Nahiya Mahmood is from Chittagong, a coastal city in Bangladesh. She is currently a Country Programme Analyst at International Fund for Agricultural Development. Nahiya completed her MSc in Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding from Durham University, UK in 2020. From her experiences studying and working, she now has a wide network of over 1000 young Asian female leaders pursuing exciting work all over the world. Nahiya has travelled to South Korea and Hong Kong to participate in political economy and international development aid dialogues. Nahiya also worked for a year in Bangladesh in the world’s largest refugee camp supporting Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. Nahiya is a passionate advocate for women’s rights and children’s education. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to podcasts, cooking, and watching the tv show Friends with her friends. 

Ana María was born in the Colombian capital, Bogota. She is a psychologist and is currently studying a Masters in Peacebuilding. She has completed two diplomas, one in Peace, Regional Development and Democracy, and another in Leadership for Peace. She has worked with groups of people – mostly men – who, in different contexts, can be seen as victims/perpetrators of the armed conflict in Colombia. What she noticed in her work with these groups and motivated her to study this Masters was a common behaviour pattern of violence against women that corresponded to the degree of intensity and exposure to violent situations. She has also worked with victims of domestic violence involved in the process of migrating to the USA. There, her role was to gather evidence of the situations they were experiencing, and as part of her work in this context she also witnessed the many forms of violence to which migrants (especially women) are subject, both in their own countries and at border crossings.  

Yazmin is a Colombian artist with 20 years’ experience in developing strategies for peace and reconciliation through exercises and artistic processes with vulnerable populations. As an actress, she has contributed with her experience to the formulation of public policy on children and women at national level and in the department of Cundinamarca, and compiled memories of the process to produce the play Otilia with the Juaica Terra group. As a singer and composer she has collected memories of the processes she went through with communities of victims of the armed conflict in Colombia and with reintegrated former combatants who took part in the artistic processes. She has worked in depressed and vulnerable communities in the Amazon, North Santander, Cundinamarca and Tolima. She has been involved in the development of educational processes for children’s and young people’s rights, gender equality and environment in the department. She has lived in the rural area of Tabio Cundinamarca for the last 20 years. 

Shaima Bin Othman is a Yemeni woman from Hadramawt. She is a human rights defender, especially women’s rights. As a co-founder of Takween Cultural Club and Meemz Arts Initiative, Shaima has been a social activist and volunteer, focusing on the Arts and Culture as a method of advocating for social change since 2016. Shaima is the former CEO of Wa’ai foundation; during her time at Wa’ai, she established the first political forum in Hadramawt /Mukalla. She also participated at the young activist camp in Berlin in 2019 as a young leader from Yemen. She is currently working as a Research Fellow at the Yemen Policy Center (YPC). She has published numerous reports and articles highlighting the role of youth-led initiatives in the peace process. Shaima is a member of the Women Solidarity Network. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Hadramawt University. She was granted a scholarship from the U.S. Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) for the Tomorrow Leaders Program to study her master’s degree in Middle East Study at the American University of Beirut. Shaima’s MA thesis will be revolving around Women Political Participation. 

Sara Al-Mahbshi is currently a project assistant working on the Feminist Peace Project at Peace Track Initiative. Sara is also an MA candidate at the University of Lethbridge where her research focusses on Yemeni women’s political participation post-2014 conflict. Sara holds a BA in Political Science and History from the American University in Cairo. In 2018, Sara spent 6 months in Sudan working with UNICEF in the Child Protection Section and worked in the fields of child soldiers and alternative families. She is interested in international relations, gender studies and conflict studies. 

Fatima Outaleb is a human rights and gender equality advocate and has over 29 years of experience working on women’s issues, women’s rights, women’s empowerment, and gender mainstreaming at a national and regional level. She is a founding member and executive board member of Union de l’Action Féminine (Union of Women’s Action, UAF) and director and co-founder of the first women’s shelter in Morocco. She is the MENA representative in the Global Network of Women Shelters.  She holds several positions, mostly as a focal person and gender technical advisor at various national and international organisations and networks including, Danner, Resource Centre for Gender Equality (ABAAD), Feminist Alliance for Rights, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United National Development Programme (UNDP), and International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN). 

Fatima holds a diploma in Women’s Rights from Raoul Wallenberg Institute and a certificate from the Human Rights Treaty body at the national level. She has several pubications on gender-based violence and has contributed to the development and editing of shelter training toolkits, as well as various briefs on women’s rights in the MENA region. She recently contributed to a handbook on women victims’ protection and due diligence for the North South Council of Europe Center and a toolkit on minimum standards for a GBV helpline in Myanmar. She has carried out various advocacy activities in Morocco as well as campaign planning, monitoring, and evaluation on gender issues across the MENA region. 

Beatrice is a health administrator, gender expert and activist from Cameroon. Her long-term goal as a gender activist is to fight on the elimination of all forms of discrimination and oppression against women and girls within her community, her country and beyond. Beatrice is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Solidarity Health Foundation, a non profit organisation that provides quality and accessible healthcare and social services for vulnerable populations in Cameroon. Her goals and motivations are shaped by her twenty-year experience of working and helping patients in the hospital as well experiences as an activist for peace in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon. Through both her work and activism, Beatrice works to combat Gender Base Violence (GBV), Violence against Women and Girls (VGWg), forced and early marriages, harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM). She also promotes the education of the girl child, comprehensive sexuality education, second chance education and vocational training for girls and their sexual and reproductive rights, and she also provides psychosocial support to internally displaced women and girls. Beatrice also works with men and boys to promote gender equality through He for She programmes.  

Beatrice has participated in various peace dialogues and advocacy meetings for community security as well as international dialogues. She travelled to the USA to engage in a dialogue with the diaspora separatist leaders and participated in the Africa Women in Dialogue held in South Africa in 2019. In all of the dialogues that she participates in she focusses on women’s issues and the rights of women and girls.  

Jaya Tiwari has over 18 years of experience working in the development sector. She currently works at Naz Foundation (India). Naz Foundation is an organisation that works to create a just and equitable society through its programmes that help support and transform individuals from socially and economically excluded communities into agents of change.  

At Naz Foundation, Jaya is a Programme Coordinator and Researcher. She is the coordinator of the Goal Programme – a programme that uses a sports-based methodology to help support girls from disadvantaged backgrounds develop life skills and leadership skills. The Goal Programme has support over 80, 000 girls in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore in the last ten years. She has worked on a research study funded by the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) on Masculinities and Homosexuality. She is also a counsellor on a programme that provides home-based care for people living with HIV.  

Jaya often leads training and sensitisation programmes on HIV, Sports4development, leadership skills, LGBTQ rights and on the repeal on Section 377. Jaya is a member of various international networks including Global Leadership Network Vital Voices and Women Sports Leadership Academy. 

Mina is from Baghdad, Iraq. She is currently a Programme Officer at Public Aid Organisation (PAO), Iraq. PAO is an NGO that works on strengthening human rights in society. Her work focusses on women’s empowerment, perceptions of and the implementation of UNSCR 1325 in Iraq, and on changing the discriminatory stereotypes against women. Mina Studied Computer Science at the University of Technology, Baghdad. 

Bonyan Gamal is a lawyer based in Sana’a, Yemen. She is currently an Accountability and Redress Officer at Mwatana for Human Rights. She has been working at Mwatana for 6 years. For two years she worked as a field researcher documenting human rights violations by all parties to the conflict, covering several governorates around Yemen. She then worked in the Legal Support Unit providing legal support for the victims of detention related abuses in Yemen, focusing on Sana’a and supervising the team of lawyers in Aden and Al Houdeida governorates. She worked on several cases involving Baha’i and Jewish minorities in Sana’a as well as several cases involving women. She is now working on promoting proper accountability in Yemen through international legal action. She also works on several issues in the international field including international arms trade and US drone operations and detentions in the region.  

Asmahan is the General Manager at Enjaz Foundation for Development which is a Yemeni civil society organisation that runs humanitarian response programmes in various fields of work including food and agricultural security, water and sanitation, education in emergencies, economic empowerment, and peace and good governance. She has over 10 years of experience as a trainer and advisor on various social development projects and has particularly focussed upon gender equality, good governance, and peacebuilding projects in Yemen.  

Shanya Mohammed Saeed is from Kurdistan, Iraq. She is currently working as the Communication and Digital Media Officer at the Center for Gender and Development Studies at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (2015) in English Language and Literature from the University of Sulaimani. Following her graduation, she started working with IDPs and refugees through organisations such as the Global Youth Organization and Un Ponte Per as a mediator and peacebuilding facilitator working to promote peace, social cohesion, and coexistence. As a female in Iraq, she has a strong passion for gender-based causes, women’s rights, and gender equality. Her aim has been to support and encourage women to get a sense of independence and to support them in pursuing decision-making positions in society. 

Living in Iraq, one of the most diverse nations in the world with several different communities, Shanya has consistently worked on planting the seed of peace; to engage with different communities despite all the contextual, ethnic, religious, and gender-based variances that exist. The latter being one of the main reasons why she always tries to enrich her background with different cultures and languages in Iraq to understand people’s needs. She hopes to see peace take over the instabilities that occur in Iraq by working to make dialogue sessions a tool for finding common ground in the area, as well as showing the real image of Iraq to the world, not the one that has been illustrated by the media. 

Baiye Frida Ebai is a Communications  Consultant with twelve years progressive experience and a Frontline Defender for women and children in Cameroon. 

A Doctoral Fellow in Sociology and Anthropology and an Alumni of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Institute Accra, Ghana and  Women in Conflict 1325 Fellowship Programme with Beyond Borders Scotland working with Community Based Organizations, Local NGOs,Religious and Traditional institutions committed to peace development and Humanitarian Response in fragile communities. 

Through the years, she has obtained skills in facilitating inter-community and cultural dialogues with conflict affected communities and displaced populations in host communities in Cameroon. 

Though a leader on Gender, Peace and Security, she has equally received training on DDR, Responsibility to Protect, Women in Conflict Prevention, Atrocity Crimes Prevention & Human Rights, Conflict Analysis and Mediation, Mental Health and Psychosocial First Aid. 

She is serving as the Executive Director (BAWAC Cameroon), Project Coordinator-Feminist Engagement Coalition, Coalition For Women’s Right And Empowerment, Skills4Peace/ Tech4Peace Training Programmes, empowering grassroots and Youth/Women leadership to contribute significantly to building resilient communities and individuals. 

Frida has a long history working as a facilitator and consultant with National and International Organisations principally GIZ-PAMEC, International Crisis Group, Center for Human Rights Democracy Africa, Defyhatenow_WCA and the Zimbabwe Peace Project. 

She currently serves as an Adviser to the Enhancing Youth Capacities and Fostering Dialogues for Peace (ENERGY) project with Local Youth Corner Cameroon and Swisspeace. 

Sanjula Pietersz is a young lawyer from Sri Lanka and is currently working as the project coordinator of the Social Justice Commission of Alliance Development Trust, a leading NGO in Sri Lanka which works in the areas of human rights, governance and peace. Her role is primarily associated with mobilizing and empowering grassroot level youth on democracy and human rights in Sri Lanka. Sanjula completed a Bachelor of Law (LL.B.) degree at The Faculty of Law, University of Colombo in 2018. 

In 2016, Sanjula received an award as ‘The best young reviewer’ from an alternative newspaper in Sri Lanka. She was the representative of ‘Families of the disappeared’  (FOD) at United Nations Sri Lanka in making the report on the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 “Youth, Peace and Security”, in 2017. She contributed as an author for a collection of Tamil language articles published on the 10th anniversary of the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, in 2019.  

Sanjula is working very closely with the war affected people in the North and East of Sri Lanka, particularly with families of the disappeared and supporting their struggle towards seeking truth and justice. She actively engages with social movements against enforced disappearances, land grabbing, political prisoners, militarization etc. in Sri Lanka. She has contributed towards addressing the issue through speaking in public platforms as a freelance writer, photographer and a translator.  

Sanjula studied photography at ‘Hegoda’, School of Photography. She used her passion and skill on photography to bring out the hidden stories of war victims. She has contributed to photography exhibitions, published photo-stories and her photographs have also been used for other articles. Sanjula was one of the contributors of the “My Sri Lanka, y Future” photography exhibition organized by the United Nations Sri Lanka” in 2014. She was also on of the contributors for the “Unframed” photography exhibition organized by Vikalpa.org (http://unframedsl.org/about-unframed/) in 2018, which highlighted the realities of the post war context in Sri Lanka.  

Sanjula is the editor of a Sinhala language E-magazine – Sahurdhaspandhana (Pulsation of Solidarity) – which consists of Tamil literature and art, and strives to signify the unavoidable need for justice through publishing victim’s literature and art in majority language. Such a magazine has not been published for over 20 years in Sri Lanka. She is also a translator who tries to create political consciousness by translating poems and other literary products on conflict written by Tamils into Sinhala. Sanjula is an influencer on social media. She shares information on the national question in Sri Lanka and opinions by re-reading the distorted history of the country, which enlightens the public. In 2020, she and three of her friends started an initiative on social media based on Sinhala and Tamil literature to develop a political dialogue on the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka that aims to reformulate the established social myths regarding minority people’s rights (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1302974290054251). 

Dr Marufa Akter is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Global Studies and Governance at the Independent University, Bangladesh. She obtained a PhD in Political Science from University of Bremen, Germany and her dissertation titled: Women’s Political Participation in Bangladesh Parliament: A Case Study Analysis of Women’s Substantive Representation. She has obtained a master’s degree in public policy from Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, University of Erfurt, Germany under a German Academic Exchange (DAAD) Scholarship. She also holds a Bachelor and a Master of Social Sciences degree in International Relations from University of Dhaka. She has attended a one-year graduate course on Peace building, and Conflict Transformation at the SIT Graduate Institute in Vermont, USA. She works in the areas of women and politics; gender and governance; women, peace and security; conflict resolution and peace building. 

Suparva Narasimhaiah is currently working as a Gender Specialist for the Security Sector Reform (SSR)/ Rule of Law Programme at UNDP Iraq. She works with the Office of the National Security Advisor in Iraq to mainstream “gender” across the National Security Strategy and the Security Sector Reforms Plan for Iraq. She also engages extensively with the Ministry of Interior, Women’s Empowerment Directorate, Independent Human Rights Commission, and civil society organisations in Iraq to support the implementation of the Women Peace and Security 1325 National Action Plan for Iraq. She additionally works within the UNDP Iraq Country Office to support gender mainstreaming across the Country Office programming on all thematic areas. Prior to working with UNDP in Iraq, she worked for five years with USAID and UNDP in Afghanistan – as a Programme Management Specialist – focusing on Anti Human Trafficking, Rule of Law (SSR and Human Security), Gender (Spotlight Initiative for Afghanistan), and Transitional Justice with the Human Rights Commission in light of the peace talks between the Government of Afghanistan and the Taliban. She has also worked with the International Law Commission, UN Secretariat, International Peace Institute, and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.  

Suparva graduated with a Master’s in International Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University in 2012. She graduated with her bachelor’s in law from Gujarat National Law University (GNLU), in India after which she clerked with the former Chief Justice of India at the Supreme Court of India.   

Zaina Waturi Kombo is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and a Woman Human Rights Defender. She has over 7 years of experiences working in human rights and development with a mix of both grassroots organising and policy influencing. She holds an LLB and LLM in Law, Governance and Democracy both from the University of Nairobi. She is an active member of Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) – Kenya, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) – Kenya and the Law Society of Kenya. She holds a certificate from the African Union on Gender Mainstreaming in Peace Support Operations, she is a trained budget facilitator on Gender Responsive Budgeting (By Institute of Public Finance Management – Kenya), and completed training on results-based project management (by Swedish Development Agency) as well as training on inclusion and nondiscrimination (by LSU – Sweden). 

In her various experiences, she has worked with youth and women in efforts to prevent violent extremism. In her current role she is involved in peace and security initiatives geared towards security accountability in African countries through capacity building and supporting grassroots human rights organisations in Kenya and beyond. 

Zaina Kombo believes that women still need to fight for their space in development and decision-making processes as the “glass ceiling” has proved to have numerous layers in different contexts of the world. 

Behar Ali is the Director of Emma Organisation for Human Development in Erbil, where one of their main focuses is upon the implementation of UNSCR 1325. Prior to this role, Bahar was a UNFPA and UN Women consultant on developing strategies for ending violence against women in Kurdistan and the elimination of GBV. She has taken part in numerous conferences on service provision for GBV survivors, combatting violence against women, and gender issues in Iraq.

