The Bertha
Accelerator - Istanbul
A Residency Program For Activists Transforming The Way We Communicate Change
2025
The Bertha Accelerator is a yearly residency program by Bertha Spaces and Postane, bringing together global change makers- activists, journalists, artivists, and non-profit workers to reflect, connect and deepen their work through storytelling. This year the accelerator will be held from 16 to 26 August 2025 at Postane in Istanbul’s historic Galata district, the program offers space to explore the power of communication for social change in a vibrant setting rooted in activism and community.
Residency on Reclaiming the Story
The residency offers space to pause, reflect, and collaborate on more effective storytelling for social change. As storytelling shapes public opinion and mobilizes communities, activists must craft ethical, values-driven narratives that connect with audiences. Participants will gain practical skills from experts in media, communications, and movement building to shift narratives, build community, and inspire action.
The Theme: Storytelling in the Changing Landscape of Civil Society
Civil society is undergoing major shifts, with traditional, donor-dependent models shrinking and new challenges emerging from financial, legal and political pressures.
As activism, journalism, and storytelling increasingly overlap, civil society actors must now craft compelling, ethical, and hopeful narratives to engage audiences and counter growing misinformation and co-optation by states and corporations.This residency explores how storytelling can strengthen civil society in this evolving landscape.
This residency will help participants:
- Counter misinformation through strong narratives
- Use storytelling and digital tools to engage audiences
- Build hopeful, strategic communication
- Explore the use of alternative media and different forms of storytelling.
Hope-based communication will guide the program, encouraging stories that inspire action, connection, and solidarity. Participants will experiment with formats like video, podcasts, and writing to strengthen their storytelling impact.
The Program
The residency is designed around three core pillars: Context, Strategy, and Content. By the end of the program, participants will have refined a project or strategy, gained insights from global digital advocacy efforts, and built lasting connections with fellow change-makers.
The program includes:
- Opportunities to present and refine content strategies with feedback from other participants.
- Unstructured quiet time to reflect, work, and build connections in an inspiring environment.
- Workshops and case studies on storytelling, digital platforms, and community engagement.
- Peer-learning sessions to share best practices and challenges.
- Collaborative projects that integrate hope-based communication approaches to develop compelling content for social change.
- Social events and excursions to foster connection and cultural exchange.
Each participant is expected to follow the following criteria:
- Connection to Theme: Participants should have a demonstrated interest in content creation, storytelling, or strategic communication for social change.
- Commitment to a Movement or Cause: Participants should be connected to an organization, media outlet, or network that will benefit from their learning and contributions.
- Clear Statement of Intent: Participants should have a specific project or content strategy they want to develop during the residency.
- Commitment to Full Attendance: Participants must commit to attending in person for the full duration of the residency and participating actively.
- Willingness to Contribute: Participants should be open to sharing their knowledge, experiences, and skills with others.
- Language Proficiency: Participants must be proficient in spoken English.
The cost is $3,000 per participant, covering all expenses except airfare and visa costs.
To find out more about this or future Bertha Accelerator programs please email [email protected].
Emma Cassidy
Public Interest Litigation Support
Emma has over ten years of experience working in the busy communications offices of international human rights organisations. Before she joined Public Interest Litigation Support (PILS) in November 2018, Emma was based in Brussels (with ILGA-Europe, the umbrella organisation for LGBTI activists in Europe and Central Asia), Budapest (with PILnet: the Global Network for Public Interest Law) and Dublin (at FLAC, the Free Legal Advice Centres).
The common thread running through all of these different organisations is their commitment to using the law as a tool to create positive social change.
As Senior Engagement Lead, Emma is responsible for leading PILS' communications work to raise awareness of public interest litigation and its benefits. Emma studied Economics, Politics and Law at Dublin City University and was awarded an LLM in Human Rights and Criminal Justice from Queen’s University Belfast. Outside of work, Emma is re-learning and revisiting her connection to the Irish language and loves meandering walks with her greyhound.
Kirsten Harris
Kirsten Harris is a theatremaker, director, producer, and educator whose work is rooted in storytelling as a tool for social justice, resistance, and collective healing. Driven by a passion for archival practices, playful experimentation, and challenging the status quo, she explores themes of identity, belonging, and representation through collaborative and disobedient creative processes.
