Who We Are
Who we are
Faros Elpidas Foundation was established in 2022 by Faros Elpidas Greece, initially to support refugees of the Russian war on Ukraine in Poland. The Foundation is the culmination of a long involvement of the Greek NGO Faros Elpidas in Poland. Over time, the Foundation has seen that the needs in Polish society are much larger. The scope of the Foundation is therefore to serve people in need in Poland and abroad.
Mission and vision
We have a vision to drive a cohesive and just society further in Poland and abroad. We want to be the forerunner for social change and lead the transformation of support organisations and active citizens into capacitated humanitarian organisations with insightful service offering.
Our mission is to promote social cohesion, progress, prosperity and human rights in Poland and abroad. We aim to empower vulnerable and disadvantaged people to regain agency in their lives. Finally, we aim to leverage the humanitarian sector to better serve people in need.
The Council
the Council is the Foundation’s highest authority. It includes 4 members who shape the strategy and the future of the Foundation.
Members of the Council:
Chrysa Anagnostopoulou
Chrysa has more than 35 years of professional experience at various posts on client management and human resources. She has a deep knowledge of the labour framework in Greece. Chrysa holds a nursing degree from the Nursing Higher technical school of Athens and a humn resource management degree from the Higher School of Administration of ELTA. She has responsible for human resource management and coordination of the social structures of Faros Elpidas since 2013.
Maria Bikou
Maria holds a post graduate degree in Law, an LLM in Transnational and European Commercial Law, Mediation, Arbitration and Energy Law, a master’s degree in Human Recourses Management and Organizational Analysis as well as accreditations for mediation in civil, commercial and workplace dispute resolution from both Greek and international institutions and certification on project management from IBMI. She has been a member of Thessaloniki Bar Association (Greece) since 2012
Maria has worked as a consultant for several Greek NGOs since 2016 focusing on humanitarian and emergency response. She acts as the legal advisor of Faros Elpidas. Her stronghold is Field coordination of large-scale accommodation and PSS teams (100+ staff) and she has solid experience in working with UNHCR, UNICEF, IOM on humanitarian response. She coordinates field progress with relevant ministries, and other governmental organisations. She is an expert in capacity building of humanitarian NGOs.
Apostolos Forlidas
Apostolos has over 40 years of professional experience in fields such as media and diplomacy. He has been an executive of media channels for many years He has been the CFO of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa responsible for international and interstate agreements as well as relations with national governments and international organisations. He also held the position of representative and counsellor of the Patriarchate Press and PR office in addition to the Athens office. He was the driving force behind the social projects of the Patriarchate of Alexandria in Africa which later established the Alexandrian Lighthouse NGO among other two. Since 2004 he has been the President of Faros Elpidas, earlier Alexandrian Lighthouse. Apostolos holds a degree by the Theological School of the University of Athens. He also has a degree in international political development, security, defense, and diplomacy.
Marilena Ioannidou
Marilena is a strategic thinker bringing over 20 years of experience in development projects across diverse industries. Recognized for talents in strategy development, programme management across the board and capacity development. She has a diverse background in the humanitarian field and social issues, SME and business development, entrepreneurship, social research, fund management, and M&E. She has managed and evaluated over 50 projects with budgets of 30M+. She has designed and implemented organizational and operational capacity development of companies and NGOs and has managed and monitored grant funds for NGOs. She holds a Master of Business Administration, Cyprus International Institute of Management and a Bachelor of Arts, with Double Major in Psychology and French with Honours from Macalester College, St. Paul, MN. At Faros Elpidas she is responsible for overseeing policies, M&E and quality control.
Board
The Board is the executive body of the Foundation. It is tasked with managing the Foundation and for implementing the strategy and the annual work programme. The Board reports to the Council.
Pantelis Dimitriou
Pantelis is a visionary leader bringing over 20 years of experience in establishing operational optimization across diverse industries in both national and international operations. Recognized for talents in strategy development and organizational development. Converts strategic plans into tactical reality through guiding organizations to establish themselves as viable entities. He managed to turnaround a 15 staff and 300K turnover local organization in Greece into a nationally recognized humanitarian actor of 300+ staff and funds managed of 30M between 2016-2018. He is an expert in transforming strategic plans into tactical initiatives for national and international funding. He was honored by the Global Thinkers Forum with the Award for Excellence in Humanitarian Work in 2017. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Accounting and Finance, University of East London. At Faros Elpidas, Pantelis is responsible for strategy and development of new initiatives in Greece and abroad. He is also responsible for developing the donor base of the organization and maintaining strategic partnerships.