Khadija Arfaoui is a Tunisian former academic. She worked as an English teacher, a vice-principal and principal before teaching at the University of Tunis. She was a teaching assistant at George Washington University in 1978-1979 and 1979-1980 (where she got her M. Phil in 1992), and a Fulbright lecturer at Lake Forest College (2005). She joined civil society in the mid 1980s and has since then worked extensively to promote environmental issues and women’s claims to equality, peace and stability. She is a freelance researcher, lecturer and feminist activist and has had several articles published, particularly about women’s rights in the Middle-East and North Africa.

Soudaba Wahabzada is a Peace and Reconciliation Associate with UNAMA, where she contributes in projects promoting peace and conflict resolution in remote provinces of Afghanistan with a focus on women’s inclusion in mediation, conflict resolution, and peace negotiations. In addition, she has been working on providing practical legal courses and legal aid clinics focusing on gender-equality and promoting women’s access to free legal aid services and justice institutions.

Soudaba was born and grew up in a remote district (Injil) of Herat province where she graduated with the honor of first-grade student of her school. She then the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) through U.S Embassy Scholarship in 2015. She was selected to participate in and represent AUAF in the Nuremberg Moot Court Competition in 2016 in Germany and was selected as a member for Gujrat International Moot Court competition in 2018 in India. In December 2018, she graduated from AUAF majoring in Law and minoring in English with a GPA of 3.90 and she was selected as the Valedictorian for AUAF Graduating Class of 2019.

Soudaba’s great passion is to contribute in achieving a sustainable peace in Afghanistan, especially by building capacities on conflict analysis and peacebuilding as well as to protect fundamental human rights in conflict-affected communities. She is currently writing a short story displaying the effects of child marriage and unpleasant traditional stereotypes on Afghan girls’ lives.

Shokhan Hama Rashid Ahmad is a human rights defender and activist working in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Ahmad is the director of Women’s Legal Assistance Organization (WOLA). WOLA is the first women-led legal aid organisation in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. She is a member of the board of directors of the federation of civil society organisations. Ahmed has been working for more than 16 years to protect the rights of women, especially the victims of honour killing.

Shokhan is also a trainer in the field of domestic violence and advocacy. She regularly arranges seminars and workshops to raise legal awareness about domestic violence. She had a key part in the advocacy and campaigns for the passing of the domestic violence law at the Kurdistan Parliament. She received an honorary recognition from the Kurdistan Parliament for her work on laws related to women. She received the Dutch Consul’s Award in 2017 for working to reduce and eliminate female genital mutilation in different regions in Iraq, as well as activities that have led to the enactment of domestic violence law. Shokhan believes that women need to be bold by stepping up and ending violence and other abuses perpetrated against them.

Amal is the Executive Director of AWAM Foundation for Development and Cooperation, an independent non-profit organisation based in Yemen concerned with issues of democracy, good governance, peacebuilding and human rights, and especially strengthening and achieving women’s rights in conflict areas.  She is also the head of the initiative Shahab Peace for Peacebuilding. Amal has been working in the field of women’s rights since 2010 and works on raising awareness at community level on gender-related issues including early marriage, women’s participation in decision making, and women empowerment. Since 2015, Amal has been involved in convening meetings with Yemeni women on peace and security issues. She is a member of the 1325 Alliance for Women’s Issues and Link Alliance for Yemeni Women. She has participated in a number of workshops and meetings to support women’s participation in peacebuilding and conflict resolution, mostly in Amman, Beirut and Cairo.

Dr Nadia Al Sakkaf is a professional researcher with expertise in policy and politics research with a solid background in communication and advocacy. She has worked extensively in both academic and practical aspects of politics, as well as in government. In 2014 she was the first woman to be appointed Minister of Information in the Republic of Yemen.

In addition to her academic research and policy papers, Nadia also specialises in developing and implementing communication strategies. Her combined experience in journalism, non-profit organisation, academic research, advocacy and policy enables her to produce cross-cultural effective and engaging campaigns. While working in the non-profit sector, a part of her job was designing strategies and policy papers as well as oversee their implementation, and to train partners and stakeholders in relevant aspects. In recognition of her work in the public domain, Nadia has received several international awards including the Oslo Business for Peace Foundation Award in 2013, being the first Arab woman to be awarded so.

Hana Al-Showafi is based in Yemen and works in the fields of women, peace and security, inclusive governance, and conflict resolution as well as youth empowerment on local and community level. Hana Al-Showafi is currently the Gender Policy Officer at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Yemen.  She has experience of over eight years in working under extreme conditions of political instability, war and conflict with a number of aid and development International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs), as well as local stakeholders in Yemen. She is a member of #SupportYemen Art Collective and a member of the Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) Chatham House Initiative, as well as a delegate of Generations for Peace.

Ishika Millaniyage specializes in youth leadership and community peacebuilding with over 10 years’ experience working with leading local and international civil society organizations such as Sarvodaya movement, Australia Awards – Afghanistan, UNFPA, and is currently attached to Internews Sri Lanka as a senior project officer. During her career as a program coordinator with Sarvodaya, Sri Lanka’s largest civil society movement, Ishika has represented Sarvodaya at National Reconciliation Policy drafting consultations and National Transitional Justice taskforce consultations. Ishika holds a MSc. in Project Management from the University of Bedfordshire, UK, a post graduate diploma in Peace and Conflict studies from University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and is currently pursuing her second BSc. degree in the Psychology stream from Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK. She has represented Sri Lanka at the Youth Town Hall – Summit for Democracy 2021 organized by Joe Biden administration and has also served as a judge of the Royal Commonwealth Society – the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2021. She was a Beyond Borders -Women in Conflict 1325 fellowship recipient in 2020 and is a US Department of State Alumnus; a Community Solutions – Tolerance and Conflict resolution Fellow 2015 and has worked with Little Friends For Peace (LFFP) on peace education curriculum development and facilitating peace building and conflict resolution training. She has also served in the US State Department Community Solutions, and Community Engagement Exchange fellowship program selection panels for five consecutive years since 2017. In 2013, she was appointed by the National Youth Services Council Sri Lanka to serve the Brunei High Commission as a Youth Ambassador during Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). Ishika is a volunteer of Sri Lanka Unites Youth movement since 2012 and is also attached to Global Unites, and Centenary Movement as a core team member.

Filo is originally from Fiji, in the South Pacific and holds a M.A in International Development from the University of Sussex, with specialism in Participation, power and social change. She is currently International Projects Coordinator at the 2050 Climate Group. She has worked in the areas of development, gender equality, youth and young women’s leadership in Fiji and the Pacific. Filo’s areas of interest include, exploring the challenges of power relations, participation and young people’s engagement in development and civic processes. She is also interested in engaging in change processes in pursuit of social justice. Prior to joining 2050 Climate Group, Filo has worked in development programmes that aim to build on young people’s leadership potential, and find ways to effectively engage in decision making spaces. She has also worked in programmes that aim to address gender inequality and the exclusion of women and girls from decision making processes that affect them.

Amb. Caroline Orobosa Usikpedo is the Executive Director of Noble Delta Women for Peace and Development formerly known as Niger Delta Women’s movement for Peace and Development, a non-governmental organization in special consultative Status with the United Nations ECOSOC, Accredited to the United Nations Environmental Program and the Green Climate Fund and Partner organization for GNDR/VFL 2019 with a vision to empower the Niger Delta Women and the most vulnerable people in the region and for the promotion and realization of their rights, and Women constituency focal point for GCAP Africa.

She is the Deputy Secretary General (Africa) for the International Human Rights commission, an Ambassador for Peace, a Chartered Administrator from the Chartered Institute of Administration, Lagos, and a graduate of Government / Public Administration from Imo State University, Owerri, and Holds a Certificate on Climate Change and Governance from Wageningen University, Netherlands. She is an international speaker, and has participated in ongoing global debates on gender, climate change and environment and will continue to share the Niger Delta cases with the world in hopes of raising awareness.

Caroline and her organization NDWPD has been committed to reducing extreme poverty by fighting climate change and environmental pollution which is the root cause of poverty and conflict  in the Niger Delta and empowering women and girls to reduce their vulnerability.

Reem Belikeir is a Libyan activist and human rights defender. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Law and is a Human Rights and international humanitarian trainer. Reem is also an advisor to Libya’s National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC). Reem has a strong interest in Libyan general affairs and human rights issues. She is a civil society activist and is the head of an organisation that supports youth and women.

Hana Al-Showafi is based in Yemen and works in the fields of women, peace and security, inclusive governance, and conflict resolution as well as youth empowerment on local and community level. Hana Al-Showafi is currently the Gender Policy Officer at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Yemen.  She has experience of over eight years in working under extreme conditions of political instability, war and conflict with a number of aid and development International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs), as well as local stakeholders in Yemen. She is a member of #SupportYemen Art Collective and a member of the Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) Chatham House Initiative, as well as a delegate of Generations for Peace.

Shatha Al-Aghbari a Yemeni Peace activist and digital marketing specialist. Programme Officer at Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights (SAF). SAF is an independent, non-governmental feminist organization that has been working since 1999 to defend human rights in Yemen. She is also coordinator of Women’s Voices of Peace Network, that focuses on women, peace and security in Yemen.  Shatha is a member of Arab Voluntary Union, Arab African Council for Integration and Development and Eval_Youth that work on an Arab and regional level regarding youth and development. She has been working in the field of peace and gender since 2015. She has been participating in many conferences, workshops and trainings regarding peace and gender at the Arab and international level, including the Torino Forum for Sustaining Peace. Recently, She is working in the field of empowering women within the framework of Resolution 1325. Shatha is a member of YPS-Pact, Women’s Solidarity Network and Civil Agglomeration of Taiz Youth. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Sana’a University.

Nyaboth Alfred is a youth and women’s rights activist. Nyaboth is the Advocacy Coordinator for South Sudan Council of Churches. She is also a Founding Member of Organisation for Responsive Governance (ORG) a civil society organizstion keenly involved in monitoring the implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan, R-ARCSS. Nyaboth is a trained peacebuilder and for the last five years has been working with both national and international organisations to contribute to a peaceful and gender equal society.  She is currently an Expert in the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Roster of Technical Experts in the Mediation Support Unit (MSU), she provides technical support to mediators and mediation processes in the IGAD region.

Nyaboth is passionate about youth and women rights issues, her work at the community level contributes to changing the minds of young people about violence especially towards women. Her work also involves empowering women to speak up about violence at all levels. She also mentors girls who are survivors of violence both in IDP camps and in schools. Nyaboth contributed to the development of Youth, Peace and Security 2250 document ‘The Missing Peace’. Ms. Nyaboth believes that a society can achieve a sustainable peace and development when women are absolutely respected and included in the issues facing the societies.

Aicha Duihi is a researcher in human rights and economics. She is the President of the Sahara Observatory for Peace, Democracy and Human Rights, a member of the National Commission for the Coordination of Measures to Combat and Prevent Trafficking in Human Beings, and a founding member of the “WE” network for women’s rights defenders in North Africa and the Middle East. Aicha has dedicated most of her career to working on human rights issues and development in her region and has contributed to the creation of many civic initiatives, particularly in the defence of human rights at the local, national and regional levels.  Aicha has also established many projects for children, adolescents, young adults and civil society. In March 2019, she was awarded the European Award for International Women’s Leadership at the European Parliament, Belgium.

Jini Agrawal, a resident of Nepal, has experience working in media, private consulting firm, and international non-profit. She has been leading Miyamoto offices in Nepal and has supported in recovery and rebuilding efforts since the 2015 Nepal Earthquake. Prior to that, she has worked with national and international media, her major focus being disaster and women issues. She has worked with indigenous communities in the rural parts of the country focusing on housing and livelihood issues. She is a board member of Initiatives of Change Nepal and is actively involved in design and implementation of the trust building program that focuses on bridging gaps between different communities within the country. She is also the National Coordinator for Women’s Peace Circle.

Jini completed her master studies from University for Peace in Costa Rica in Media, Peace and Conflict studies. She has attended several trainings on mediation, negotiation, peace, reconciliation, and justice. She loves to experience culture and food during travels, to visit war and history museums, and to read non-fictional books.

Hanaa Hamood is from Baghdad, Iraq. She has been working in the NGO field in Iraq since 2004 and she is currently the head of the administrative board for the Public Aid Organisation (PAO) and is a member of the Iraqi Women Network (IWNW).  Her work focusses on women’s empowerment and on changing the discriminatory stereotypes against women. She is working with colleagues from the Iraqi Women Network on establishing new legislation concerning women’s rights. She has also written reports including a shadow report on the CEDAW convention, and the reality of implementation of UNSCR 1325 in Iraq. During the conflict she started worked closely with Iraqi IDPs and returnee women, specifically on protection and economic empowerment and continues this work today.

Dr Aishath Rafiyya has over 18 years of management and administrative experience in various capacities such as banking, diplomacy, social activism, women’s empowerment, business, tourism and NGO management. Rafiyya holds a doctorate degree in Politics & International Relations, Master’s in Business Administration, and a Master’s in Information Technology. Rafiyya currently holds multiple positions at various institutions in the Maldives and abroad. She is a Director at the Sun Siyam Group of Companies, Founding Member & Deputy Leader of the political party Maldives Development Alliance (MDA), Director of the Global Peace Institute (GPI), and an elected Member at Women Development Committee (WDC) of Male’ City Council. Rafiyya is also the Founding President of the Regional Alliance for Fostering Youth (RAFY) – the first international NGO established in the Maldives. She has been involved in peacebuilding missions for a decade and has been contributing to National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) Maldives as a consultant, contributor to UNDP Maldives and is an invited expert from to UNODC events on preventing and countering violent extremism. She has founded several platforms for young people to be involved in the global peacebuilding mission such as the Global Peace Ambassadors Program, Global Teens Peace Summit, Global Youth Peace Summit, Girls Peace Talk show, Maldives Youth Peace Summit among others.

Aïcha Madi is a political analyst that specializes in security and gender issues. She currently serves as a feminist peace project officer at Peace Tack Initiative, a women-led Yemeni NGO that promotes women’s participation in the peace and political processes in Yemen. She has had several field experiences in the MENA region where she worked with women victims of sexual and gender-based violence as well as with mothers of victims of enforced disappearances and victims of torture.

Aïcha holds a Bachelor’s degree in international studies with a peace and security concentration, and a Master’s degree in public and international affairs, with a specialization in political communication and journalism. from the University of Montreal (Canada). She also studied at the UN Mandated University for Peace where she focused on the protection of refugees and women’s participation in peacebuilding. Her research interests lie in the study of international security threats such as armed conflicts, terrorism, radicalization, corruption, and gender issues. Her latest research on collective memory trauma and transitional justice processes was published in the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims’ Journal of Torture.

Aïcha has also worked with a team of Canadian researchers on the prevention of radicalization leading to violence in North America. She cultivates an approach that promotes peace, security, and gender equality and that focuses on victim impact analysis.

Nyachangkuoth Rambang Tai is a feminist, a peace activist, human rights defender, and is a co-founder of The Mother Care Organization. She is the special Assistant to the AU chairperson advisor on policy and strategic relations with the African Union Organs (AUO). Nyachangkuoth is also head of Gender Programmes at the Assistance Mission for Africa (AMA). Nyachangkuoth raises awareness of the cross-cutting nature of gender equality considerations in the social, economic, political, scientific, cultural, and educational fields. She seeks the participation and inclusion of women in decision-making processes and the protection of women from all types of violence. Nyachangkuoth also conducts trainings and workshops that empower women to embrace free, just, dignified, and self-actualizing lives in South Sudan. In her work, she incorporates the Generation Change training manual, which has allowed her to effectively transform her community. She was a USIP youth advisory council member, and she briefed the UN Security Council on South Sudan representing South Sudan Civil Society. Nyachangkuoth is a graduate of Bahr El Ghazal University with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Social Studies.

Sudha Upadhyayula has over 20 years of experience in both the corporate and social sectors. She has a strong project management background. Structuring efficient processes, building scalable technology ecosystems enabling seamless growth in operations are her strengths. With a desire to contribute to society, she decided to build a career in the social sector and joined My Choices Foundation’s Operation Red Alert as Head of Operations in August 2016. She believes in the concept of lifelong learning and is pursuing a Ph.D. from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.  The Indian concept of “Vasudaiva Kutumbam” – “the world is one family” is very close to her heart which says that the happiness of a society depends on the happiness of each and every person within it. She constantly strives to pursue activities to build happy communities.

