Kaja Pavlinić

About me

Currently, I am president of the Sustainable Development Forum Green Window( Forum za održivi razvoj Zeleni prozor , Forum za održivi razvoj Zeleni prozor), a Croatian youth NGO that is also a member of the Cooperation and Development Network Eastern Europe, where I am coordinating several projects, including European Green Activists Training organised by the Green European Foundation.

I am also a member of the US Department of State alumni community (BFTF 2014) and an alumna of Young Leaders for Tomorrow’s Europe 2015, Open Data Youth Academy 2016, Global-In Fellowship 2016, UN Academy 2018, Academy for Political Development 2018, and Balkan Youth Forum 2018. Previously, I was a member of the Youth Council of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Youth Council of the City of Varaždin, and Croatian United Nations Association.

In 2017, I received a ‘Future Leader’ award from the Croatian Women’s Network, and in 2018 I received a ‘30 Under 30’ award at VIDI Awards. I was also a national finalist in the category ‘Female role model of the year’ at the Central European Startup Awards 2018.

I have worked on over 40 different international projects, mainly related to promoting green values, active citizenship, and helping youth become more proactive in their communities. Currently, I am working in the IT industry as a project manager. I am also running my own company KAJUŠKA, which offers consultancy services and organises educational workshops for young people. In 2020, I became a managing board member of the Croatian Youth Network and a commitment mentor at the Clinton Global Initiative University. In October 2018, I was appointed as a Young European Ambassador, getting the opportunity to promote European values among the Eastern Partnership countries and internationally. My goal is to encourage young people to become more active, fight for women's rights, and a more just community. I am very passionate about promoting sustainable development, human rights, fighting climate change, and using activism as a way to achieve change in our community. I have also attended numerous workshops, programmes and conferences

• Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellowship 2014
• US Department of State program, chosen as the only representative from Croatia, Purdue University, Indiana, USA, 29th of June - 26th of July 2014
• Anti-corruption workshop "Integrity: It Starts With Me" organised by the US Embassy Zagreb, Donja Stubica, Croatia, 5th of July - 11th of July 2015
• "Young Leaders for Tomorrow's Europe" conference supported by the US Embassy Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia, 9th of August - 15th of August 2015
• "Global-In Fellowship" conference supported by the Erasmus+ and the US Embassy Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 23rd of July - 12th of August 2016
• "Open Data Youth Academy" workshop, Pula, Croatia, 28th of August - 3rd of September 2016
• Startup incubator programme with "Tinja", organised by Zagreb Entrepreneurship Incubator, Zagreb, Croatia, October 2016 - February 2017
• Open Government Partnership Summit, Paris, France, 7th of December - 9th of December 2016
• RockIT Digital Summit, Warsaw, Poland, 16th of February - 17th of February 2017
• "Bridge Towards Success" project organized by OAZA Association, Zagreb, Croatia, October 2017 - December 2017
• "European Green Activists Training" project, Brussels and Zagreb, October 2017 - March 2018
• CEDRA start-up mentoring programme, Zagreb, Croatia, December 2017 - March 2018
• Startup Academy, Zagreb, Croatia, February 2018 - "Elements of Developing Entrepreneurial Attitude" project organized by BIZkoshnica Coworking, Limoges, France, 8th of April - 13th of April 2018
• "Fighting for Our Common Planet" summer camp organized by the Federation of Young European Greens, Selce, Croatia, 22nd of July - 30th of July 2018
• "Congress of Young Europeans" organized by Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Prague, Czech Republic, 30th of August - 3rd of September 2018
• "Have your say in what the EP should do for youth" seminar, Brussels, Belgium, 6th of March 2019
• "Digital Youth Work and Innovation" seminar, Warsaw, Poland, 29th-31st of May 2019

My skills

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• Project management
• Youth empowerment
• IT skills - computer science, Wordpress, web development, basics of UX/UI design
• Business development
• Project writing
• Activism & campaigning advice

Why you should work with me

I love organising participatory and inclusive physical and online events that empower participants and show them how to use their (new or existing) skills and knowledge in practice. Recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have all witnessed an improvement in the quality of online events which allow participation by more people with various privileges and coming from different backgrounds. However, organising an online activity brings its own challenges - we have to adjust to the new tools, keep participants equally engaged, and prevent the conversation from dying after a certain time. On an everyday basis, I use tools like Zoom, Miro, MindMeister, Icebreaker, Slido, and others to keep participants engaged and simulate a real-world working experience.

