Biographies
Gordana Milovanović
Gordana Milovanović has a master’s degree in economics. She started her career in the field of social protection in 2005 at the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy and coordinated projects within this Ministry for many years. With her experience in the field of social protection, she contributed to the development of integral social protection, the improvement of professional work standards, the introduction of the licensing and accreditation system in social protection, as well as the development of social protection services in the Republic of Serbia.
Gordana coordinated the Working Group on the “Integrated response to violence against women” project, which referred to the drafting of the Rulebook on minimum standards for the operation of the SOS telephone for women victims of violence; Coordinated and managed 14 tenders for the development of social services in the community worth ten million euros. She also participated in the development of standards for the provision of services and licensing of social welfare organizations.
In all jobs, she was responsible for establishing vertical coordination between the central and local levels and encouraging cooperation between the social protection, health, and education sectors. In that process, she acquired basic knowledge about financial and cross-sectoral issues, relevant for the establishment of integral services in the community. It also cooperated with most local communities and ministries in Serbia, as well as with around two hundred civil society organizations. She was also part of the team that created the “Social Profile of Municipalities” database, which for years was on the website of the Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Policy.
Since the establishment of the Center for Support and Inclusion “Help Net” in 2015, she and her team have implemented over 20 projects in the field of social protection, human and minority rights, as well as population policy. With her experience and work, she actively contributed to the functioning of the Working Group of the Government of the RS during the development of the Strategy for the Prevention and Protection of Children from Violence.
Gordana is also a member of the board of directors of the Gerontological Society of Serbia and the president of the Belgrade Lions Club, which is a member of the International Lions Club Network, whose goal is to create a better society through humanitarian work, education and connecting successful people from different professional spheres.
In recent years, he has also been actively engaged in publishing. On behalf of the association she manages, she published several researches under the name “Usklađivanje rada i roditeljstva”; “Unapređenje položaja neformalnih negovatelja u Republici Srbiji” as well as a manual “Ja, neformalni negovatelj”; “Percepcija rodnih uloga i društveno prihvatljivih obrazaca ponašanja od strane adolescenata muškog pola”; Kuvar “Kuhinje nacionalnih manjina”.
As a mother of a female child, she successfully fights the challenges of balancing work and parenthood every day. For anyone who knows her, the first thing they notice when working with her or hanging out with her is her exceptional energy, which she selflessly shares when gathering colleagues and friends. He sincerely believes in teamwork, especially in giving young people the opportunity to show their abilities. He complements his long-term experience in the field of social protection through cooperation with a wide network of experts in this field, which contributes to approaching each, even the most complex professional challenge, with the highest degree of competence and dedication.
Now, after more than a decade of dealing with social protection, she can say that it is her field of expertise, although until recently she thought that social policy found her, not the other way around.
Ana Kovačević
Ana was born in Belgrade and has a wide range of interests, which led her to formal education in the field of biochemical engineering. In addition to biochemistry, she also has an affinity and experience in administrative affairs, as well as a heart for working with people, which led her to find her place in the Help Net team.
Due to his communicativeness and ability to contribute to teamwork, and from the position of a team member with a general overview of tasks from the point of view of administration, she helps colleagues to complete tasks following the highest quality standards.
Ana is also a mother, who successfully balances parenthood and work.
Danka Đukić
Danka graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Social Policy and Social Work. After that, she obtained her master’s degree in the field of social work in 2016, and in the same year, she obtained a license to perform basic professional social protection work.
After completing her academic studies, she directed her involvement mainly in the field of child protection, first in the public, and then in the non-governmental sector. She then focused on working with the adult and elderly population in the social protection system, specifically in Help Net. It was her work with different age categories in the social protection system, in different ways, that enabled her to better know and understand professional procedures and work dynamics, as well as the diversity of human nature in certain situational circumstances. She also participated in the development of numerous project proposals, their implementation and reporting, and coordination with the organization’s programs. In addition to coordinating the program part, she is familiar with public relations and cooperation with the media.
The areas in which she was most engaged during the implementation of project activities were the development of social protection services and the protection of vulnerable social groups from violence. She also participated in conducting research in the field of human and minority rights protection, both at the national and lower, local levels.
Danka has and is developing aspirations towards psychotherapy, human resource development and management, as well as graphic design. in her free time, she enjoys exploring his creativity and developing photographs.
She exceptionally nurtures a just outcome in interpersonal relations and highlights solidarity and understanding as significant values in interactions. One of the quotes whose content he identifies with is “It doesn’t matter how slowly you move as long as you don’t stop”, but he believes that steps should be increased when walking and changes for the better in the social protection system should be made.
Dražen Zacero
Growing up in the countryside, Dražen decided to become an aircraft mechanic and a lawyer at only 12 years old, which may seem like a strange combination, but when you are a child, anything is possible. Although his dream of becoming an aircraft mechanic did not come true, he still graduated from the Faculty of Law in Belgrade and today lives and works in Belgrade. In the meantime, he started to deal with social innovations, and he especially likes to implement them where there are none, ie. to change seemingly immutable systems in ways no one has thought of before.
An incredible life experience and a wide range of interests such as transformative leadership, digital transformation, social marketing, history, legal science, social policy, social protection, innovation, violence prevention, development and project management, social impact, and others, make who Dražen is today.