Ola is a technical and qualified WASH Senior Engineer with project and delivery experience in the humanitarian and private sector. She has extensive experience in development and building organizational capacity in fast-paced, start-up and community centred environments with a particular focus on built environments. Her background provides a combination of strong technical skills with field experience where she often works in collaborative and multicultural settings. Ola is currently a Chevening Scholar and is completing a master’s degree in Water and Environmental Engineering at the University of Surrey, Guildford.

Iqra Zaffar is a Researcher at the Central University of Kashmir. She has a keen interest in issues related to gender and social justice. She has conducted numerous studies on the impact of conflict on women. In her latest work, she has documented the effect of perpetual lockdowns on women experiencing domestic violence in Kashmir. As a part of her doctoral research, she is currently studying the impact that gender has on happiness and performance in the workplace. She is also a Samanbal member, which is a programme that provides safe space for women to express themselves and share their experiences about the ongoing conflict in Kashmir.

Lailufar Yasmin is a Professor in the Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and a doctoral candidate in the Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University, Sydney. She has written extensively on secularism in Bangladesh and on South Asian issues. Her latest research involves religion and politics, ethnic issues, maritime security and gender and conflict related issues. She offers courses on International Relations theories, nationalism and ethnicity, and gender and development.

Zineb Benalla is an international expert and consultant in preventing and countering violent extremism, counter terrorism and peacebuilding who spent years working in violent extremism hotspots in the Maghreb, Sahel, and the Middle East. Zineb Benalla has a long experience working with international organisations, civil society, communities, religious leaders, traditional leaders, and with policy makers across many countries and continents.She was nominated for the International Women of Courage Award in 2015 for her work in preventing and countering violent extremism and building peace in the Sahel and Maghreb region. She was awarded Alumna of the Year by Alakhawayan University, Morocco for her outstanding career after graduation. She won The International Studies Association Peace Section and Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies Global South Peace Award in 2020 for her work and research on gender equality and preventing and countering violent extremism in the Maghreb and Sahel.

Zineb Benalla is the CEO and Founder of Eirene Associates Int. which is the first international development and security company in Morocco, she is also the co-founder of a civil society organisation working on transnational violence and countering violent extremism. Zineb Benalla is a visiting professor at the intersession unit at Alkhawayan University where she teaches ‘Rethinking Counter terrorism in Africa: Lessons in Prevention’. Zineb Benalla holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Alakhawayn University, Morocco and Georgetown University, USA. She holds a Degree in International Law from Kent Law School and Brussels School of International Studies.

Kritika is a mediator with the World Bank. She is a co-author of the legal best seller “The Art of Negotiation and Mediation- Wishbone, Funny bone & a backbone” by LexisNexis. The book is recommended reading for the mandatory course on mediation (with negotiation) by the Bar Council of India. She is an empanelled mediator with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and Appellate Tribunal for matters under Companies Act, 2013. She is also an External Consultant to Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India on commercial mediation and negotiation and has advised Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry on institutional mediation. She practices private commercial mediation including shareholder disputes, investor disputes and community mediation for commercial projects. She is a trained mediator from Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. She is a recipient of United Nations 1325 Fellowship on Women in Conflict. She is a BW Legal 40 under 40, India Business Law Journal Future Legal Leader and Forbes Legal Powerlist winner for 2020.

Nadia Gamal is a feminist, Humans Right Defender and advocate for the rights of women and girls. Nadia is the Women, Peace and Security Senior Officer at Peace Track Initiative and a member of the Women Solidarity Network in Yemen. She has over 14 years of experience in both the private and humanitarian sectors. Nadia worked as economic recovery and development officer with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and as a translator/ interpreter in an emergency program with Doctors Without Borders (MSF).  Nadia received a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant fellowship from the USA. Whilst in the US she also volunteered at the Fred Wells Education Center at the Center for Intercultural Learning and Community Participation at the University of St. Thomas.

Nadia has worked as an activist and volunteer with many other NGOs, CSOs, and institutions on many different projects and activities, leading her to realise that working in the humanitarian and development sector is where she should be and where she can help and see the smiles of the people she helps, especially women and girls who are one of the segments of society that need the most help and are most vulnerable to violations.

Payal is currently a Senior Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science at Ramakrishna Sarada Mission Vivekananda Vidyabhavan based in Kolkata. Payal has more than 15 years of teaching at a range of academic institutions. She has won various fellowships and scholarships and has represented India in a US Government sponsored program on Foreign Policy. She has authored various textbooks, research-based books and published many other articles in renowned journals and edited volumes. Her research focuses on gender equality and gender mainstreaming. Payal holds an M.Phil from the University of Calcutta and a Ph.D from Jadavapur University.

Tamana Slathia is the founder of a youth-led peacebuilding organisation called The Daffodils Project. She has been working towards peacebuilding and conflict transformation in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh for over 5 years. She is recognized as a Global Peace Ambassador for mainstreaming gender in peacebuilding processes and projects. As part of her inclusive peacebuilding approach, she has trained over 500 youth from different backgrounds and organised events sensitising youth towards conflict in Jammu and Kashmir. She is a public speaker on Youth, Peace and Security and is a mentor to young women, globally, for feminist peacebuilding. Working on SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Stronger Institutions) with a focus on localising SCR 2250 (Youth, Peace and Security) and SCR 1325 (Women, Peace and Security), through her new role at The Daffodils Project, she advocates and facilitates a larger role of youth and women in peacebuilding and conflict transformation.

Choman Hardi is Assistant Professor and Chair of the English Department at American University of Iraq Sulaimani, where she founded the Center for Gender and Development Studies. Choman was awarded a scholarship from the Leverhulme Trust to carry out post-doctoral research about women survivors of genocide in Kurdistan-Iraq. The resulting book, Gendered Experiences of Genocide: Anfal Survivors in Kurdistan-Iraq, was chosen by the Yankee Book Peddler as a UK Core Title. Choman is a published poet and was poet in residence at Moniack Mhor Writers Centre (Scotland), Villa Hellebosch (Belgium), Hedgebrook Women Writers’ Retreat (USA) and The Booth (Shetland). As an academic researcher she has been a visiting scholar in The Centre for Multiethnic Research (Uppsala University), Zentrum Moderner Orient and The Department of Humanities at the University of Amsterdam.

Utpala Chakma was born in Arunachal Pradesh in a Chakma community in northeast part of India bordering Mayanmar and China. Chakma is lingual and religious minority in the country. She currently works for the DHRD Network in Pune, where she works on strengthening human rights defenders from marginalized communities in India.  Prior to this, she has held roles with a focus on women’s empowerment and youth and community development with a variety of CSOs. Utpala studied social work as a specialization on Dalit and Tribal Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai.  She is looking forward to being a social activist and making a difference in the lives of people from marginalised sections of society, especially women.

Chandra Senaratne is the Director of NGO Management Development Centre, based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where she provides capacity development training facilities for the staff of private, public and non-Governmental organisations in Sri Lanka. She provides consultation services to develop training modules on entrepreneurship development, human resource management, capacity development, gender-based violence, gender and development, gender mainstreaming, women and conflict management, disaster management, Human Rights, humanitarian work, social accountability, governance and advocacy, good governance and social integration.

Prior to joining NGO Management Development Centre, she was the Deputy Director at National Youth Services Council in Sri Lanka where she contributed her professional experience to produce youth development and training policy. She worked at National Youth Services Council for nearly 26 years in a senior executive level position.  She was the designated project Director of Youth Council for UNFPA in Sri Lanka. She was the first officer who led and coordinated Canada-Sri Lanka Youth Exchange programs in 1978/79 and 1980/81. She completed a Diploma Course on Youth Development and Training in India under Commonwealth Asia-Pacific youth Program, Manpower Planning training Course in Thailand and Environmental training in Pakistan. She worked for the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Cambodia and East-Timor in 1992 and 1996. Chandra graduated from the University of Ceylon with a special degree in Political Science.

Nizhan Ramadhan has 5 years of unique expertise in the humanitarian field in Iraq, and she currently works as Gender and Protection Officer with CARE International in Middle East, a role she has held since 2016. Nizhan has a Bachelor’s degree in 2014 from the University of Duhok Humanities Faculty.  She has been active in violence against women and violence prevention issues for more than 5 years and is considered a national expert on sexual, domestic violence, fighting against gender inequality and social injustice. She believes poverty cannot be overcome unless everyone has equal access and control over resources and services including equal participation of women and girls in discussions and decision makings process at both community and household levels this is why she is honored to spend her time working on an issue she cares deeply about in order to make a shift in gender norms and structures underlying inequities. She is committed to uncovering and transforming the political, social and economic relationships at the heart of poverty —to improve the health and well-being of women and girls which is critical to that fight through fighting for every individual’s right to be free from abuse or violence.

Nizhan represents CARE in relevant external fora, media and with other external stakeholders on gender issues. Moreover, she supports project research, evaluations, and baseline studies on gender/women’s empowerment with technical advice and guidance including leading inclusion, GBV and RGA and conflict assessments in the conflict sensitive and disputed areas in Iraq such as Sinjar and Zumar in Ninawa governorate. Also, she has a long experience in developing training materials, modules and material for sessions on UN Security Resolution Council 1325, oversight on whether staff and mainstreaming gender by appropriately apply the skills acquired through trainings, include planning, evaluative monitoring and reporting. Nizhan brings professional experience in the development of concept notes, proposal, budget designing, project documents and policy frameworks\ reviews and research area and gender issues for best practices. She attends conferences, workshops and seminars as directed by the supervisors in the region and represents CARE at CARE MENA and other CARE country offices. She is a staff representative of CARE international in Iraq from 2017 until to 2019 and her main role is to provide individual staff an opportunity to discuss issues in the workplace confidentially.

Eesha Oaj works as a researcher, trainer and young peacebuilder with the Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR), which is a civil society organisation working on peacebuilding, mediation, and reconciliation with the motto of ‘peace through dialogue’. As a researcher she has worked extensively on documenting the impact of conflict on women living along the rural Line of Control (LoC) areas in Pakistan-administered Kashmir (PAK). She has travelled widely across PAK and engaged with grassroots communities by facilitating workshops, focus group discussions and storytelling sessions with conflict-affected women and youth. Eesha has also been engaged in reconciliation initiatives in refugee camps based on peace through arts and nonviolent resistance. As a young peace builder, she has worked on community cohesion and cultural harmony by facilitating dialogues at community level.

Yasmin Luqman is a recent graduate from the MSc International Relations of the Middle East with Arabic programme at the University of Edinburgh. She fascinated by the role of women in peacemaking and conflict resolution and especially in the role of Middle Eastern women. For example, she has been passionate about the Palestinian cause since she was young and recognises the critical role women play in preserving cultural memory and resistance movements. In completing her Master’s degree, she researched and wrote her dissertation on the role of Yemeni female activists during the Arab Spring uprising in Yemen and the challenges they have faced due to their gender, including a chapter on the role of peacemakers and the challenges they face from male delegates. She is half-Yemeni and has an aunt who is heavily involved in empowering Yemeni women and girls and in peacemaking processes to end the war in Yemen. She would eventually like to pursue a PhD programme furthering this research and is looking forward to hearing perspectives from others on this! In addition, she is a volunteer for the Scottish Green Party and also works on the social media strategy for an Edinburgh-based NGO focused on climate change called MAD Challenges.

Sanaa Khan is a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist at Prodigy Systems, a third-party monitoring organisation in Yemen. She leads large-scale third-party monitoring tasks for UN agencies. She has experience in conducting monitoring and assessments for UN projects that are related to health, communication for development and protection sectors. Her work includes providing real-time monitoring of outreach and vaccination campaigns, non-technical monitoring of mine action activities and tracking of behavioral change practices in cholera affected communities. Sanaa has a B.A in Gender Studies from Westminster College in the United States and is an alumna of Lester B. Pearson College, United World College.

Ola Karakra is an international practitioner who currently works as a Livelihoods Specialist in UNDP Iraq. The main goal of her work is to jump start the local economy in areas recently liberated from ISIL, through provision of different schemes in livelihoods. Prior to working with UNDP Iraq, Ola worked in DAI Europe in the Arab Women’s Enterprise Fund as a Lead Market Systems Analyst in Palestine, Jordan and Egypt. Before this, she worked with UNDP Palestine on Livelihoods’ Improvement and Poverty Reduction, in order to economically empower the less privileged people, which happen to mostly be women. In addition to this, she worked for Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Palestine on local governance improvement and community empowerment.

Dilara Gök is one of the founders of Conflictus Training and Consultancy. She has been working in discrimination, conflict resolution, mediation and peacebuilding fields for almost 7 years with many national and international organizations in Turkey. Currently, she has developed training programs, new modules, approaches and practical solutions in conflict resolution field by engaging with social and disadvantaged groups, as a trainer, under the roof of Conflictus. Together with this, after the Syrian crisis, she also has been working on social cohesion field by handling this issue under the roof of conflict resolution tools. In this context, she has developed and applied trainings by working with both local and international organizations in cities which have intense Syrian population. In addition to this, she had worked as a program coordinator of the Young Mediators Program which was implemented under the support of U.S. Embassy in Istanbul. Now, Dilara is one of the founding member of the Women Mediators Network of Turkey which is established under the support of Mediterranean Women Mediators Network since 2019. Also, since 2016, she has been working as victim-offender mediator in Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutors Office. Her profile can be accessed at https://tr.linkedin.com/in/dilaragok 

Zaina Erhaim is an award-winning Syrian journalist, working as Communication Manager with the Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR). Zaina received the first Anita Augspurg ‘Rebels Against War’ Prize by WILPF, was named journalist of the year by Reporters Without Boarders in 2015, and named as one of the 100 Most Powerful Arab Women according to Arabian Business and the Unsung Heroes of 2016 by Reuters Thomson.

She has been working with the IWPR for the last 7 years, trained over 100 media activists on journalism basics in Syria and made a series of short films entitled Syria Rebellious Women (2016) and Syria diaries (2017) narrated by Syrian women. Zaina has contributed to three books: Our Women on the Ground (2019), Journalism in Times of War (2018) and Arab Women Voice New Realities (2017), and taught Conflict Sensitive Mobile Journalism at Bremen Art University in Germany. For the last 3 years she has been running a social media campaign to break the stereotyping of the Syrian women, highlight their role(s) and the gender-based discriminations they face. Before IWPR, Zaina worked for the BBC. She writes for a variety of outlets including; The Guardian, The Economist, Middle East Eye, and Alhayat, Al Quds Al Arabi.

Alisar Elias has been working with UNHCR for over 12 years; she started her journey as a field assistant conducting needs assessments and delivering humanitarian assistance to refugees in Syria. She then became involved in providing case management to SGBV survivors. In 2015, as the Senior Protection Associate (SGBV), she was leading the SGBV unit at the country office level, designing and planning SGBV prevention and response programmes nationwide focusing on internally displaced persons and returnees. Alisar has worked on developing community-based structures to empower the role of women in the community and enhance their involvement in the decision-making process.

Samira Bouhia is an activist who advocates for women’s rights in Morocco and more widely in the MENA region. She is an active member of a number of advocacy groups and networks and holds senior positions in many. She is a member of the Central Bureau of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights and leads on activities relating to women’s rights; coordinator of the Association’s Central Committee for Women’s Rights; coordinator of the National Coordinating Committee for the Commemoration of International Women’s Days (including human rights, women’s, youth, trade union and political bodies); a member of a committee of the Spring of Dignity Alliance (an alliance of 25 women’s and human rights organizations advocating women’s rights); coordinator of the World March in Morocco, a member of EuroMed Rights in the Working Group on Gender Equality and Women’s Rights; and a member of the Regional Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders in the Middle East and North Africa. Samira has coordinated a number of projects and training programmes relating to women’s political participation, women’s participation in senior decision-making positions as well as programmes that support female victims of gender-based violence.  From 2007 to 2010, Samira was the Project Coordinator for the women’s anti-illiteracy programmes run by the Ministry of National Education.

Dr. Lamees A. BenSaad is one of the founders of Tripolitanian Society, a civil society organisation working on national reconciliation, peacebuilding and gender-based violence. Lamees is also a member of Women Federation for World Peace International and World Heritage Watch and is a lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Tripoli. She has been active in a number of charity organisations and educational programs in the International Women’s Group in Tripoli. She was a member of the Family Care Association from 1998-2002. In 1999, she represented Libya at the Women’s Federation for World Peace Congress entitled: ‘True Family and Love Congress’, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Additionally, she joined the International Women’s Association of Kuala Lumpur from 2009-2015.