My work experiences

• 09/2020 - present – Founder, KAJUŠKA

• 06/2020 - present – Junior project manager, Speck Agency

• 03/2020 - present – Project coordinator, ‘European Green Activists Training 2020/2021’, Green European Foundation

• 01/08/2020 - 01/12/2020 – Project coordinator, ‘Students for Students - Our Voice for the Dignity of Students’ Work’

• 05/2020 - 09/2020 – Project coordinator, ‘Regional Green Post-Corona Talks Croatia’, Green European Foundation

• 09/2018 - 05/2020 – Project coordinator, Duart j.d.o.o.

• 08/2019 - 03/2020 – Project coordinator, ‘Youth Voice for Integrity’

• 04/2019 - 08/2020 – Youth tutor, Green European Foundation

• 03/2019 - 3/2020 – Project coordinator, ‘European Green Activists Training 2019/2020’, Green European Foundation

My education & training

• 2020 - Clinton Global Initiative University 2020 - Clinton Global Initiative
• 2018 - 2020 - Master's degree in Software Engineering and Information Systems - Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb
• 2018 - Academy for Political Development - Student's Programme
• 2018 - UN Academy - Croatian United Nations Association
• 2017 - New Code Leadership Academy - Partus akademija
• 2014 - 2018 - Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering and Information Systems - Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb

My references

Press clipping (in Croatian): https://belizagrebgrad.com.hr/kaja-pavlinic-zelite-li-pokrenuti-vlastiti-posao-budite-sigurni-da-ce-vam-okolina-naci-10-razloga-zasto-to-nije-dobra-ideja-ali-to-nemojte-slusati/ https://regionalni.com/iznimna-varazdinka-kaja-pavlinic-najveca-zelja-mi-je-osnaziti-mlade-i-potaknuti-promjene/ https://www.netokracija.com/leap-women-summit-buduca-liderica-kaja-pavlinic-153610 https://native.jutarnji.hr/1u4milijuna/kaja-pavlinic/ https://www.24sata.hr/tech/studentica-kaja-ne-bismo-mi-prepisivali-da-je-manje-gradiva-676470 https://www.poslovni.hr/hrvatska/predrasuda-je-da-se-ne-moze-raditi-i-kvalitetno-obavljati-studentske-obveze-360527 https://www.globalnovine.eu/karijera/kaja-pavlinic-studentica-birokraciji-nije-dala-da-je-zaustavi/ https://dnevnik.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/bolja-hrvatska-kajina-borba-za-bolje-drustvo---579116.html https://lider.media/aktualno/nagradu-buduca-liderica-odnijela-ferovka-koja-se-bori-protiv-varanja-na-ispitima-prepisivanja/ https://www.express.hr/ekonomix/ovo-su-ljudi-koji-ce-stvoriti-bolju-hrvatsku-13105 https://evarazdin.hr/magazin/druga-hrvatska/nasa-kaja-pavlinic-usla-u-godisnji-izbor-top-100-onih-koji-se-usuduju-pokrecu-i-riskiraju-368274/ http://varazdinski.rtl.hr/drustvo/kaja-pavlinic-divno-je-naci-se-medu-ambicioznim-i-karijerno-ostvarenim-zenama https://www.hrt.hr/297498/magazin/studentica-kaja-nasa-predstavnica-na-konferenciji-mladih-voa https://lider.media/konferencijske-vijesti/foto-kaja-pavlinic-najgore-mi-je-kada-ljudi-s-20-godina-kazu-da-su-razocarani-u-zivot/ https://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/ova-studentica-fer-a-osvojila-je-isto-priznanje-kao-blanka-vlasic-i-kolinda-grabar-kitarovic-evo-zasto-1145069 https://x-ica.com/kaja-pavlinic-buduca-liderica-kojoj-je-samo-nebo-granica/ https://evarazdin.hr/magazin/druga-hrvatska/20-godisnja-kaja-pavlinic-otkriva-nam-kako-mladi-mogu-uspjeti-i-u-hrvatskoj-361887/