She holds degrees in Drama, Political & International Studies, and Education—a foundation that informs her commitment to learning as an essential part of her journey as a white South African artist in a post-apartheid context.
In 2015, Kirsten founded Hijinks Theatre, an incubator for new South African works that champions collaboration, reflection, and bold storytelling. Under her leadership, the company has produced critically acclaimed productions like Born Naked—the first queer text included in South Africa’s IEB Matric Dramatic Arts curriculum.
Some of her freelance work includes working as assistant director and archivist on the multiple award-winning staged adaptation of, The Promise. She has also worked in the corporate sector, creating and directing Momo’s Magical Adventure—a large-scale production that reached over 40,000 audience members, while prioritising representation, accessibility, and inclusivity.
Whether experimental or commercial spaces, Kirsten practice centres humanity, disrupts norms, and reimagines narratives for greater social impact.
María Paula Murcia Huertas
Maria has a background in Journalism, Anthropology, narrative work, Rural Development and Agriculture, she has developed a strong ability to analyze identities, political diversity, and power dynamics in contemporary societies.
Her work bridges social investigation with innovative narrative techniques, making complex issues accessible across diverse contexts.She practices this at Mutante, a Colombian based independent media outlet she co-founded and currently co-leads. Her research interests include the ethical dimensions of knowledge production, the role of multispecies relationships in shaping societal frameworks, just transitions in the midst of a context of polycrisis and addressing inequalities embedded in power structures.
She is particularly interested in exploring theorizations of new futures through the lens of political ecology and the stories we tell ourselves to understand it. Investigating post-extractivist relationships between humans and other life forms as sites of resistance, heritage, and knowledge.
Pascalinah Kabi
Pascalinnah has a keen interest in science related issues, gender and politics. She is the co-founder and Managing Editor of Uncensored News, specialising in critical health and environmental reporting and an award-winning journalist. Additionally, Pascalinah leads Paballo-ea-Bophelo, an advocacy group promoting media literacy, equal access to health services, and environmental stewardship and is the Federation of International Journalists’ Trainer of Trainers on Gender Safety in the Newsroom.
Through her Bertha Challenge investigation, Pascalinah has become the first Lesotho female investigative journalist to publish a book. Pascalinah spent her Fellowship year investigating the devastating impact of mining on water. She focused on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project and the imbalance between the development of water resources for commercial and mining industries with community water priorities, in the face of acute and increased droughts.
Her investigations uncovered that the British controlled Letšeng Diamond Mine was knowingly responsible for polluting drinking water, despite previous public claims by both the mine and the Government that this wasn’t the case. She also revealed a confidential report showing that a number of mines were contaminating rivers in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project catchment area (a source of drinking water for Lesotho and South Africa) with dangerous levels of nitrates.
David Kabanda
Center for Food and Adequate Living Rights (CEFROHT)
David Kabanda is a food and social rights lawyer in Uganda with a special interest in human rights compliant food and trade related systems. He practices this through action-research, legal advocacy and public interest litigation. He is an expert in food law and a global advisor in sustainable agri-food systems. His work is directed towards a framework law on resilient food systems, stopping hunger and prevention of the prevalent burden of malnutrition. David is a director at CEFROHT and has worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization and UNESCO.
His Bertha Challenge project deciphered how the government’s failure to regulate the food sector in Uganda is leading to violations of the right to adequate food by corporate and political elites. He investigated hunger and malnutrition among vulnerable individuals and communities’ access to land, seed and the law.
Dan Ilic
Dan is one of Australia’s most prolific comedy filmmakers and radio journalists. Calling himself an “investigative humorist”, Dan has used comedy as an activist tool throughout his professional career in Australia and the U.S. He has performed in front of thousands of people across Australia, including sell out shows at the Sydney Opera House and on ABC Radio National.
Dan is the host of the award-winning podcast and live comedy show, A Rational Fear - a show that brings together journalists, comedians, experts and politicians and uses comedy to talk about climate issues that get overlooked in mainstream media. During his Bertha Challenge year, he used this weekly podcast to engage new audiences with the climate crisis through comedy. He launched a monthly climate focused podcast, Greatest Moral Podcast of Our Generation, which was co-hosted by Linh Do (activist Fellow).