At Tripolitanian Society she is the head of Women Committee, where her responsibilities are to open doors and work with others on a national and international scale. She has been involved in many projects such as national dialogue, and empowerment of women. She influenced many women from her region to believe in themselves and actively take up roles in the society. She has participated in many workshops and conferences that promote peace, security and women’s well-being.

Manal Bawazir is from Aden, Yemen and has been active in women’s and children’s rights since her childhood. Manal has been working in various fields in child protection and has carried out a lot of voluntary work that serviced society and contributed to raising awareness about the early marriage of girls, female genital mutilation (FGM) in rural areas, campaigns to prevent diseases and epidemics such as cholera and typhoid, and hygiene awareness. Manal currently works for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Aden as a Programme Associate, a position she has held since 2015.

During the crises of the internal wars of Yemen in 2011 as well as 2015 she contributed to volunteer work in the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps where she supervised the Abyan IDP camp in 2011. She coordinated the team of volunteers to organize food and clothing distribution campaigns as well as for the camp building supplies. Manal’s future goal is to study a master’s degree in women’s and children’s rights, and to then establish a humanitarian foundation, which will focus on women’s and children’s empowerment to become active partners in society. Manal hopes that one day she will make a substantial change in Yemen, especially regarding the unfair laws towards women’s rights that put severe penalties on anyone who violates them. This often manifests as either or both physical or psychological violence.

Mansi Arun Panjwani (Ms) is a peace educator and serves as an international consultant on peacebuilding. She has a Masters in Peace Education from the UN mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica and a Masters in Conflict Analysis and Peacebuilding from Jamia Millia Islamia in India.

She is passionate about using education to create a culture of peace in society. Towards this goal, she works with children, youth and adults both, within the formal system of education and within non-formal systems. With over a decade of experience, Mansi is actively engaged in designing and facilitating programmes that empower people to be change-agents within their communities. Using activity-based learning and by embedding values and skills of 21^stcentury such as empathy, critical thinking and collaboration, she engages her participants in a joyful, yet reflective process.

She is a senior trainer with the Commonwealth Secretariat and is involved with ongoing regional and international projects by engaging with themes such as peace education, human rights education, youth empowerment, non-violent communication, social development and inclusion, safe and caring schools, empathetic leadership, organisational culture, conflict transformation, peacebuilding and violence prevention among others.

Mansi has worked with inter-governmental organisations, international and national organisations and institutions, civil society organisations and educators. She has been actively engaged in designing and delivering international trainings for 250+ peacebuilders from over 50 countries. Some of the trainings she has conducted are with the Asia Europe Foundation on Human Rights and Prevention of Violent Extremism (Sept 2019), the Commonwealth Secretariat and  The Royal Commonwealth Society: Kuala Lumpur (April 2019),  the Commonwealth Secretariat and Council of Europe: London, (Dec 2017), United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY) and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India (Oct 2017) on the topics such as Human Rights and the Prevention of Violent Extremism, International Peace and Security & Building Community Resilience, Addressing Hate Speech and Creating Counter Narratives to Peace, and Youth and Peacebuilding.

 She has three years of experience at Teach for India, where she worked with the on-ground challenges of a public-school system in India. Using Human Rights Education and Non-Formal Education methodologies, she works with young leaders and social entrepreneurs to create change at the individual and community levels. She has also taken on various projects on designing curricula including a values-based school curriculum spanning 240 hours as well as a child rights school curriculum with Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mr. Kailash Satyarthi’s organisation.  She has also designed and written teachers’ manuals and facilitation guides that are being implemented at a national level.

 She believes that when people themselves lead empowered, joyful and sustainable lives, together, they can create a better world for each other and for future generations.

Sama’a Al-Hamdani is a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI) focusing on political dynamics in Yemen. She has been published both in Arab and Western media and think tanks, including Al-Monitor, the LawFare blog, Brookings, The National (UAE), MENAsource (Atlantic Council Blog), Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Fikra Forum, The Middle East Institute Journal, Yemen Observer, and Yemen Times, among others. Al-Hamdani has spoken at many events and forums, including at Brown University, the Carnegie Middle East Center, the World Bank, the United Nations, and Chatham House. She has also made appearances on France24, BBC World Service, CNN, Aljazeera, Al-Araby Television, and C-SPAN, among other outlets.

Before joining MEI, she was a visiting fellow at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) at Georgetown University and a fellow at the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies (SCSS). She is also the director of the Yemen Cultural Institute for Heritage and the Arts (YCIHA), a non-profit based in Washington, DC dedicated to Yemeni arts and heritage. Also, from 2011 to 2015 she wrote the blog Yemeniaty.com, with the slogan of “Yemen Simplified,” which helped explain political developments in Yemen during the Arab Spring and leading up to the civil war.

Ameenah A. Sawwan is a human rights activist/advocate from Syria, based in Berlin since 2016. Currently, she works as a campaigner at The Syria Campaign, a human rights and advocacy group. Ameenah works in particular on the campaign of the detention supporting detainees families and survivors to have the detainees cause as a priority in the peace talks of Syria. Back in Syria, she was part of the anti-regime movement in Western Damascus and worked along with other activists to highlight the violations committed in that area. At the end of 2012, she started ‘Vision’ which was a local civil society organization dedicated to the welfare of women empowerment and traumatized children. Activities included relief assistance, population census for relief work coordination, and coming up with creative approaches/activities to support children. Vision worked strongly on holding events and also produce multimedia reports to advocate for the situation under the strict siege in Western Damascus. Ameenah kept working on that until she left Syria at the end of 2013. Ameenah has experience in advocacy and campaigning, communication and media as she has spent the last eight years working on Syria for several NGOs and media outlets.  In Berlin, she is now studying Ethics and Politics at Bard College Berlin.

Rania Al-Hayyouk is the Executive Director at National Association for Family Empowerment (NAFE) based in Jordan. Her work focuses on social, political and economic empowerment of women. Throughout her career over the last 15 years with NAFE and other civil society organizations, she has built strong theoretical and practical experience and knowledge in women empowerment programmes in urban and rural areas focusing on promoting women(refugee and Jordanian)participation and engagement in political, social and economic arenas to improve their decision making abilities, living standards and well-being with focus on capacity building and skills development for participants and civil society organizations on gender, gender equality, responding to gender based violence, women rights and participation in public life, peacebuilding, women political participation, women economic development, conflict resolution, and Advocacy.

Sumona DasGupta, a political scientist by training, is a scholar-practitioner, writer, trainer and consultant based in New Delhi working primarily in the area of gender and peacebuilding. A former chair of the international Advisory Group of International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE), University of Ulster, she is currently research adviser with Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace (WISCOMP) and Senior Visiting Fellow with Participatory Research in Asia, New Delhi. Sumona has in the past co led a nine year action research project in Kashmir on Women building constituencies of peace. This dialogue project also involved working with a story teller to use storytelling to open difficult conversations across faultlines and among women and children in the camps for those displaced by the conflict. She was the closing speaker at the international conference on Accounts of the Conflict in Belfast in 2014 that looked at the linkages between storytelling, archiving and peace building across the world and particularly focused on the power of storytelling for healing and reconciliation work. A published author she has written extensively about and participated in several national and international conferences on gender and peacebuilding.

Visaka Dharmadasa is the founder and Chair of Association of War Affected Women and Parents of Servicemen Missing in Action, Struggling to end the civil war, she was able to bring women together across the conflict lines to work for peace, Ms Dharmadasa educates soldiers and community leaders about international standards of conduct of war specifically to raise awareness about the importance of soldier’s identification tags and treatment to prisoners of war. She also works on disseminating the content of UN resolution 1325 on women peace and security, calling for the inclusion of women at all levels of peace building and decision making., She trains women to run to political office and also on power sharing. She was awarded the prestigious Humanitarian award for 2006 by the Inter Action of Washington DC an NGO consortium comprises of 160 non-governmental organizations. In coordination with the “1000 Peace women across the globe” movement, she was nominated for a collective Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. She was a team member of special rappotour to look in to the violence in north and east of Sri Lanka and the ceasefire violations by the Human Rights commission, and Consultation Taskforce on Reconciliation Mechanisms appointed by Government of Sri Lanka. She is a network member of Women Waging Peace, a founding member of Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL), a member of Women Mediators across Commonwealth, a member of the expert pool of Resolution to Act, as well a member of Global Network of Women Peace builders. She is the gender focal point for GPPAC in Sri Lanka, a Director of the board of of National Peace Council and PAFFREL of Sri Lanka. She is currently a member of the Civil Society Advisory Group of UN Women for the region. Visaka Dharmadasa holds a degree in negotiations and mediation skills from the United States Institute for Peace, Washington, and in women and security from Harvard University, Cambridge, USA.

Sala Khaled is a Programmes Officer at the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies. She leads the programme ‘Strategic Local Peace Building in Yemen: Building Peace From the Ground Up’, which explores creative, inclusive new models to achieve lasting peace in Marib and Hadramawt. In addition to this, she is responsible for the human rights section of the monthly publication, The Yemen Review. This involves monitoring, researching and writing about human rights violations from airstrikes to abuses of prisoners. 

She is also a co-founder of ‘Innovative Yemen’, an initiative that seeks to foster entrepreneurship and innovative development in assessing and addressing local challenges in Yemen. She holds a BA in International Business Management from the Lebanese International University in Yemen, and a diploma in project management from Talal Abu Ghazaleh University in Amman, Jordan.

Naela Chohan is a career diplomat and an artist. As a seasoned and veteran diplomat, ambassador Chohan has assumed a leadership position in eight different Pakistani diplomatic missions on five different continents. Along with only a handful of other diplomats, Naela Chohan represents the first and senior-most cohort of women to rise to the highest echelon of Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Canada’s weekly foreign policy Embassy Magazine in January, 2008 described her by saying that “though slight in stature and soft in speech, Naela Chohan accounts for 50 per cent of the Pakistani foreign service’s most potent power couple.”

Having started her diplomatic career on the China Desk at Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she has been a proponent of a strong Pakistan-China Alliance premised on multifaceted cooperation. Naela Chohan is also committed to the prohibition of global Chemical Weapons, being the first civilian and woman to head the National Authority on the Implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical weapons in Pakistan. She is responsible for having conceived or restored several Pakistani landmarks including the Plaza de Pakistan in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was the first female foreign diplomat to be formally received by the Iranian Government after the 1979 Revolution. Naela Chohan was unanimously elected Chairperson for three consecutive years of Asia Pacific Centre (APDC), Kuala Lumpur.

Naela Chohan has served as High Commissioner of Pakistan to Australia, where she laid emphasis on bolstering bilateral ties, therein prioritizing the enhancement of security, agricultural, educational and economic relations. She has previously served as Pakistan’s Additional Foreign Secretary for the Middle East and Africa, prior to which she was the Ambassador of Pakistan to Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and Ecuador, where she has been a vocal proponent of stronger ties between Pakistan and Latin America. She is an alumnus of Quaid-e-Azam University and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Beyond her diplomatic career, Ambassador Naela Chohan is a strong advocate of Women’s Rights through the medium of visual arts, and exhibitions of her art have taken place on five Continents. She has continued to create awareness about various social and humanitarian issues internationally including at the UN. Her most notable work is “Encaged” at her solo painting exhibition entitled Souffrance, which is kept on permanent display at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris since 2002. According to UNESCO, “Cest une voix visuelle. Forte par la coluer et la compositition des image” (She is a visual voice. Strong in colours and in composition of images). Ambassador Chohan received her formal training in visual arts from Malaysian Institute of Arts (MIA), l’ecole Nationale Superior des Beaux Arts, l’ecole de Louvre. She has a Diploma in Trompe l’oiel from Ateliers du Carrousel, Palais de Louvre.

She retired from her Diplomatic Service in Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs on 5^th May 2018, and is since is pursuing her “Give Back” to the youth of Pakistan by opting teaching at her alma mater and other strategic organisations and institutions, in addition to actively taking up her artistic talent.

Thouiba Galad is a Programme Assistant for Human Rights and Governance at the European Union Delegation in Sudan. Prior to this, she worked at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and at AECOM International (USAID). She has a diploma in Peace and Development from Bahri University and a masters in Gender and Migration, and has carried out research on human trafficking in Eastern Sudan since 2013.

Marwa Khaled is a humanitarian worker and gender equality activist. She is currently a WASH Officer at UNICEF in Aden, a role that includes programme management and implementation, alongside communication and networking. She is also involved in data collection and analysis, and collaborates with local stakeholders and other members of the development community, including NGOS, the UN, and bilateral agencies, in the WASH sector in particular. She has several years of experience of working on gender equality, conflict resolution, and women’s empowerment.

Pinar Akpinar is a scholar at the Conflict Resolution and Mediation Stream of Istanbul Policy Center. She is currently Project Manager of Dialogue and Sustainable Conflict Resolution in the Kurdish Question and Polarization in Turkey Project. Pinar received her PhD from the School of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy (SPIRE), Keele University with her dissertation entitled ‘An emerging mediator on the periphery: Turkey’s mediations in the Syrian-Israeli talks and in Somalia’. Her research interests lie in the intersection of conflict resolution and foreign policy with a focus on mediation, peacebuilding, Turkish foreign policy and the Middle East. Pinar taught at various universities including Sabancı University and Keele University. Between 2014-2014, she was lecturer at the Department of International Relations and Vice Director at Center for International Conflict Resolution, Yalova University. She was a visiting scholar at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in 2013.

Mais Al-Lobaidy is an experienced Public Health and Social development specialist with a demonstrated history of working in Non-profit Organizations. She currently works as a Communication for Development Officer at the United Nations Children’s Fund in Damascus, where she has been engaged in emergency humanitarian assistance response. She is also acting Director of educational programmes on a voluntary basis with a non-profit organisation called the Syrian Youth Assembly. She is skilled in training, community mobilization, social marketing, behavioural change, and health promotion. She is also a dedicated professional with a Public Health Master’s degree concentrating in Community Health from the American University of Beirut.

Lama Kannout is a Syrian feminist, political activist, and researcher, and is currently the executive director of the Syrian Feminist Lobby in Beirut. She earned a BA in Interior Design, and owned and directed Lama Advertising Agency between 1992 and 2014. She was a member of the political office of the Arab Socialists Movement from 2000 to 2008, and has co-founded several civil society organisations. She is also an executive office member of the Musawa organisation, chairperson of the board of directors of the Syrian Centre for Citizenship, and coordinator of the studies committee in the Syrian Feminist Lobby. Ms Kannout participated in the indirect talks of Gevena II in 2014 as a member of the follow-up committee of the Syrian Women Initiative for Peace and Democracy.

Khouloud is one of the founding members of the Syrian Women Initiative for Peace and Democracy, supported by UN Women. She is also a founding member of the Syrian’s Women Political Movement. Khouloud has extensive experience in humanitarian and development response, UN functions, refugees and migration, civil society, transitional justice, and conflict mitigation. Alongside her practitioner experience, she has extensive academic background in Conflict Prevention, and International Peacebuilding with an MA in Middle Easter Studies from Lund University, Sweden and Postgraduate Diplomas in Conflict Prevention, Resolution, and Reconciliation from John Hopkins University.

Rida Al Tubuly is a Co-Founder and Director of the organisation Together We Build It, an NGO that works towards the promotion of human rights and women’s political & economic empowerment. Dr. Rida Al-Tubuly fights for women’s rights and is interested in issues such as gender equality and political empowerment of women. Ms. Al-Tubuly is the executive manager of the 1325 Network in Libya, a network which advocates on UNSCR1325 (2000) in Libya, and a co-author of the first Libyan Civil Society Monitoring Report on UNSCR1325 (2000). She is a Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Tripoli. She holds an MSc from the University of Poland and was awarded her PhD from the University of London in 1997.

Mona Zeineddine is a member of the litigation team at the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, a grassroots human rights organisation. Her work largely focuses on civil society and women’s participation and developing and implementing comprehensive litigation, communications and advocacy strategies. She holds an MSc In Global Governance and Diplomacy from the University of Oxford and a BA in Political Studies from the American University of Beirut.

