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Michael Bąk
Forum on Information and Democracy
Executive Director
Description
Michael currently serves as the Executive Director at the Forum on Information and Democracy, the civil society-led implementing entity of the International Partnership on Information and Democracy. He has a more than two decades career in international development, democracy promotion and peacebuilding, diplomacy, and tech policy. While working at US Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations, Meta and other endeavours, Michael continually focused on human rights, empowering people, and fostering civic participation.
He has provided extensive leadership and diplomacy for international development programmes, multilateral peacebuilding initiatives, tech policy along with people management and a commitment to diversity and inclusion. In his roles he has regularly represented major organisations to government, civil society and the press. His passion for human rights, ethical tech and a strong civil society has persisted throughout his career in government, the UN, civil society and the private sector.
Michael is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at New York University Center for Global Affairs (NYU CGA).
Michael went to high school in Lens, France, and received his BA from Kalamazoo College (Michigan, USA) in French Literature and International & Area Studies; a certificate from Nagoya Gakuin University (Nagoya, Japan); and an MA from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (Washington, DC) in International Relations and Development Economics. He holds executive learning certificates from the American University (Washington, DC) and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.
Michael is fluent in English, French, Bahasa Indonesia, Melayu, and varying proficiencies in Japanese, Thai and Spanish.
Some background on the Forum:
The Forum on Information and Democracy is the implementing entity of the Partnership on Information and Democracy, an international process to establish and to promote and implement democratic principles in the global communication and information space. There are currently 51 democratic governments who are state signatories to the Partnership. The Forum also hosts the Observatory on Information and Democracy, a multi-stakeholder entity whose mission is to provide a common understanding of the structure of the information and communication space, and its impact on democracy.
This work is meant to better inform decisions and policies taken by the states, civil society and the private sector.
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