Dan’s Fellowship year culminated with live shows in two of Australia’s climate-vulnerable cities: Newcastle, a traditional mining area and home to Australia’s largest coal mines; and Bega, one of the areas worst hit by the 2020 bushfires, where promised emergency funds still haven’t been delivered.
Kate Mabye
Social Change Assistance Trust (SCAT)
Kate Mabye is a community development practitioner and Program Officer at Social Change Assistance Trust (SCAT), where she supports grassroots organizations in Limpopo to strengthen their capacity, governance, and impact within their communities.
In addition, she is the founder of InspireHer Foundation in South Africa, an initiative inspired by her own lived experiences of resilience and overcoming adversity. Kate is also an author of a book titled December 2000 and inspirational speaker, using her story as a tool to motivate and empower others, particularly young girls, and women, to rise above their circumstances and lead with purpose.
She holds a degree in Community Development and a degree in Public Administration from the University of South Africa. Kate’s work is driven by a passion for building stronger, more resilient communities and creating opportunities for others to thrive.
Brezh Malaba
Brezh Malaba describes himself as “a journalist, writer and polymath on all things sensible”. He has edited Zimbabwe’s biggest newspapers and two years ago, he co-founded NewsHawks, the country’s leading digital investigative reporting and breaking news platform. Drawing on his rich experiences in public and private media as well as cross-border collaborations, Brezh is a firm believer in the role of the media as a potent instrument for social impact.
In his Bertha Challenge investigation, Brezh untangled an enduring conundrum: Despite pumping billions of U.S. dollars into agricultural development, why has Zimbabwe experienced food deficits, with half the southern African country’s population living in extreme poverty? Indeed, how did Zimbabwe – a net exporter of grain, known for decades as a ‘breadbasket’ of Africa – suddenly find itself stranded in the treacherous quicksand of low crop yields, food insecurity, endemic hunger and chronic malnutrition?
Apart from the damage inflicted on agriculture by corruption, Zimbabwe faces another existential threat: the harm caused by farmers’ high dependency on chemical fertilizers. The investigation delved into the imperatives of ecologically friendly and sustainable agriculture, shining the spotlight on both the deficiencies and opportunities for prosperity.
Thato Maluleke
Thato Maluleke is a dynamic TV content professional with over seven years of experience in the television and digital media industry. He is skilled in writing, directing, and producing both long-form and award-winning short-form content. His work is rooted in a deep understanding of narrative structure and visual storytelling, and he has a proven ability to deliver high-quality projects across various platforms while leading creative teams with confidence and clarity.
Thato’s passion lies in documenting urban culture and telling authentic South African stories that reflect the country’s diverse experiences and perspectives. His work often explores themes of identity, community, and social change. In 2023, he won the Mobi Fest Short Film Competition for Ikhaya Lethu, a film that spotlighted safe spaces for the LGBTQIA+ community in Johannesburg — a testament to his commitment to inclusive storytelling.
A natural collaborator, Thato thrives in fast-paced, ever-evolving environments and brings both strategic thinking and creative flair to every project he leads. He continues to push the boundaries of content production, using his voice to spark conversation and challenge norms in both traditional and digital spaces. Thato is deeply committed to creating impactful work that resonates with audiences and drives cultural dialogue.
Dorothy Mwale
Dorothy Kazombo Mwale is an environmental specialist and junior climate change negotiator. Dorothy is the Executive Director at Green Girls Platform and a part time consultant with We Trust Youth.
Dorothy is also an active member of YOUNGO, a youth constituency under the UNFCCC. She is passionate about ensuring that the rights of children and the youth are prioritized at a local, regional and global level in the context of climate change and translating global policies into local solutions.
Sammmy Ramodike
Samuel Ramodike is a dedicated media practitioner with over 12 years of rich experience in the realm of community radio. His journey began as a passionate volunteer, and he quickly rose to prominence as the Head of Production at Alex FM, one of the oldest community radio stations in Gauteng, South Africa. In 2014, he joined Radio Workshop as a program facilitator, where he garnered international recognition for his outstanding work on water and sanitation initiatives.
By 2016, Samuel's leadership skills shone through as he was promoted to regional facilitator, taking on the vital role of training and monitoring various Youth Reporter project sites across South Africa. Currently, he excels as a Program Communication Associate and Program Coordinator, driving impactful communications, relationship building and maintenance with community radio stations, local facilitators, and youth reporters to ensure they are supported and heard.