Zuha Al-Hammadi is a communication specialist in United Nations Volunteer Programme (UNV), with several years of experience in humanitarian work, communications, and advocacy. Prior to this, she was a Humanitarian Affairs Officer at Médecins Sans Frontiéres (MSF) and a Communication Officer at the Sana’a Centre for Strategic Studies in Beirut.

Eilf Kalan is a co-founder of, and trainer at Conflictus Consultancy on Conflict Resolution and Co-founder of İhtiyaç Haritası project based in Turkey. Currently, she has been a consultant to GIZ Youth Leaders for Social Cohesion (between refugee and host communities) program, to UNWOMEN Turkey in Gender Sensitive Refugee Response Programs and to other UN agencies and international organizations.  Moreover, she has been a consultant to various peacebuilding and conflict resolution related, and social development focusing projects. Since 2005, she has been working within civil society sector at the local, national and international levels for developing conflict resolution and peacebuilding, local development, public and civil engagement contents and programs for various organizations such as Youth Association for Habitat, UNDP, UNICEF, UNWOMEN, and universities such as Sabancı University, Kadir Has Universityy, Bilgi University, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University and Coventry University.  

Ghaida Rishmawi is a Gender & NGO Management expert with demonstrated experience in Project Management, civil society and social work, emergency & relief Programs, Capacity Building and Community Development. Her 16 years work experience in Middle East includes 14 years working in International NGO & Emergency Relief Programs in different countries; Palestine, South Sudan, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, and Italy at senior management positions where she has been worked with some of the International and local donors as; USAID, EU, JICA, UNTF,CIDA, UN/HPF, DFID, OFDA, UKAID, German-MOFA,  German-BMZ,  and Various UN agencies.

Rezan Ali is a gender equality specialist and trainer. She currently leads monthly gender equality workshops for public servants facilitated by the Kurdistan Institute for Public Administration, Ministry of Planning. She also provides specialist training for humanitarian NGO staff and social workers who work at the camps of refugees and IDPs in Kurdistan Region-Iraq, and field aid providers to raise their awareness on Protection of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) and their corresponding policies. She also currently works as a Monitoring and Evaluation consultant for Internews, Erbil. She has previous experience at agencies including UN Women, UN OPS and originations including Rwanga, Peace Winds, Al Massalla. Social worker by training, she received an MA in Sociology and Social Policy from the University of Kurdistan-Hawler.

Arththi Sathananthar is a PhD candidate at the School of English, University of Leeds. Her thesis explores the representation of ancestral houses in diasporic Arab Anglophone memoirs. Her broader research interests include and are not limited to: diaspora, exile, postcolonial studies, Middle East studies, cultural theory, home studies, space and place, life writing, memory studies, feminism. She is Co-Director of the Women’s Paths Research Project which aims to bridge the gap between academia and local grassroots intersectional feminist organizations. She is also the administrative assistant for the Institute of Colonial and Postcolonial Studies (ICPS) which is an interdisciplinary research network that studies the comparative treatment of colonial legacies in shaping cultures of the postcolonial contemporary world. At the School of English, University of Leeds, she is a teaching assistant, writing mentor and LEAP (Leeds Excellence in the Arts Programme) mentor.

Sawssan Abou Zahr is an independent Lebanese journalist who perceives her profession as a medium to promote democracy, peace and human rights and exert social activism. She worked for 16 years with Annahar, the leading newspaper in Lebanon. Her writings in Arabic focused on Arab Spring issues and emerging democracies, women causes and human rights, Syrian and Palestinians refugees and Islamic radical movements. Through her work, she covered political events and human rights issues from several countries around the world and notably  Afghanistan and Libya, where she focused on new political systems, women rights and peace building efforts after the wounds of war.

Sawssan works on mapping local peace building actors as a partner in Lebanon for Peace Direct, whose website Peace Insight is a leading source on peace building efforts throughout conflict zones in the world. She contributes to comprehensive reports, case studies and research projects with other correspondents in the network. On her blog, she writes articles in English on internal reconciliation, human security and refugee issues, especially women.

She works with Women Human Rights  Defenders in the MENA and the regional coalition supporting them. Her role is consultancy, proof reading and editing the web material and producing manuals and reports in Arabic.

Sawssan served in 2016 and 2018 as a jury member for Tomorrow’s Peacebuilders Award. She was a speaker at World Press Freedom Day in Jakarta in 2017 on portrayal of Syrian refugees in Lebanese media media, took part in several international forums on journalism and women empowerment, as well as panels at International Peace Institute in New York on countering violent extremism and peace building.

Khin Lay is the founder and director of Triangle Women’s Support Group, an organisation that works to empower women across Myanmar to be decision makers and active members of society. Programmes have included activities on reproductive health, parenting and child psychology, human trafficking, human rights and sexual and gender-based violence, including awareness-raising on international and existing laws. Previously, Lay was the leader of Kamaryut Women’s Wing of the National League for Democracy where she advocated for the rights of women and was a victim of political persecutions. Lay’s long-term goal is to create a national- level Women’s Ministry to work with public and private entities to ensure parity for women in all spheres.

Pranjali Singh is the Programme Coordinator of the Children’s Art Museum of Nepal. Her projects are mainly art-based workshops that address social issues and allow participants to express their emotions. Her recent projects include: Paint for Peace project with Youth victims of war in Sri Lanka, Safe Spaces for Conflict Victim Women and Girls in Nepal, Establishment and mobilization of Peace Scholarship Fund for Children of Armed Conflict Victim of Nepal, Temporary Learning Centres (TLCs) for Earth Quake victim children and girls of Nepal. Her recent projects include: Safe Spaces for Conflict Victim Women and Girls in Nepal, Establishment and mobilization of Peace Scholarship Fund for Children of Armed Conflict Victim of Nepal, Mental health awareness through art based workshops conducted in Temporary Learning Centers (TLCs) for Earth Quake victim children and girls of Nepal, Paint for Peace project with Youth victims of war in Sri Lanka.

Saloni Singh is founder chair of DidiBahini, a NGO working on gender equality and social equity issues in Nepal. She is also one of the founding members of Shantimalika (a national network of women peace builders) and Nepal\’s national network to work on UN SCR # 1325 called 1325 action Group . She was also one of the EC Members of ASPBAE (Asian South Pacific Association of Basic and Adult education, she represents South Asia in the global executive committee. She also holds the position of Gender Focal Point for South Asia and Steering Committee member of GPPAC (Global Partnership on Prevention of Armed Conflict) and Regional Steering Group member of South Asia Regional Center for Strategic Studies. Ms. Singh is also one of the founder executive members of Asia Pacific Women in Politics (APWIP) network as well as founder co-chair of Nepal Participatory Action Network (NEPAN). Saloni Singh has Masters Degree in Economics from Tribhuban University of Nepal , a degree in Social Development from at St. Francis Xavier University of Canada. At present she is visiting scholar in Coady International Institute, St. FX. University, Canada and also pursuing her PHD in Economics. Ms Singh is founder chair of Coady Alumni Association of Nepal (CAAN).

She has been extensively involved in development programmes for more than two decades in Nepal and almost all the countries of South Asia like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Bushra Hyder is the Director and owner of Qadims Lumiere School and College in Peshawar, Pakistan. She is a pioneer in education as she was the first person to introduce Peace Education into any school curriculum in Pakistan. Peace Education has been critical in intervening in the radicalisation of your boys who are determined to fight for Jihad. She is also a founding member of Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership Conflict Transformation. Alongside advocating for peace education she has extensive experience in post-conflict community development and women’s participation in public policy for enduring peace and community development.

Sarah Arumagam is an Attorney-at-Law, who also works as a consultant in the areas of Violence Against Women (VAW), women, peace & security. Previously she was Programme Director at Young Womens Christian Association, Sri Lanka spearheading programmes on VAW, Peace with Justice and Democratic Citizenship. She is a former National Vice President of Young Women’s Christian Association of Sri Lanka which is affiliated to the World YWCA. Her overall work involved promoting women’s rights and peace with justice.

Ianthi Gunawardana, Vice Chairperson of the Kandurata Community Development Foundation (KCDF) Sri Lanka, has provided leadership to the Team at the KCDF in mobilizing the community to be vigilant with regards to issues involving violence against women and children. This work was implemented in close collaboration with the Community Policing Network in the respective project locations. The work carried out by KCDF has also been successful in improving the livelihoods of low-income groups in the project locations. Ianthi Gunawardena is also a member of the Association for Development and Peace through Community Action (ADAPCA) which has worked with different ethnic communities to work towards achieving sustainable peace. Ms. Gunawardena has a professional Diploma from the Institute of Personnel Management and from the London Chamber of Commerce. She has a total of 40 years’ work experience in the private and public sectors in Sri Lanka.

Salma Yusuf is a peace practitioner and mediator from Sri Lanka. She specialises in policy and process development, strategic advocacy, and thought-leadership. She has previously worked as a public official in Government, a university lecturer and researcher, a journalist, and a civil society activist nationally and internationally. In recognition of her professional contributions, she has received leadership awards from the U.S. Department of State, the Foreign Ministry of France, and the European Union. She has a Master of Laws in Public International Law from Queen Mary University of London and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of London. She has completed specialised fellowships at the University of Toronto, the University of Canberra and the American University of Washington.

Zozan Alosh is a founding member of the Syrian Women Initiative for Peace and Democracy, and has dedicated her recent work to raising awareness of women’s voices in the Middle East. She is a founding member of the Syrian Women Peace Maker Conference which brought over one hundred Syrian women together and concluded with a statement of unity overcoming the significant political divides between the different groups. Zozan is also a journalist and has worked as TV presenter at Ronahi TV in Belgium.

Lamia Abusedra is the Co-Founder of the Forum for Democratic Libya, a Benghazi based NGO. She also co-founded the Libyan Coalition of NGOs in 2011, where she was responsible for International Affairs. Lamia was the Head of International Relations Administration under the National Transitional Council’s Office for Culture and Civil Society, and served as the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Information in 2014.

Yasmine Masri is the Program Officer at Search for Common Ground in Lebanon. She is a strong believer in the peacebuilding work and the possibility to resolve conflicts in a peaceful way. Her work focused on various challenges in Lebanon and Syria such as the barriers to women inclusion and socio-political empowerment, the rights for Palestinians to work in Lebanon, lack of inclusivity in local governance, lack of collaboration between local civil society organizations. She holds an MA in International Affairs in which her thesis focused on the roles women have played in ending civil wars and rebuilding peaceful societies.

Azza Maghur is a lawyer and human rights activist. She is an expert on the technical committee of the UNSMIL/UNDP reconciliation project, and was the only woman member of the February Commission to amend the Constitutional Declaration (2014). She has spoken at numerous international conferences on various aspects of democracy, gender equality, and constitutional rights. She also works for growth in the community through initiatives encouraging women’s participation in cultural activities, and seeks to increase gender equality within communities through such initiatives. She has also published numerous collections of short stories.

Dr. Enas Saleh R. Abduassalam is an Ophthalmic General Practitioner at the Tripoli Eye Hospital, Libya, with extensive volunteer experiences with civil society organisations in Libya. She is a passionate advocate for giving women a voice in the medical field, a field that is hugely impacted by all aspects of conflict. She is also a member of Medical Build Up Company for School Health, a programme that examines school children for chronic illnesses. She is a member of the Red Cross and previously managed the charity In Order to Be. During the Libyan revolution, she volunteered in hospitals using her medical skills to treat the wounded. She has held a number of volunteer roles fundraising and event planning for charities.

Zainab Langhi is Assistant Officer and Social Media Team Leader at the Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace, an organization working to ensure women remain central to life in Libya, emphasizing inclusive transition, women’s rights, youth leadership, economic participation, constitutional reform, and education. Prior to this, she held several other positions in the organization, including coordinating various campaigns seeking to empower women and recognize the diverse roles they play.

Hivin Kako is the country director of the Maram Foundation for Relief and Development. She is also studying for a Master’s degree in International Development (Conflict, Security and Development) at the University of Birmingham. Previously she was an Executive Director at the BAHAR Relief organization, spokesperson for the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in London, and the Syrian Women’s Network in Turkey. Her work has focused on raising awareness of complex gender issues in Syrian culture and how these issues are affected by conflict.

Jeeda Alhakim is a counselling psychologist in-training in the UK and hopes to return to Syria to develop a psychological practice and participate in community based projects to fully address the psychological needs associated with the ongoing conflict. Before moving to the UK she was a project assistant at the International Organisation for Migration in Syria and volunteered at the Syrian Red Crescent. She has been a practicing therapist for 8 years and is currently working as a psychologist supporting survivors and the bereaved of the Grenfell Tower fire that took place in London. She is currently a lecturer at the University of East London, where she completed her postgraduate studies in teaching for higher education. Jeeda has also recently finished her doctorate in Counselling Psychology from City University, London and is now awaiting her certificate.

Sawsan Abou Zainedin is a Syrian architect and urban development planner based in London. Her work addresses the spatial manifestations of conflicts through research and practice, with a focus on the political, socioeconomic, and technical challenges of urban development and reconstruction in Syria. She has worked with academic institutions, think tanks, INGOs, civil society organisations and the private sector as an independent consultant and researcher. She is the co-founder of Sakan Housing Communities, a non-profit social enterprise for developing inclusive and socially just housing programs to aid recovery in Syria. Sawsan holds MSc in Urban Development Planning with distinction from the Bartlett’s Development Planning Unit of University College London. She also holds a post-graduate diploma from the Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies at Erasmus University and a bachelor’s degree of Architecture from the University of Aleppo.

Yaman Al-Qadri is an active member of the Syrian diaspora community, advocating non- violent movements against oppression. In 2012 she was detained in Syria and consequently sought political asylum in Canada where she resumed studying and completed a BSc degree in Psychology at Concordia University. In 2012 she spoke at the UN regarding human rights violations in the detention facilities of Syrian authorities. She is currently studying for a Master’s degree in Psychosocial and Psychoanalytical Studies: Refugee Care at the University of Essex, UK.

Ghadah Hasan has over seven years of experience as a humanitarian worker at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Sana’a, Yemen. Prior to this she was a supervisor, and teacher of English at the Modern American Language Institute in Sana’a. She has a Master’s degree in Business Administration in which her thesis research focused on the level of satisfaction of affected people with humanitarian assistance in conflicts.

Mariam Safi is the founding Director of the Organisation for Policy Research and Development Studies (DROPS), a leading think-tank in Afghanistan committed to strengthening democratic ideas and values through its policy-orientated research, training and advocacy programmes that aim to increase women’s participation and representation in policy discourse. In 2014, she was honoured by the Diplomatic Courier media network as one of their Top Global Women in 2014 for her contribution to the research community in Afghanistan. Her areas of interest and expertise include peace-building, human security and countering violence extremism and offering a grassroots and gendered perspective on issues effecting Afghanistan and the region of South Asia.

Savitri Sharma is the Country Director of Find your Feet – UK for both India and Nepal. Her work in both countries focuses on social justice for rural and remote communities where poverty and limited access to food is widespread. Through capacity building training programmes, and empowerment and advocacy programmes the organisation helps families to overcome poverty and hunger. Savitri has over 30 years of experience in the social sector and has worked for a number of international and national NGOs, including, CARE International, Swedish Organisation for Individual Relief, Setu Kaaran Sansthan and Prerna Population Resource Centre among others. Savitri holds a Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Lucknow and is a certified Master Coach of CEDPA / Plan International USA. She specialises in social development, women and youth empowerment, and international development project management.

Ruqaia Tabasum, a native of Kashmir (Indian side) is currently working as a Research and Programme Manager at the organisation, Equality for Peace and Democracy, based in Kabul. Her main areas of work include monitoring women in peace and security, women’s responses to radicalisation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, improving the economic independence of women in women protection centres, and engaging civil society for improved and accountable local service delivery. Previously, she has worked for a number of international organisations including International Centre for Research, and Jameel Poverty Action Lab, where she mainly focused on girls’; education, and women’s access to health services in rural areas of India. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Human Rights with a focus on Human Rights diplomacy in Indian Foreign Policy. Ruqaia also volunteers for many women’s networks and welfare organisations in India and Kashmir.

