Kersti Wissenbach

Wissenbach Kersti
Organisation: The Broker

Kersti Wissenbach, former outreach and engagement strategist at The Broker. She is an independent consultant in the field of human rights advocacy, open development and ITC4D, and is passionate about freedom of expression and access to information. With a track record in innovative fieldwork, capacity building, and program design Kersti is a tireless advocate of cross-media solutions and co-creation approaches; driven by the demands of and relevancy to the people she works with. She has been responsible for strategic planning, advice, and implementation processes in various countries, consulting a diversity of local, national and international stakeholders. Kersti  represents the Open Knowledge Foundation as its ambassador in the Netherlands.

With her hybrid expertise as a campaigner, researcher and lecturer, Kersti merges different disciplines and is a strong advocate of interdisciplinary approaches and a stronger linkage between academic and practical work. Her work always starts with the context and people, not the technology.

Kersti studied Sociology, Communication Sciences and Political Sciences at HHU Duesseldorf, Germany, and International Development Studies at ISHSS, University of Amsterdam, where she set an early focus on community media and citizen agency. As an external PhD student at the UvA, Kersti is researching the intersection of digital media, activism and community building, having a strong interest in transnational socio-political engagement and its impact on the transformation of identities as well as its implications for direct democracy.