Samuel's academic foundation includes a diploma in Media Practice and a diploma in Computer Clerk. Moreover, he was also a participant in the prestigious Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), where he has also earned several certificates through its esteemed fellowship program. Samuel's commitment to media and community development continues to inspire those around him.
Sammy Richards
Sammy has been with Bertha Foundation since 2019, she started as the founder’s Assistant and the Program Assistant for the Foundation team where she learned about the Foundation, Bertha’s stories and who it's important to share them with. During covid she worked on her first Bertha book, filled with stories about the amazing Fellows that are a part of the Bertha network. This experience was a stepping stone towards understanding how best way to connect with people. Sharing stories and information is her passion.
She wanted to realise this across the organisation, making sure that the work of the individuals and organisations Bertha supports, and the work of her team are heard and recorded, inside Bertha and outside. This is where her journey revamping Bertha Foundation’s communications and storytelling began and, two books, a few digital storytelling initiatives and various communications strategies later, still continues today - figuring out the best way to share with people is an ever evolving job that Sammy loves.
Greta Rico
Documentary photographer | Journalist | Feminist Educator
Greta Rico is a Mexican documentary photographer, journalist, and feminist educator focused on issues of gender, climate change, and food. Her work explores new social representations in contemporary visual culture, reflecting on the care economy, coloniality and the social trauma of current phenomena.
Greta is a Leica Partner, she is also a member of the Advisory Committee of Women Photograph, a co-founder of Rosa Chillante and a proud member of Diversify Photo, Foto Féminas, Photographers Without Borders and Femgrafía. She has a Master's Degree in Feminist Studies and is part of She Source, a panel of experts on gender issues from the Women's Media Center. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, published in magazines, and she has collaborated with UN offices and various civil society organizations.
Since 2024, Greta has been part of the National System of Art Creators in Mexico, her documentary projects have received grants such as the Leica Women Photo Project Grant, the Bertha Challenge Fellowship, the Women Photograph Grant, the National Geographic COVID-19 Reporting Grant and the Bob and Diane Fund Fellowship. In addition, she has given conferences and Masterclasses internationally and has served as a project tutor in Mexico and Latin America.
Sydelle Willow Smith
Sydelle Willow Smith is a storyteller, impact producer, and co-founder of Sunshine Cinema—Africa’s first solar-powered mobile cinema network. She is also the director of Un/Settled, a long-term documentary project exploring whiteness, land, and belonging in settler colonial contexts of post-apartheid South Africa, The United States of America and Australia.
An Atlantic Fellow for Racial Equity, Sydelle’s work bridges storytelling and activism, training youth in under-resourced communities to become media entrepreneurs and drive dialogue through film. With a background in African Studies from the University of Oxford, she is passionate about reclaiming narrative spaces and amplifying majority world voices, while using visual media as a tool for justice and collective memory.
Sam Sole
AmaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism
Sam has been a journalist since 1986. He has worked for the investigative magazine Noseweek, served as political editor of the Sunday Tribune, and joined the Mail & Guardian as investigative journalist in 2002. Sam co-founded amaBhungane in 2010. Since then, he has been at the forefront of exposing the genesis, progress and ongoing damage wrought by State Capture – the assault on democratic institutions launched under the leadership of Jacob Zuma.
In 2003, he won the Vodacom Journalist of the Year award for first reporting the criminal investigation of then deputy president Jacob Zuma. Together with amaBhungane co-founder Stefaans Brümmer, he has received numerous journalism awards, including for their Oilgate exposés. Sam won the Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism in 2009 for their sustained investigation of the notorious South African arms deal.
Sam describes himself as a veteran investigative journalist, a proud street lawyer, a frustrated cop and, aspirationally, a scourge of crooked accountants, lawyers, consultants and other “thugs in suits”.
He now leads amaBhungane into a new era of global uncertainty, social stress and environmental breakdown – which makes our core project to promote transparency, accountability and better governance even more critical.