Lubna Rafiqi is from one of the highest militarised zones in the world, Kashmir. She is a Programme Coordinator at Mool Sustainability Research and Training Centre where her programmes focus on community well-being and alternative education for kids and youth. She is also a Youth Dialogue Facilitator for an initiative by Conciliation Resources in Kashmir. She works with young people in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir to develop an understanding of what kind of society youth in the region imagine for themselves in the future, what socio-political and economic transformations are needed and how young people can make communities more inclusive and peaceful in the disputed territory. Previously, In 2015 – 2016, Ms Rafiqi was a guest lecturer at the University of Heidelberg and spoke on the identities of young people in Kashmir. She holds an MA in Psychology and BA in Education from the University of Kashmir.

Tamara Abu Nafiseh is a Project Coordinator for GBV in Emergencies programme within the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Prior to this, Tamara has been a Gender Officer within the same department, and has written a number of publications on gender, GBV, and women’s experiences.

Alissar Al-Joundi is a programme associate of the UNDP Strategic Advisory Unit where she works on early recovery and livelihood initiatives as well as promoting youth-led initiatives focussing on peacebuilding and social cohesion. Before this she worked with the Syria Trust for Development, as well as the International Organization for Migration in Syria, where in both cases she focussed on psychosocial support.

Jida Malas has recently completed an MSC in Sociology. Prior to this, she has been an Outreach Programme Officer working with Syrian IDPs, and a Community Service Associate at the UNHCR in Damascus, where she created and managed the Outreach Refugee Volunteers Programme, which sought to empower Iraqi refugee volunteers in Syria.

Lana Khattab is Principal Researcher and Project Coordinator at KAP Study for UNICEF, Lebanon. Lana has previously worked as a lead researcher and gender consultant at International Alert, and as a Training Needs Assessment Consultant at the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

Sarah Karkour is the foreign affairs officer at National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces (SOC), who works on promoting, strengthening, and activating SOC relationships with the international and regional actors in order to achieve the objectives of the Syrian revolution and implement SOC political vision for a sustainable peace solution in Syria. She worked previously as public relations manager where she developed her skills in political communication and media relationships that helped her build a comprehensive deep understanding of the challenges of the Syrian issue.
She holds a B.A. in private law, and a master in Islamic Studies, specialization in comparative law (positive and Islamic law). Currently, she is working on finishing the thesis of her second master in Global Affairs on the role of international organizations in Syria since 2011.
 She is an alumna of Beyond Borders Women in Conflict1325 fellowship, SciencesPo “Femmes D’avenir en Méditerranée”, International Visitor Leadership Program “Young Political and Economic Leaders”, and Women’s Democracy Network.

Yafa Kasem is currently Senior Registration Assistant at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Damascus, where she works closely with Iraqi and non-Iraqi refugees. She has also been part of a number of technical units including refugee registration and community-based protection. Her work at UNHCR has also involved deployment to Tunisian-Libyan borders in Zarzis, South Tunisia, where she worked on protection and counselling for vulnerable refugees.

Saoussen Ben Cheikh is a humanitarian aid worker and activist from Tunisia with a particular focus on the protection of human rights and gender inclusivity in the peace and reconciliation processes in the MENA region. Saoussen is currently Programme Manager at Internews (MENA), leading a programme coaching media and civil society in conflict zones. Prior to this, Saoussen has been a Humanitarian Affairs Officer at Médecins sans Frontièrs, and a research analyst at various international organisations. Saoussen has a PhD in Contemporary History – Peace and Conflict in MENA, and an MSc in International Cooperation.

Abeer Almutawakel is a recent graduate of Oxford Brookes University, holding a MA in Development and Emergency Practice and focussing on peacebuilding efforts in Yemen. She has conducted a wide variety of research on issues such human rights, development, conflict, emergencies, forced migration, and protection. She was also part of the team that worked closely with Syrian refugees in Saidah, Lebanon to study the impact of refugees and displaced persons on host communities, and local responses to refugees. Prior to this Abeer was the general manager of the Dr Abdulkader-Almutawakel Hospital in Sana’a, a position she had to give up due to the conflict in her home country.

Bushra Nasr Kretschmer is a developmental consultant at Sabaa Consulting and a Yemeni democracy and gender activist based in Stockholm. Bushra co-founded the Coordinating Council for Youth Revolution and Change in Yemen, as well as the Yemeni Center for Transitional Justice, and has more than fourteen years of experience working with organizations such as the World Bank-IFC, USAID and GIZ on gender and finance in Yemen.

Enas Alarashi is a Member of Women Technical Advisory Team to UNOSESGY. Enas graduated from the University of Sana’a with a BA in accounting in 1994. Enas also is an Advisor at the British Embassy, Yemen. Prior to her work at the Embassy, Enas was Yemen Portfolio Coordinator at the UNDP Mine Action Programme and was formerly Financial Manager at the Gender Sensitive Economy Project implemented by the Women’s Economic Empowerment Association.

Marwa Baabbad is a researcher with a specific interest in the security sector. Marwa has previously worked as a development professional with Saferworld in Yemen, where she led on gender, peace, and security projects in Yemen, Egypt, Libya, Syria, and neighbouring countries. Marwa was also a member of the Youth Consultative Group for the UNDP’s Arab Human Development Report.

Safa Algoum is a Protection Cluster Associate at UNHCR Yemen, where she works with government, National/International NGOs and UN agencies to coordinate humanitarian efforts. Prior to this, Safa was a Community Services Associate within the same office, and as a Field Officer for the Orphans and Child Welfare Programme at Islamic Relief Yemen, where she focused primarily upon the protection of children and awareness campaigns.

Salama Bakhalaa is a Humanitarian Affairs Officer in the UN Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen. Salama has previously worked as National Programme Officer at the International Organisation for Migration, where she previously worked as an Emergency and Post-Crises Programme Officer, and as Senior Programme Assistant. Salama has an MA in International Development Management, and was the recipient of the Chevening Scholar Award in 2013/14, and a Peace Leadership Student (USAID) in 2008/9.

Shada Nasser is a Yemeni lawyer and human rights activist dedicated to protecting the rights of women in Yemen. She was the first female Yemeni lawyer and the first female lawyer not to cover her face in Yemen courts.” In 1996, Shada founded an all-female law firm “Pioneer Female Lawyers and represents Yemeni women and girls as a defence lawyer. As an opponent of child marriages in Yemen, she provides legal support for girls to get divorced. In 2008, she succeeded in divorcing Nujood Ali Alahdal, who at the time of divorce was ten, making her the youngest divorcee in the world. Ali’s case encouraged other young female brides in Yemen to seek divorce, and Shada, together with Nujood Ali, were elected Women of the Year at Glamour Magazine. Shada also worked as a lawyer for several NGO’s such as Doctors without Borders, World Doctors and Best Yemen.

Shatha Al Harazi is a Public Information Assistant in the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary General for Yemen, and was a delegate at the Yemen National Dialogue Conference, where she was a member of the National Issues, Transitional Justice, and National Reconciliation Committee, and was elected as rapporteur. As part of her current role, Shatha assists in Track II activities, ensuring gender, regional, and political balance in mission activities.

Bahar Ali is the Director of Emma Organisation for Human Development in Erbil, where one of their main focuses is upon the implementation of UNSCR 1325. Prior to this role, Bahar was a UNFPA and UN Women consultant on developing strategies for ending violence against women in Kurdistan and the elimination of GBV. She has taken part in numerous conferences on service provision for GBV survivors, combatting violence against women, and gender issues in Iraq.

Dalia Mahir is a Human Rights Officer at the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, where she supports legislation efforts related to minorities; documents human rights violations; and supports local institutional reform. Prior to this, she was Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer at the US Embassy in Baghdad, and a Field Officer with the United States Institute of Peace, where she worked on Civic Education and Interfaith Dialogue. In 2014, she was awarded an FCO Chevening Fellowship Award.

Rajeshwari Krishnamurthy is the Deputy Director of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies and the coordinator of its Centre for Internal and Regional Security (IReS). Her research focuses on the security dynamics and politics in South Asia (specifically Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh), Central Asia and West Asia. Prior to joining IPCS, she was the Content Manager at Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, Mumbai. She is also Member, Advisory Council, Women & Peace Studies Organization (formerly RIWPS), Afghanistan; and has been a South Asia Visiting Fellow at the Henry L Stimson Center, Washington, DC.

Ezabir Ali is a Commonwealth professional and Harvard Alumnae from Kashmir. In the course of her 25 year career, she has served in the public and non-profit sectors of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. For more than two decades, she has done extensive work on the psycho-social healing and economic development of women in Kashmir. Ezabir established SAMANBAL, a “safe inclusive space” for women across all divide to dialogue and build solidarity to improve relationships amongst women of three regions, who were deeply divided over a lengthy period of time. SAMANBAL’s have been established in all the three regions of the State.

Ezabir Ali is Member of Commonwealth Women Mediators and Founder/ Secretary to EHSAAS, a Non-Governmental Policy group working on advocacy on rights of women in J&K State. She is also Board Member, Jammu and Kashmir Voluntary Health & Development Association and Consultant/Partner Conciliation Resources, Gender Project, South Asia.

Ezabir Ali completed her basic education in Nyeri, East Africa. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and Education, from Kashmir and Masters in English from Kashmir University and Masters in Development Studies from University of East Anglia, Norwich.

Atia Anwar Zoon is the Director of the Women Wing at Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR) and is assistant Professor in English at Federal Urdu University Islamabad. Since 2013 Atia has been involved with women’s issues in Kashmir, working in particular on initiatives to make the voice of women heard in the Kashmir conflict. Atia has been closely involved in a project supported by Conciliation Resources called Cross Lines of Control, focussing on the role of women in peacebuilding.  Atia has also been part of numerous research projects related to women and gender. She has participated in the United Nations Human Rights Council since 2014. She holds a PhD in English linguistics and wrote her thesis on ‘Working Women: Negotiating Multiple Identities in conflict settings: A case study of women of disputed Pakistani Administered Kashmir’.

Ashima Kaul is Managing Director and founder of Yakjah Reconciliation and Development Network. She is also local correspondent in Kashmir for Insight on Conflict, Peace Direct and a consultant with Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace. A member of the Hindu Pandit minority, she is the coordinator of Athwaas, a WISCOMP initiative for conflict transformation in the provinces of Jammu and Kashmir. In addition, Ashima is an independent journalist, contributing to national daily newspapers such as The Times of India, The Hindustan Times, and The Hindu since 1991. Ashima has completed numerous trainings and was awarded ‘100 Women Achievers of India’ in 2016 by Ministry of Women and Child Development’.

Dr Mariyam Shakeela worked in numerous diverse fields prior to becoming a Cabinet Minister. She was Chairman of the Executive Board at World Health Organization and has held numerous ministry positions including Minister of Health, Minister of Health and Gender, Minister of Environment and Energy, Acting Minister for Gender Family and Human Rights, and Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs.She also headed the National Drug Agency, Environment Protection Agency, Maldives Energy Authority, Meteorological services and the Biosphere office.In addition, she is chairperson to several entities which include Maldives Network to Empower Women (MNEW); Institute of Counselling and Psychotherapy (ICP); Addu Women’s Association (AWA) and International Medical and Diagnostic Centre (IMDC). She is also a member of Civil Service Action Group (CSAG), of UN WOMEN, Multi Country Office. She holds a PhD in Management and Leadership from the Curtin University of Technology.

Musarat Amin is Post-doctoral Fellow with the South Asia Centre of London School of Economics and Political Science. Furthermore she is Assistant Professor at the Department of Defence and Diplomatic Studies at Fatima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi. Prior to this, she held posts at numerous Universities in Pakistan, including as an Assistant Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies. She has numerous publications to her name and has often appeared on national media as an analyst. She holds a PhD in International Politics from Jilin University China. She also received a gold medal at BZU Multan University for her M.A in International Relations.

Gulalai Ismail is a women’s rights expert and activist with over 13 years of experience in the field of gender equality and advocacy. She is founder of Aware Girls, the first young women and girls’ led organisation in Pakistan. She is currently working on a number of projects including the “Advocacy for the Right of Secondary Education of All Girls” project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province with the support of the Malala Fund. Prior to this, she was Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at RISE, and a Fundraising Officer at Coalition on the Rights and Responsibilities of Youth. Gulalai is the recipient of the 2016 Chirac Peace Prize as well as the 2014 International Humanist Award and was among the 100 Leading Global Thinkers according to Foreign Policy Magazine. She holds a PhD in Biotechnology from Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad-Pakistan.

Mossarat Qadeem is the Executive Director of PAIMAN Alumni Trust, a nonprofit organization promoting socio-political and economic empowerment of marginalized Pakistanis. Ms Qadeem also founded and expanded Amn-O-Nisa, a coalition of women leaders and peace activists from Pakistan, Afghanistan and India who raise their voices to advocate for a peaceful region. She is currently a member of the International Review Panel of Global Community and Resilience Fund (GCERF) and Women Alliance for security Leadership (WASL). Ms Qadeem has published two books and numerous other publications. She holds a Masters degree in political science and gender studies from the Institute of Social Sciences, Netherlands and an MPhil in international politics (focusing on conflict studies) from University of Hull. She has also been a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, USA.

Radhika Hettiarachchi is team leader with The Community Memorialisation Project at Search for Common Ground. Previously she was Managing Director with the Development Strategies Group. She also set up ‘Herstories -Mothers’ Voices of Resilience and Hope (www.herstoryarchive.org)’ which is: “an archival project of peoples’ histories and oral histories, particularly that of women, whose voices are often lost in the retelling of war narratives”. Radhika is a development practitioner, curator and researcher with over 10 years experience working in the field of conflict transformation, recovery and peace building. She holds a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Research and Development Management from the London School of Economics.

Sujatha Wijetilleke is a professional trainer focused on providing development-training services. She specializes in work related to: women’s’ issues and livelihoods and helping with the development of rural communities.She is currently programme advisor for the WEWAV Network/Sarvodaya Women’s movement. She was President of the Sarvodaya Women’s Movement between 2008 and 2013 and regional Programme Manager for the Norwegian Church Aid South Asia Region. Furthermore she has been senior Project Director for CARE international and Programme Officer with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.  Sujatha is a team member of the 2017 UN Women Study on Employment of women with Disabilities and ILO Study on Women’s Migration for employment.  She holds a PhD in education from Central Pacific University.

Hana El-Gallal has Ph.D. in Law from Bern University of Bern, Switzerland with many articles published on youth, gender equality, extremism and a book published by Peterlang Switzerland: Islam and the West: Limits Freedom of Religion. She is the CEO of CAREITC for training and legal consultancy working on mediation and conflict resolution and conflict sensitivity and peacebuilding. She is a Senior Advisor to Multiple International organizations such as: IPTI consultancy on Civil Society, Peacebuilding and Inclusivity and member of IPTI Steering Committee, World Bank & Middle East Institute Consultancy on Reconstruction of Libya, UN Department of Political Affairs & Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum Consultancy on the Reforms of the UN Coordinators’ Role in the MENA Region, Peaceful Change International consultancy on Conflict and Gender Sensitivity Analysis. She was formerly Senior Law Adviser and researcher with specific focus in international Humanitarian Law, women’s rights, gender equality, children protection, and refugee protections with the Center for Strategic Studies, University of Jordan. Former Law Professor in University of Benghazi Libya. Former Minister of Education, Benghazi, Libya and Multiple Governmental Agencies and Sub-committees, Government of Libya, Benghazi, Libya such as Constitutional Committee, Transitional Justice Committee, etc.

Israa Aljuboori is a Gender Officer at the United Nations Development Programme – Integrated Reconciliation Programme in Iraq. Her role is supporting and enhancing the role of women in the reconciliation and peace building process in Iraq. Prior to this she was the Project Officer of the Inclusive Governance Programme in the UNDP Iraq that focus on enhancing the capacity and effectiveness of Iraqi Parliament in constitution reform and parliamentary effectiveness. She has also had other roles with UNDP and USAID that supported security sector reform, role of law, Human Rights, access to justice sustainable development and job creation.

Israa has a Masters Degree in Global Management from University of Salford, Manchester, and a BA in Chemistry Science from University of Mustansiriya, Baghdad.

Mahab Madani is the head of Governance and Economic Diversification Pillars with the United Nations Development Programme UNDP and the Youth programme and Accelerator Lab Focal Point for UNDP Iraq.

Mahab has extensive experience on program and project management holding senior management positions with UN agencies, International Organizations, multiple functions, and industries leading and handling large scale projects in multi-functional areas and on a global basis.

Mahab holds B.Sc degree in Computer Engineering and PhD degree in Political Science and International Relations.

