Merfin Demir was born in Skopje/Macedonia in 1980 as the son of Muslim Roma. Against the backdrop of the increasing signs of decay in the former Yugoslavia, his family emigrated to Germany in 1988, where he completed his high school equivalency exams.

His main professional activities include the conceptual design and implementation of projects offering advanced training in empowerment, anti-racism and integration with young Roma and their families.

The main aspects of his volunteer work are the establishment of self-organised groups of discriminated persons and intercultural dialogue – always based on the common commitment of all participants to the inviolability of human dignity as a natural or God-given right.

From 2011 to 2014, this father of three children worked as a full-time project manager at DJO (Deutsche Jugend in Europa in Nordrhein-Westfalen e. V.) for the project “be young & Roma” at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. From 2015 to 2016 he was employed as a senior pedagogical staff member of the Otto-Benecke-Stiftung e. V. in the federal project “Junge Roma Aktiv” (Young Active Roma).

Further references:

Islamic Cultural Center Bejtullah e. V. (Romani-speaking mosque community in Düsseldorf)
Honorary Managing Director (1999-2004)

Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bonn)
freelancer for the annual symposium “Zukunftsforum Islam” (2008-2013)
Editorial team for the “Handreichung Antiziganismus” (2015-2016)

Ökosoziales Forum Deutschland e. V. (German Ecosocial Forum) (Bonn)
Spokesman of the Düsseldorf Regional Group (2009-2010)
Member of the Federal Executive Committee (2010-2011)

Bertelsmann Stiftung (Gütersloh)
Graduate of the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Leadership Program for young executives from migrant self-organizations (2010-2011)

Amaro Drom e. V. – nationwide intercultural youth self-organization of Roma and non-Roma (Berlin)
Coordinator of the Federal Youth Meeting Terne Sinti & Roma in Germany (2010-2012)
Member of the Federal Executive Committee (2010-2014)
Federal Chairman (2015-2016)
Honorary member of the steering committee in the federal project Dikhen Amen! (since 2015)
Federal Treasurer (since 2017)

Terno Drom e. V., self-organised intercultural youth group of Roma and non-Roma in North Rhine-Westphalia (Düsseldorf)
Founding board and managing director (2010-2017)
Executive Chairman (since 2017)
Member of the advisory board of the KIRIV project (since 2015)

Informations- und Dokumentationszentrum für Antirassismusarbeit in Nordrhein-Westfalen (information and documentation centre for anti-racism work in North Rhine-Westphalia (Düsseldorf)
Member of the Advisory Board (since 2012)

Heinrich Böll Foundation North Rhine-Westphalia (Düsseldorf)
Graduate of the political mentoring programme (2013-2014)

Common Purpose Cologne-Düsseldorf
Graduate of the executive qualification programme (2014)

Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (Berlin)
Honorary employee of the nationwide working group for the improvement of the educational participation and success of Sinti and Roma in Germany (2014-2016)

Gesellschaft für Antiziganismusforschung e.V. (society for antigypsy research, Marburg)
Member of the Executive Board (since 2016)