Angeles Solis
Angeles is the Director of the Impact and Innovation Initiative. She drives the organization’s xxx. Previously she was the Lead Organizer of the Workplace Justice Team at Make the Road New York, the largest membership-led community organization in New York, providing direct services and organizing for housing, labor, immigrant rights, police accountability, environmental justice and more. For her Bertha Challenge project, Angeles led a team of graduate students at New York University Wagner Graduate School of Public Service to survey and analyze data from Amazon employees and community members capturing the labor, community and environmental impact of Amazon’s warehouse growth in Staten Island, New York.
Over the past decade, Angeles has spearheaded campaigns to improve conditions for workers in Amazon warehouses, garment factories, campuses, restaurants and more. She has been recognized as an Edna Berger Marks Awardee, 2021 NYC Rising Labor Star, Bertha 2021 Fellow, CORO Alumni, Emergent Strategy Institute Fellow, and is a member of the Workers Rights Consortium Board and the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations Worker Institute Advisory Council.
Angeles has roots in Albuquerque and across the West Coast. She comes from a big family, loves riding her bike around New York City, cumbias, and sopapillas.
Ariam Tekle
Ariam Tekle is a producer, podcaster, and emerging director. She fosters a particular interest in foreign policy and studies on the diaspora. In 2017 she directed 'Appuntamento ai Marinai', a documentary about Eritrean Second Generations in Milan.
In the last couple of years, she focused on the production of Blackcoffee_pdc, a podcast she co-created with Emmanuelle Maréchal. The project is an archive of interviews and conversations with people from the African diaspora whose work broadens the narrative around Black communities in Italy. Ariam is also the founder of the Blackn[è]ss Fest, a three-day festival designed to explore, celebrate and connect the African diaspora in Italy.
Facilitators
Yaşar Adnan Adanalı
Yaşar Adnan Adanalı is an executive in the civil society sector and a social entrepreneur, specialized in institutionalisation, strategic development, and funding.
His thematic interests include urban policy and participatory planning and design. He is one of the co-founders of the Center for Spatial Justice (formerly known as Beyond Istanbul) and the founding director of Postane, an urban hub for social change in Istanbul.
Kerem Çiftçioğlu
Çiftçioğlu has been serving as the Communications Director since joining the Hafıza Merkezi in 2014. He seeks to explore and reflect on the potential of communication to create attitude and behavior change, particularly in the field of human rights.
His interests and areas of work include hope-based communication, storytelling, and interdisciplinary and creative collaborations.
Duru Dumankaya
Duru Dumankaya is the Senior Program Coordinator at Postane, where she leads international partnerships, contributes to organizational development and funding initiatives, and oversees three core programs. Previously, she worked in the Department of Surveys and Projects at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and translated research publications on the built environment and environmental advocacy.
Thomas Hobbes
Hobbes is a human rights communicator dedicated to making people care about human rights. He developed a new approach called Hope-based Communications, designed to help organizations working for social good shift the way they communicate—focusing on values and a bold, positive vision for the future.
Yumna Martin
Yumna is the Director of Local and Global Engagement at Bertha Spaces.
Her work experience encompasses developing institutional specific diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) interventions, curriculum development, facilitation, and social justice story production.
Esra Özgür
She is a facilitator and trainer passionate about fostering a human-centric and healthy information ecosystem. She designs and leads projects and programmes focused on critical digital literacy.
Her expertise lies in responsible technology, and she advocates for the right to access information.
Damla Sandal
Damla is an artist and researcher working on memory, urban history, gender, and human rights. She combines traditional embroidery with photography to explore forms of social memory.
As the founder of Hafızayı İşlemek, she creates collective spaces for memory-making through workshops and urban memory walks in Istanbul. Her work blends art and research, using methods such as oral history, archives, and handcraft to connect personal memories with collective narratives.
Pınar Uyan Semerci
Pınar is a professor of political science at the Istanbul Bilgi University Department of International Relations. Her academic fields of study are political philosophy, comparative politics, social policy, and methodology in social sciences.
She has conducted many research projects, published articles, and books on justice, rights, citizenship, human development, capability approach, poverty, migration, youth, infodemic, collective identity formations, othering, polarization, child labour and child well-being.
Ceren Yartan
Ceren has worked as an editor and research specialist at cultural and arts organizations. She prepared publications and training on cultural policy.
Her interests include cultural policies, participation mechanisms in culture and arts, and discussion on literature and feminism. She prepares and hosts the 11 Minutes podcast. She is in charge of general coordination at MAD.
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