Ayat Mneina is a Canadian-Libyan activist, writer and researcher with a focus on the 2011 Libyan uprising. She is the co-founder of ShabahLibya, an online media reporting and social media platform that functioned as a 24-hour newsfeed. ShababLibya grew to be an internationally recognized source of reliable information on Libya and has led Ayat to make media appearances as a speaker on channels such as Aljazeera, the BBC and the Guardian. Ayat is currently conducting research at the University of Manitoba on Libyan youth participation in the 2011 uprising and works as a policy analyst and researcher for the Manitoba Legislative Assembly.

Miesem Mobruk is an activist dedicated to the empowerment of Libyan women and youth. Trained as a dentist, Miesem became actively involved in the Libyan civil society after the 2011 uprising. Since then, she has co-founded “Tripoli’s Goodness”, an NGO dedicated to the security of displaced Libyans living in camps, and has worked with the International Medical Corps as a program officer of a refugee community centre in Tripoli. She is a member of various Libyan youth and women empowerment organisations, such as “Together We Build It” and “I am Tawfiq”, the latter of which she also co-founded.  She is presently the project manager for the Libyan Foundation for project development, and is a practicing dentist in Tripoli.

Amal Khayat has worked for organisations such as OneVoice Palestine, Kids4Peace, and Yala Palestine, an organisation led by young leaders. She is a Fellow of the Solutions Not Sides programme run by One Voice Europe, and a member of a regional network of female activists and human rights defenders. Amal has an MSc in Global Community Development Studies, as well as an MSc in Public Health, which she completed having previously worked as a pharmacist.

Reem Bdaiwi is a Humanitarian Affairs Officer with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, where she is a member of the GBV working group, working closely with women and GBV issues. Prior to this she worked as National Coordinator for Relief International in Erbil. Reem also volunteers with the International Rescue Committee and Refugee Focus Resettlement Service.

Sarah Boukhary is Crisis Response Programme Associate with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), where she is responsible for engagement with the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Prior to this she worked as a Field Officer for Première Urgence, working with Syrian refugees in Lebanon. She holds a Masters degree in Human Rights Policy and Practice.

Fathya El-Madani is the Director of the Libyan Women’s Capabilities Development Centre (NATAJ), which focuses on women’s rights, particularly abused women’s legal rights. Fathia was also one of 40 women who participated in and wrote the Libyan Women’s Peace Treaty (2015).

Huma Chughtai is governance, gender & development, parliamentary & judicial reform specialist with her first degree in LL.B (Law & Sharia) and her second degree in LL.M (International Human Rights Law). She has a professional standing of almost thirty years of having worked initially as a Lawyer, then as an internationally trained Legislative Researcher in the Parliament of Pakistan, and later as a Governance, Law, Human Rights and Gender Specialist for over a decade and a half. Rights of women with disabilities, women in disasters and conflict, and gender and energy are some of the key areas she has worked in. Her focus of work has been reform based in the realm of parliamentary, legal, judicial, electoral, and law enforcement. Gender perspectives and human rights remain cross-cutting in all her work. Ms. Chughtai has served in various key positions within the government as well as within the development sector. Most of her work in the government has been of technical nature with the Parliament, Ministries of Women Development, Law & Justice, and Human Rights. She is currently serving as permanent faculty and Director Programs with the Federal Judicial Academy, where she designs judicial education programs for the judges, prosecutors and court staff as well as imparts training to them.

Ghmera Krekshi is a Senior Protection Officer at the Danish Refugee Council and a Senior Program Officer at the International Medical Corps, where she is responsible for supervising a Community Development Centre providing medical and social assistance to asylum seekers and refugees. Prior to this, Ghmera worked for ALWAFA, an NGO providing humanitarian services to refugees, asylum seekers, and vulnerable persons.

Noura Al Jizawi is the founder of the Istanbul-based NGO Start Point that works on building awareness around human rights and gender issues in the Syrian conflict. Noura first began working as an activist in human rights in 2008, organizing students at universities against the practice of honor killings. In 2012 whilst trying to obtain her masters degree she was imprisoned for her activities in the revolution. She fled to Turkey in 2013 where she joined the political opposition and was twice elected Vice-President of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces. In 2014 she was a member of the Syrian negotiation team in Geneva before resigning in 2015.

Sabah Alhallak is a board member of the Syrian Women’s League and Syrian League for Citizenship. She is a women’s rights activist, focussing on women’s and citizens equal rights. Sabah is active in both international and national processes related to women’s representation in peace building and transition for a new democratic Syria. She is a member of Syrian Women\’s Initiative for Peace and Democracy,hosted by UN Women and she recently participated in a UN General Assembly event on Syria, meetings with the office of the Commission of Inquiry to Syria, events in the Human Rights Council and the CEDAW pre-session, in addition to other key meetings in the region. She is a member of the Syrian civil society room with the Mr. de Mistura team in the Geneva talks.

Maysam Fadel Allah has been an Emergency Officer for more than two years at UNICEF in Tartous and Damascus, Syria, where she works mostly towards the emergency relief of internally displaced people, evacuees, returnees, and other people in need. Prior to this, she worked for more than five years for UNHCR in Damascus as Senior Community Services Case Worker, where she responded to the need for protection of refugees, asylum seekers, evacuees and internally displaced people. Maysam has started her master studies in the International Development this year at Birmingham University, the major is on Conflict, Security and Development.

Sema Nassar is a human rights defender, working on documenting violence against women, arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance in Syria.

She has organised training programmes for a group of human rights defenders on monitoring sexual and gender based violence as well as providing advice to local and international organizations in this field. She published a number of reports on the patterns of sexual violations, use of women as bargaining tools , and forgotten children in detention centers.

Currently working on a research about the impact of documenting violations in the Syrian conflict on the path of transitional justice in the Research Department at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Sema is executive director and co-founder of Urnammu for Justice and Human Rights, member of the EuroMed Rights Gender Working Group (GWG) ,and Co-founder of “WE” network, a Framework to create safe environment for WHRD in MENA region.

Sinem Arslan is an academic and researcher on peace and conflict studies, and a peace activist. Sinem was a parliamentary candidate and is currently working on three peace projects. She has written and talked extensively on conflict, terrorism, academic freedom, and civil war. She holds an MA in European Studies from the Bosphorus University and an MSc in Comparative Politics from London School of Economics. Sinem is currently completing her PhD.

Ahlam Al-Bashiri works with Saheliya in Edinburgh, Scotland. Al-Bashiri was the alternative representative of Yemen to the IMO and the head of political affairs at the Embassy of the Republic of Yemen in London. Ahlam had worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2008, during which time she was a member of the preparatory committee for establishing a women-representative electoral mechanism. She holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Sana’a and a diploma in International and Diplomatic Relations.

Quhramaana Kakar has been leading and directing the organization she founded called ‘Women for Peace and Participation’ since 2013. Prior to this, she was Gender Advisor to the Afghanistan Peace & Reintegration Program (APRP) and Joint Secretariat of the High Peace Council. She has also held consultancy roles with EUPol and Atal, and was a Programme Officer at CAFOD. She won the N-Peace Role Model for Peace Award in 2012.She holds an MPhil in Sociology from the University of Cambridge and a Masters in Public policy from the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy in Germany.

Anan Abu Shanab is the Legal Researcher and Advocacy Officer for Al-Haq Organisation, where she has conducted research into human rights issues and produced legal reports and briefings on the human rights violations and the use of force during protests. Anan is also a research assistant at the Australian National University in Ramallah, where she conducts research into the role of international human rights law and criminal law in Arab state formation. Prior to this, Anan worked with Human Rights Watch and the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights.  

Rejna Alaaldin is a lawyer and founder of legal advisory firm Kurdistan Legal Services. She is currently a National Law and Governance Consultant at the Ministry of Interior in the Kurdistan Regional Government, and also Programme Manager at Emma Organisation, where she works to increase the number of women in leadership and decision-making roles in Kurdistan. She is also the founder of the All for One network, working to establish a network amongst women and youth in the Kurdistan Region, promoting equality, education, and entrepreneurship.

Marwa Khobieh is the operations manager for Syrian Kids Foundation, which provides free education and medical services to refugee children, and established the Al-Salam School in Turkey. Marwa is also the director of the Canadian Alliances for Syrian Aid, which supports Syrian newcomers in Canada, and a project manager at the Syrian Canadian Foundation where she is responsible for establishing programmes to support Syrian’s arriving in Canada, working particularly with youth and women on issues such as empowerment and trauma recovery.

Maysa Ismael worked for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for five years prior to commencing her Masters in Sociology: Human Rights, Culture and Social Justice in 2016. During her time at UNHCR, Maysa was responsible for mobilising community support in Damascus for refugees, including support of Yezidi refugees in 2014. Prior to this, Maysa worked with IOM on projects relating to victims of trafficking in Syria and support for female-headed families. She also spent three years at the Orient Center for International Studies as a researcher, providing analytical reports on Syira, Lebanon and the US.

Samira Zair is a founding member of the Syrian Women’s Network, which brings together female activists, journalists and academics. The Network aims to laws for full equality for women in the Syrian Constitution, and to integrate gender sensitive approaches to transitional justice, reconciliation and peace building processes.  Samira is also the chair of the Syrian Women for a Citizenship-Bases State Committee.

Begüm Zorlu is a researcher, freelance photo-journalist and translator. Whilst studying Democracy and Comparative Politics, Begüm provides advice on conflict resolution and current affairs for Gülseren Onanç, former vice chairwoman of CHP (Republican Peoples’ Party), peace and women’s rights activist. Begüm coordinated the Peace Journalism Project at Independent Communication Networkand is the founder and editor of the peace journalism website ‘Neynik’. Begüm was a teaching assistant of Modern Turkish History  at Sabanci University and worked as a Research Assistant at the Ä°stanbul Policy Center. Her area of focus is social movements with an emphasis on the Kurdish Issue in Turkey, peace journalism, peace processes, Middle East and the Arab Uprisings.

Beilqes Alzawm is the Human Rights Officer at the Embassy of Yemen in London, where she is responsible for strengthening bilateral relations between the British and Yemeni governments. Beilqes’ work focusses on humanitarian aid, press freedom and the abolishing of execution. She has also developed projects to tackle child and forced marriages in Yemen. Prior to joining the Embassy of Yemen in London, Beilqes was the Political and Economic Advisor for EU Affairs and the Embassy of Yemen in Hungary. Beilqes was the Sustainable Development & Gender trainer for the Women National Committee in Sana’a, where she led focus groups and trainings for women on sustainable business practices and gender rights. She has also developed projects to improve reproductive health in Yemen, and campaigned for the legal age of marriage to be raised to 18.

Manal Dammaj is the second secretary at the Embassy of Yemen in London, prior to this she spent 10 years at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Yemen. During this time, Manal was an officer at the Arab World Affairs Unit, and a specialist in women’s and children’s affairs. Before joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Manal worked with Islamic Relief on their Poor and Orphans Support Project, and with women and marginalised people in rural Yemen, and also spent time volunteering at a women’s centre for victims of domestic violence.

Hana Faidi is currently a project manager for the Economic Empowerment Project at Libyan Women’s Forum based in Tripoli, Libya. She is also the founder of Threads for Change, a non for profit organisation that seeks to uplift women economical through innovative micro-economic solutions to unemployment in rural communities in North Africa. She has been involved in a number of empowerment and human rights based programmes with Lawyers for Justice in Libya, Syrian Refugee Aid and the United Nations Intensive Summer Programme. Hana hold an MSc in Emerging Economies and International Development from Kings College London and a BA Hons in Political Science from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.

Kathleen Thein is a professional educator and passionate about women’s rights and peace security.She has made numerous interfaith peace talk on behalf of Hindu women representatives. Currently, she is the co-chair of Myanmar’s Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages committee, and regularly travels abroad to conduct workshop of TESOL conferences. Kathleen is heavily involved in interfaith dialogue talk in several organizations. She is also chair of the Hindu Women’s Association and promoting the importance of women program.

Feryal Alkaabi is the Director of AWAN, an organisation working for the advancement of Iraqi women’s social, economic and political position through raising awareness and capacity building, and is a founding member of a group of CSO’s working on UN Security Council Resolution 1325.Feryal has contributed to numerous research and newspaper articles about violence against women and the political empowerment of women.

Razaw Ahmed is a lawyer with the Kurdistan Lawyers Syndicate and Humanitarian Liaison Officer with UNAMI. She has previously worked as a lawyer and advocate for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, and for a range of NGOs and civil society organisations in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah. Razaw is also a fellow of the John Smith Trust Rule of Law programme.

Marina Haider is Human Rights Officer for the UNOHCHR, where she is responsible for integrating gender into the monitoring of human rights violations in Yemen. She further works on protecting the rights of individuals that are affected by the current crisis as well as on the prevention of and response to Gender-Based-Violence in Yemen. She obtained a Master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication at Manipal University, India, and an undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Mosul University, Iraq. Before joining the UNOHCHR, Marina worked for UNICEF’s Education section on child protection and gender sensitivity. She also worked as a child protection officer at Save the Children.

Bilkis Abu Osba is Professor of Social Science at Sana’a University, Yemen. She obtained a PhD on political parties and democratic change and her research has further focused on gender and women’s participation in politics. During the elections in 2016, Bilkis campaigned for introducing a women’s quota to bring more women into decision-making positions and change society’s traditional image of women. Further, Bilkis is the first vice-chairwomen of the Supreme National Authority for Combating Corruption and is working with the Awam Foundation for Culture and Development.

Palwasha Hassan is the director of Afghan Women’s Educational Center. She holds a master’s degree in Post-war Recovery Studies from York University, UK and is a former fellow at the United States Institute of Peace. She is a dedicated Women’s Rights activist pioneering critical work for promotion of Women’s rights and civil society in Afghanistan that includes first women legal support organization Roazana, Women and street Children Center, Madadagar Women and Children Safe Home Network, and Irfan Cultural Center, among others. She is a strong advocate on women peace building and political participation. Ms. Hassan is born and raised in Afghanistan in her early teens she migrated with her family to Pakistan where she completed her school and acquired under grad degree in Science. In her school years she volunteered with a Women center for refugee women where she with few other women laid the foundation of Afghan Women Network, a visionary movement of women which is playing pivotal role in Women’s right lobby in the country from last twenty years.

Jamila Ali Rajaa is an advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Yemen and a senior mediator, researcher and analyst. Her recent work has focused on peace and security processes in Yemen and other Arab countries and Jamlia was a member of the Sa’ada Working Group of the National Dialogue Conference. Further, Jamila has provided consultation to a wide range of international and regional humanitarian and development agencies on different aspects of the Yemeni transition. She is also the founder and manager of Consult Yemen, a consultancy advising on politics, conflict resolution, media, human rights, gender and development. Jamila obtained a MA in Journalism at the American University in Cairo, Egypt and is a senior researcher, analyst and lecturer. She has published a number of papers and presentations on Yemen’s transition, state building, and women’s participation in peace processes. She was invited to speak at a conference about Yemen at Harvard University and has attended a fellowship at Stanford University on the rule of law, democracy and development.

Dr. Shaheen Afroze is Research Director and Head, Non-Traditional Security Studies Division and International Studies Division at the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS). BIISS is the premier think tank of Bangladesh established on 25 June 1978 by the Govt. of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh for the purpose of undertaking and promoting research and contributing to the development of objective and independent thinking on international affairs, security, and developmental issues. It is a statutory and autonomous institution and is affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Dr. Afroze has an M.A degree in Contemporary History from the University of Dhaka. She did her Ph.D in International Relations from the University of Glasgow, UK, under Commonwealth Scholarship. Her major areas of interests are foreign policy and security of small states, non-traditional security studies including human security, peace and conflict studies, countering violent extremism and gender studies. She has edited a number of books and published a large number of articles in academic journals and books and also presented a large number of research papers in academic forums at home and abroad. She was awarded the Freedom Foundation Fellowship under which she produced a monograph titled “Women in Frontal Wars: The Liberation War of Bangladesh 1971.” She is one of the Editors of the BIISS Journal which is a quarterly peer reviewed journal.
Dr. Afroze is also an Academic Advisor in National Defence College, and Armed Forces War Course (AFWC) Mirpur, Dhaka. She served as a member for two terms in the International Research Committee of Regional Center for Strategic Studies (RCSS), Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Bahar Munzir is the General Director of the People’s Development Organisation (PDO), in Iraqi Kurdistan. PDO works to promote political participation, particularly of women and youth, to combat gender based violence, to promote human rights and gender equality, and also works with internally displaced people and refugees to improve their health and living conditions.

