights organisations in the North Caucasus of Russia; research on human rights violations and violence against women in Russia; international advocacy, strategic litigation, movement building, and support of the local women’s civil society groups, establishing strategic partnerships on a national and international level and leading research on the issues of sexual violence in Central Asia.
Janette holds an MPA from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in Syracus, NY, and a BA in English and German from the Ingush State University, Russia.
Janette has served the Dalan Fund as a Founding Advisory Member since early 2023 and is currently DF´s Advisory Council member.
Central and North Asia
Ainagul Amatbekova
Ainagul Amatbekova is a civil society organizer and intersectional feminist activist from the Southern part of Kyrgyzstan.
Her journey as a feminist activist began at a local youth-led feminist organization, “Novi Ritm”. Novi Ritm was born after the inter-ethnic clashes in June 2010 in Osh, and it curated spaces by and for young activists to nurture collective solidarity.
Her feminist journey then continued with FRIDA| The Young Feminist Fund, where she held various positions, including Translator, Program Officer for Teenage-girl* organizing, Senior Officer for Grantee Partner Accompaniment, and Focal Point System.
She also supported security groups in complex contexts, including border conflicts in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Russia’s war in Ukraine. Last but not least, she supported and collaborated with the Global Advisory Committee at FRIDA, with a focus on The Girl Advisory.
Currently, Ainagul is engaged in several grassroots and local non-governmental organizations where she brings Central Asian intersectional and decolonial perspectives and advocates for the voices of the most marginalized communities, including the Mugat (Roma) community in Kyrgyzstan.
Dankhaiaa Khovalyg
Dankhaiaa Khovalyg is an independent journalist and decolonial activist from Tyva, author of the podcast & media project “говорит республика” (“republic speaking”).
