The Numbers

• 70+ localization projects

• 7000+ contributors

• 200+ languages including: Khmer, Burmese, Azerbaijani, Basque, Shona, Chinese, Arabic, Thai, Ndebele and many more...

• 10+ collaborative localization sprints and events per year

The Outcomes

• Increased adoption of Internet freedom tools

• Diversity and representation in the Internet freedom space

• Open source technical glossaries

• Space for co-design and collaboration

• More local content online

Dragana Kaurin (SHE/HER)

Executive Director

Dragana Kaurin is the founder of Localization Lab, and has worked at the intersection of technology and human rights for over a decade. Before starting the organization in 2013, she was a program officer at the Open Technology Institute, and worked as a data analyst at Ushahidi. She advocates for equal access to information, diversity, and representation online, and increased local content on the Internet. She believes that making civic tech truly available for everyone requires designing with end-users and not for them. Before entering the Human Rights Program at Columbia University, where she did research on civic tech and refugee rights, she worked in Crisis Information Management and Communication For Development (C4D) at the UN and UNICEF.

Her research focus at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University is on data protection and digital rights of refugees and asylum seekers, and has presented this work at the 2019 Oxford Media Law & Policy Program.

Dragana speaks Serbo-Croatian, Arabic, French, and Spanish.

Dragana leads organizational growth and strategy at Localization Lab. She works with partner organizations to identify unmet needs, and coordinates user feedback and research.

dragana.kaurin [at] localizationlab [dot] org
t: @draganakaurin

RAYYA EL ZEIN (she/they)

Research Manager

Rayya brings a decolonial perspective to technology, education, and community-led institution building. She likes to keep the big picture squarely in focus while working out the details. 

Before Localization Lab she was Director of Partnerships at Code for Science & Society, where she developed an incubator program for technologists developing their social infrastructure. She holds a PhD in Theatre and Performance from the City University of New York. Her ethnographic research over a decade focused on experimental musicians and millennial politics in Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan.

Rayya speaks English, Arabic, French, and a little bit of Georgian.

Rayya manages and leads the organization's research projects, developing research policies, and research into user experience and interface feedback.

DIANNE OLIVAN (SHE/THEY)

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT MANAGER

Dianne works at the nexus of digital rights, social innovation, and community. Driven by accessibility, inclusion, and collective care, she believes in integrating play and pleasure into systems and processes. 

Before joining the organization, she was Gender Engagement and Policy Officer at the World Wide Web Foundation, where she coordinated the Foundation’s gender program and led the strategy for the Women’s Rights Online Network. Dianne was also previously a program officer at EngageMedia, where she served as the point person for the Coconet community, a network of digital rights activists across Asia-Pacific. 

Based in Manila, she holds a master’s degree in Innovation and Business from the Asian Institute of Management and a bachelor’s degree in Communication Research from the University of the Philippines Diliman.

Dianne speaks English, Filipino, and Hiligaynon.

Dianne leads the strategy for community-building and engagement, organizational partnerships, and communications.

dianne [at] localizationlab [dot] org
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Chido Musodza (SHE/Her/THEY)

Program Associate (COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT)

Chido has been working in the media, digital rights advocacy, and youth activism communities for the last 11 years with 7 of those years as a digital security trainer, volunteer translator, and language activist.

Before joining Localization Lab, she was the online and social media consultant at the Media Institute of Southern Africa, a media, digital rights, and advocacy organization based in Southern Africa, and the Learning Consultant at Magamba Network, a youth activism and civic-tech organization based in Zimbabwe.

Her interests are in helping minority language communities better articulate emerging issues around localization and technology, equality, and the need for inclusive technology which is imperative for development.

Chido speaks ChiShona and English.

Chido supports project localization through community management, organizational partnership, communications strategy, and organizing localization sprints.

chido [at] localizationlab [dot] org
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ADRIANO GOMES (HE/HIM)

PROGRAM ASSOCIATE (LOCALIZATION MANAGEMENT)

Adriano has worked with Translation, Internationalization, Localization, and everything in between for almost 20 years. He believes in the power of words and stories, and that we should strive to preserve the world’s languages and cultures, learning something new every day to better communicate with each other. Before joining Localization Lab, he worked as a Localization Program Manager at Hotmart, one of the largest ed-tech companies in the world.

Adriano holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and is a Specialist in Translation, Internationalization, and Localization.

Adriano speaks Brazilian Portuguese, English, Spanish, and a bit of French. 

Adriano coordinates the localization of supported projects and assists in building community localization resources.

adriano [at] localizationlab [dot] org
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