Gaya has broad experience in capacity development and project management in peacebuilding, migration and psychosocial support. Though she lived most of her adult life in the Netherlands, in the first years of her life she lived with her parents in different countries around the world. This is where her interest started to bloom to work with people from different cultural backgrounds. Now, Gaya works as a programme manager and trainer at The Hague Academy and mainly focuses on training programmes in citizen participation, migration and (disability) inclusion in Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and Burundi. Before joining the Hague Academy she worked at several Dutch refugee NGO’s enhancing the integration of refugees. Besides working in the Netherlands, she lived in Rwanda for several years where she worked for GIZ and the UNHCR to implement community-based protection and peacebuilding programmes to enhance social cohesion amongst refugees and host communities. Amongst others, she has experience in setting up capacity building programmes, delivering trainings on conflict sensitivity, communication and facilitation, monitoring and evaluation and conducting needs assessments. Gaya holds a MSc in Clinical Psychology from the University of Utrecht and a MSc in International Relations from the University of Amsterdam. She speaks Dutch, English and French.