He enjoys working with children and young people the most, an area that has been part of him since he was fourteen. Dražen thus developed from the position of the user of the youth work program and social protection system to the position of coordinator of programs for children and youth. At Help Net, he chose to work in the project development and social innovation sector, because he has more than 15 years of experience in the civil sector and has the perspective of users and project managers, as well as excellent cooperation with the public and private sectors.
Dražen has many years of domestic and international experience in project management of the non-profit sector. His knowledge was acquired from the best experts for the preparation of projects for European funds (he learned from the program director at BOSH and a specialist in fundraising to EU experts who are the architects of IPA2), and he developed the practice of project management through the experience of cooperation with UN agencies and numerous other donors.
In addition to the non-profit sector, in recent years Dražen has also been active in the business sector from the position of monitoring innovations in the financial industry for the international company Projective based in Brussels. He has wherefrom decided to devote himself to Helpnet and his first love- social work and to youth work.
The field of social innovation requires broad interests, the ability to think divergently for new ideas, accessibility, openness, passion, and constant energy for acquiring new competencies and modern skills.
A person with this personality profile manages to adapt to new generations and to keep up to date with the current problems and needs of children and young people, which can be seen in her work with children and young people, where she draws energy and contact with young people.
Dražen believes that he is a person who is not afraid to do things differently and is not afraid of the new and unknown. Dražen believes that he is a person who is not afraid to do things differently and is not afraid of the new and unknown. So he hopes that everything he does today and his activity on numerous projects will make him one of those pensioners who are very witty, and at the age of 80, they follow and use technology and talk to children through mobile applications.
Tanja Đurić Mikuljanac
Tanja has many years of experience in administrative affairs, which she gained by working in the state administration. She joined the Help Net team in mid-2020 with the desire to learn and accept new knowledge and experiences.
Aware that life and work are not uniform and molded, she has developed active listening skills, and her advice is gladly listened to and accepted by team members. He believes that teamwork is improved through cooperation and communication, thus contributing to professional success.
Tanja likes to travel, and in her free time, she indulges in reading her favorite book. She is responsible for a nice atmosphere in the office because she is there to remind you that you work better with music, and she says that listening to music is her important stimulation and motivation during the day.
Vladimir Jovanović
Vladimir grew up in Loznica and has been living and working in Belgrade for ten years. He completed basic studies in Social Policy and Social Work and master’s studies in Social Work at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade. He enjoys working with people and especially focuses on improving the position of various categories of the vulnerable population. Thus, he was a participant in the implementation of many domestic and international projects in the field of social protection and education.
From 2015 to 2017, he worked as an associate demonstrator at the Faculty of Political Sciences – Department of Social Work, on the subjects of Social Pathology, Social Work in the Community, and Advocacy in Social Work. He was also periodically engaged in the courses Introduction to Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Gerontology, and Social Rehabilitation.
He is the co-author of the training program for professional workers in the social protection system, entitled “Realization of human rights of persons with mental and intellectual disabilities”, which is accredited by the Republic Institute for Social Protection.
He holds a license to perform basic professional work in social protection, issued by the Chamber of Social Protection under registration number RO – 4336/2017 – I, and is a member of the Chamber of Social Protection of Serbia.
He applies his academic experience and practice every day in his work at Help Net, trying to improve his knowledge and skills through cooperation with eminent experts in the field of social protection. As a member of the Help Net team, he coordinated the project “Supporting the advancement of the strategic framework for child protection from violence in Serbia”, which is an integral part of the IPA II project Protection of Children from violence and Promotion of Social inclusion of children with developmental disabilities in the countries of the Western Balkans and Turkey. The project was implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, and UNICEF.
In addition to numerous professional interests, Vladimir is also a passionate sports fan, from football and basketball to martial arts and sports.
Vukašin Mlađenović
Vukašin Mlađenović is an enthusiastic general manager with over 7 years of experience working in a leadership team, and with over 13 years of working with people in various positions. Although he completed basic and master’s studies in the field of landscape architecture at the University of Belgrade, he directed his career towards project management and expanded his experience on three continents, working both in corporations and in startup companies.
He has been building experience for years, through numerous educations and various projects and jobs, both in the field of landscape architecture and in the field of management. He also completed a master’s degree in the field of project management at the University of Belgrade and was additionally educated at Harvard Business School on the topic of human health and global changes.
Vukašin joined the Help Net team with the desire to improve and share his communication, organization, training, and coaching talents with our team and use them to improve work on various projects.
Vukašin is in charge of positive energy and motivation among the team. In addition to numerous interests in the business world, he is also a great gourmet, a passionate creative person, and someone the team can rely on at all times.
Marija Milivojević Šuljagić
Since the beginning of her career, Marija has been working as a social worker. She completed her basic studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade as a social worker, and her master’s studies at the Faculty of Law in Priština.
She started her career as a guard at the Center for the Protection of Children and Youth in Zvečanska. As she desired to work with people and to focus especially on working with children and young people, from 2014 to 2017 she worked at the Impuls Day Center, with children with developmental disabilities and their parents. Treatments in early development, creative workshops, and support through therapy, conversation, and consultations are just some of the interests and skills she has acquired working with young people.
In the same period, until 2022, Marija provided support to seniors through consultations and inclusion in the Home for Old Retired Persons Jela, as a social worker.
Marija has a license to perform work in social care, and during her career, she has undergone numerous educations – for working with children such as a Montessori educator but also acquired basic knowledge of sign language from the UTLOSS branch, the Association for Interpreters for the Hearing Impaired of Serbia, a person with disabilities in Serbia.