Saba A. Al-Nadawi assumed her role as Human Rights Officer on March 2014 with United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, Baghdad Office and relocated to Erbil during the Iraqi Crisis with Islamic State militants in Nineveh province. She had an official role with OHCHR Syria country office in 2018, where the main work was investigating and conciliating complaints received from the public concerning allegations of violations of the Human Rights Act. In missions in both Iraq and Syria part of these duties contributed to the publishing of seven reports on the Protection of Civilians in the Non-international Armed Conflict in Iraq,  and five reports to the SG on the situation in Syria. These reports addressed all issues with respect to the human rights and identifies related problems in political, ethnic, racial, gender equality and socio-social issues.

She works closely with the Special Investigation Team from Geneva providing a vital link to the victims of ISIL violations, and preparing special meetings with Minority leaders and survivor. She was involved in meetings for the official visit by Special Rapporteur on minority issues Visit to Iraq, 28 February to 6 March 2016, also with UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore during her visit to Iraq in April 2016, and the visit of Assistant Secretary General Ivan Šimonović, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights October 2014 and the visit of Adama Dieng of Senegal as his Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide 2015.

In 2017 and 2018, she presented on the situation of minorities and women survivors in the Minority Forum and during the Human Rights Council sessions to talk about recommendations for the post-conflict period.

She has worked with art city to present and highlight issues related to violations and abuses against the community post conflict in 2019 through a film festival on human Rights issues, and working on capacity building to the officials and civil society organizations to submit their shadow reports for the UPR 2019. Before joining the United Nations, in the course of her 10 year career she has successfully implemented many projects requiring a high level of coordination and networking. Her extensive communication with foreign and domestic partners has always displayed a strong focus on the field of Advocacy and defending of human rights.

An Iraqi national, Ms. Nadawi worked as an economic security officer at the International Committee of the Red Cross. She has experience and has published extensively in the fields of international relations, law, human rights, and development of national institutions. In an expert capacity, she has been a member La’Onf, the Iraqi Nonviolence Network and received John Humphrey Freedom Award from Canada 2009.

She has a graduate degree in agriculture engineering, an equivalent to master’s degree in law and comparative law from the Iraqi Institute for strategic Studies, and has also completed online studies on minority rights and armed conflict, human rights and humanitarian law. She is widowed; her husband having been killed by Al-Qaida 2008 and since that time she has worked hard to build peace and train women about the importance of overcoming the pain through peace-building.

Hadeel Hazim has 11 years of experience working for Human Rights based NGOs, in which her work has focused on the promotion of women’s rights in Iraq and overcoming complex socio- economic challenges in Iraq including gender discrimination, weak government institutions, corruption and conflict. She is currently a Programme Officer at the Swedish Foundation Kvinna till Kvinna, in the Baghdad Office. She works to increase the status and power of women in conflict-torn Iraq and to empower women’s rights defenders. Prior to this she spent six years with Islamic Relief Worldwide in the Iraq Office where she worked in the department of Gender and Women’s Empowerment.

Rihab Elhaj is the co-founder of the New Libya Foundation, an NGO which supports the development of Libyan civil society. As the President, and Executive Director of the NLF, she lead the organization through the implementation of fourteen programs and over 300 events, including five capacity building centers, two war-time humanitarian aid missions, three policy advocacy campaigns, and two extensive leadership programs, training over 3,000 activists and assisting in the establishment of 67 grassroots organizations. Rihab is currently based in the USA, and has served as a consultant and analyst to UNOCHA and PAX for Peace, and the World Bank, providing situational analysis and policy recommendations.

Hadia Zarzour is the co-founder of non-profit organisations the Syrian Community Network. Having completed her undergraduate degrees at Damascus University, Hadia obtained a Fulbright Scholarship to complete her Master’s degree in Chicago in 2009, and has completed training in psychosocial support to mothers who have survived war and conflict. With the Syrian Community Network, Hadia develops treatment and rehabilitation plans for Syrian refugees in the US. In 2012, Hadia co-founded Insan for Psychosocial Support, a non-profit dedicated to the provision of support to Syrian children and adults in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

Bara’ah is doing an MSc in Political Economy of Emerging Markets at Kings College London. Currently she is preparing her dissertation which tries to explore the state-civil society relations with focus on humanitarian response. Before coming to London, Bara’ah worked in Damascus with UN agencies and international organizations like IOM, WHO and DRC on Livelihoods projects and HR. She also established and supported several local initiatives focusing on youth empowerment and capacity building for employment and social mobilization. As a professional activist, Bara’ah is interested in promoting peace and social justice through economic empowerment projects and bringing values to civil society work to achieve better impact.

Haneen Al-Zaben is the Programme Officer of women human rights operations in Jordan for Kvinna till Kvinna foundation. Whilst actively engaged in women and gender settings in her country, Haneen worked on various projects along with civil society organizations at the grass-root level to combat current discriminatory against women and advocating for a democratic society where all are equal. Advocating and shedding lights on the vital role Jordanian women play in decision making, refreshing economic, and building peace when empowered to occupy political positions. Moreover, assisting in linking local actors with the international community through addressing women concerns using various universal human rights instruments (i.e. CEDAW, UPR…) seeking for better legislations ad gender equality.

Shatha Qteshat is the Director of Community Development, International Relations and Projects at the General Union of Societies in Amman, Jordan. She has coordinated multiple projects including an initiative to support women’s inclusion in community empowerment, which helps to provide better basic services for underprivileged families. She also established a safe space centres for survivors of gender and sexual based violence. Shatha has been involved with multiple projects and organisations based around humanitarian assistance, women’s empowerment and community development and has held managerial and officer positions at General Union of Charitable Associations, UNICEF and CARE International all based in Jordan. She has a Bachelor of Public Administration from Yarmouk University – Jordan.

Rita Matar is a Peace Building Coordinator for the UNDP Mechanism for Social Stability Component of the Peace Building Project in Lebanon. In her work she supports local level conflict-resolution, building mechanisms for social stability and sustainable peace building. Prior to this, Rita was a Training Program Associate at Expand Your Horizons, a project funded by USAID, and a Field Coordinator at UNDP.

Naziha Arebi is a documentary filmmaker and photographer. Her films focus on telling human stories as a tool to instigate discussion and change, often with a focus on gender. She has directed and produced a number of documentaries on a range of topics, for example the female candidates in Libya’s first election and educational shorts on the Libyan Constitution and Reconciliation process. Naziha has worked for the BBC and Aljazeera and frequently works with Oxfam, Hivos and UN Women. Her photographic work as been exhibited around the world and has been published online and in print at a range of media outlets, including Le Monde. Naziha is a member of the Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace.

Rania Ali is a Syrian Journalist and Filmmaker who has been based in Vienna, Austria, since 2016. Rania worked on filming the award-winning documentary ‘Escape from Syria’, which was published by the Guardian. She has also written several articles with a focus upon refugees and host communities. She currently works with several NGOs, including Swiss NGO Terre Des Hommes, as a journalist and advocate. She also presented at TEDxParis in 2017, and the annual TechFugees event.

Huda Nassar is the Director for the Middle East at the Awareness Foundation, a Christian charity founded under the patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2003 to, among other things, build up understanding between the East and the West and strengthen and sustain Christians in the Middle East. Huda’s work involves developing bridge-building projects between the West and the Middle East. Since the conflict began in Syria, Huda has developed a ground-breaking initiative to train young people as Ambassadors for Peace in their communities. Since the launch of this project in 2014, over 100 youngSyrians have already been trained. Huda is working to extend this initiative to the rest of the Middle East. Huda is responsible for the development and implementation of all Awareness Foundation initiatives in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, assisted by a highly qualified group of consultants. Previously, Huda studied at Birmingham University where she earned her MA in Pastoral Theology.

Sana Kikhia is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Sanad Group for Aid and Development, an NGO that helps support Syrians by economically empowering men and women by offering zero-interest loans, contributing to the economic recovery of the country by supporting local investments, decreasing aid dependency, increasing opportunities for Syrians to find a sustainable source of income and reducing the number of civilians engaged in armed conflict by offering an alternative source of income. Sana is involved in activist and volunteer based initiatives in London, she co-founded Diaspora Exchange Initiative which brings together Syrians living in the UK and connects them with activists from other countries affected by conflicts – which runs in partnership with Amnesty International and Common Purpose. She also is a strong advocate of Syrian rights and supports and organises events with Syria Solidarity UK, APPG Friends of Syria among other organisations. Sana has an MSc in Global Project Management from the University of Essex, UK and a BSc in Communications and Electronics Engineering from the University of Al-Ba’ath, Syria.

Sonia Ben Miled is the Women, Peace and Security Programme Manager at the Tunisian NGO Aswat Nissa, whose mission is to integrate gender into public policy in Tunisia. Through her work with Aswat Nissa, Sonia has participated in all the stages of the preparation of the Tunisian 1325 National Action Plan. Sonia was previously involved in an advocacy campaign on the equal representation of women in political parties and in political parties’ electoral lists for the municipal elections. Sonia is part of the program Young leaders by the German Foundation Friderich Ebert. She took part in many trainings on women’s political participation led by Aswat Nissa and other organizations, namely a journalistic training on legal issues and the functioning of State institutions given by Barr Al Aman in partnership with CFI – Agence de coopération des medias, a communication training led by BBC Media Action, and a UN Women training on result-based management. Sonia published articles on women’s political participation in the HuffPost Tunisia and on Aswat Nissa’s website. Sonia holds a degree in English Civilization and Literature and a Master in Communication from l’Institut Supérieur des Langues de Tunis.

Shahrazad Magrabi is the Executive Director of Libyan Women Forum (LWF), a local Libyan civil society organization for women’s empowerment. Shahrazad is a passionate advocate for the active engagement of women in both public and private spheres, and gender equality. She has implemented several political and economic empowerment training programs through LWF. LWF’s first project dealt with the issue of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of militia fighters in Libya. Shahrazad was among the 13 women selected for the National Preparatory Dialogue Commission established by the government of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan in January 2014. She also collaborated with the UN Mission in Libya in preparing for the conference of women’s agenda for peace in 2015.

Weaam Youssef, Researcher and Syrian human rights Activist, who holds an MA in Applied Human Rights from the University of York as a chevening scholar, had done several fellowships on issues related to forced migration and refugee studies at the University of Oxford, Migration policy at the European University Institute,. She also holds and BA in English Literature from Damascus University and currently pursuing her degree in Humanitarian Diplomacy. Prior to joining Gulf Centre for Human Rights as a Human Rights Officer, she worked for the Arab League in Egypt, United Nations and United Nations Development Programme in Syria. She was also Syria country coordinator for Follow the Women for peace and women empowerment in MENA conflict areas. She has extensive experience in migration and human rights, having worked for intergovernmental organisations such as the UN, the Arab League, cooperating with the African Union Commission as well as civil society organisations. She has also spoken and presented at meetings such as the Global Forum for Migration and Development and the UN Migration Coordination Annual Meeting at the UN HQ, and has contributed to the Global Migration Group CMG thematic report on youth and migration and been acknowledged for coordinating the section on Arab youth for the UN Youth Annual Report. Her research focuses on issues related to human rights, humanitarianism and displacement post-conflict.

Jela Keyany is a programme coordinator at the Erbil office of Bahar Organisation. She is responsible for the organisation’s response strategy in Iraq. Prior to this Jela was a protection associate at the UNHCR Coordination Office in Erbil, a cooperation and capabilities analyst at the Joint Crisis Coordination Centre in Erbil, a programme manager and developer at Emma Organisation for Human Development. She holds an LLM in International Public Law from the University of Amsterdam and a LLB from the University of Utrecht. Her areas of expertise are in genocide prevention, international humanitarian law, sexual and gender based violence and community protection.

Taban Shoreshis the founder and CEO of the NGO the Lotus Flower which she founded in 2016. Her organisation offers support to displaced female victims of conflict in the Middle East. The organisation has three centre in Kurdistan which help vulnerable females access education and helps them with their wellbeing and mental health, which in turn helps refugee women reintegrate back into their communities.

Pascale Warda is the president of the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization, which won the U.S. Department of State’s 2012 Human Rights Defenders Award. She was the minister of migration and displacement in the Iraqi Interim Government and one of only six women in the 32 member interim Iraqi Council of Ministers, which operated following the transfer of power from the Coalition Provisional Authority in 2004. A Chaldean Catholic and ethnic Assyrian, she was born in Dahuk but later exiled to France; there and later in Syria she worked with the Assyrian Democratic Movement. After returning to Iraq in 2001, she served for three years as the head of the Assyrian Women’s Union. She has also served as external affairs manager for the Assyrian Aid Society-Iraq and co-founded the Iraqi Women’s Centre for Development in Baghdad. She holds an M.A. in human rights studies from the Catholic University of Lyon.

Sarah Hasan is a Project Coordinator on the Women Voices project at Internews, she is based in Erbil, Iraq. She has 10 years of experience working as a social worker, case manager and mediator working with women, refugees and vulnerable and minority groups. Prior to her current position at Internews, she has worked at a number of organisations including; FHI 360, Almesella Organisation and Heartland Alliance and IRC, all based in Erbil, Iraq. She holds a BA Hons in Sociology from the University of Salahaddin.

Talar Demirdjian was born in an Armenian family, in Beirut, Lebanon, and has lived there most of her life, with brief stints in London and Cairo, respectively. She\’s a graduate of King\’s College London, with an MA in Terrorism, Security, & Society. She\’s worked in various organizations, on topics ranging from Migrant Domestic Worker Rights, Digital Security, LGBTIQ+ Rights, and Gender Based Violence. Some of her experiences include monitoring and evaluation, project management, research and report writing, business development, youth-involved community development, as well as working in start-up environments.

Dr. Guita Hourani is the Director of the Lebanese Emigration Research Centre (LERC) and Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Notre Dame University. She is also Co-Founder, Director of the International Campaign, and the Secretary-General of Lebanon Dialogue Initiative. She has a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Global Studies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in Japan. She is presently Country of Origin Information Expert on Lebanon for the Fahamu Refugee Programme Oxford, England and Member of the Committee for Women Political Empowerment, Lebanon among others.

She was a Fellow of the Civic Education and Leadership Fellowship program at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University in New York and a Fellow at the Institute of Christian Oriental Research at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C, USA. She also served as a member of the Migration Expert Committee of the Directorate of Migrants at the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a member of the UNDP National Academic Working Group on Migration in Lebanon. She was an International Development Consultant at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. While in the USA, she pioneered a course on the role of women in war, peace and conflict resolution and lectured on it in various universities and institutions.

She co-edited and published with Dr. Rita Stephan and Dr. Cornelia Horn a memorial volume dedicated to the late Professor Rita Sabat (1974 – 2013) entitled “In Lin with the Divine”: the Struggle for Gender Equality in Lebanon (2015). She is the author of Understanding Socioeconomic and Political Mobility of Naturalized Kurds in Lebanon (2018) and The Impact of the Summer 2006 War on Migration in Lebanon: Emigration, Re-Migration, Evacuation, and Returning (2006).  She co-edited with Mario Najm and Jasmin Lilian Diab Proceedings of the Dialogue and Best Practice Forum: Peace, Stability, and Prosperity–The Case of Serbia and Kosovo (2017) and co-edited with Jasmin Lilian Diab Dialogue and Best Practice International Forum:  History, Geography, Reconciliation–The Case of Northern Ireland (2019).

Dr. Hourani has conceptualized, designed methodologies, implemented and written final reports on projects related to migration, refugees, socioeconomic mobility, political participation, human insecurity, integration policies, dialogue, and access to information.

Among her current research projects a study on Lebanese women migrant returnees and their political participation and a study on the role of the Lebanese political parties in the diaspora.

Muzhda Azeez teaches at Salahddin Univesity in the Social Work Department, focussing on topics such as gender equality, child and family law, and social work. Muzhda is also a member of the committee working to establish gender equality research at the University. Prior to this, Muzhda was a Programme Officer at the Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation in Erbil, Iraq, where she worked on projects with a focus on gender-based violence, UNSCR 1325, peace-building, and community-level capacity-building. Muzhda also monitored activities aimed at building knowledge and capacity around financial independence, and social and legal support.

Narmen Salahi is the Government Coordinator for INMAA for Development, an NGO based in Kirkuk. She works directly with parliamentarians in this role and has coordinated and attended a round table discussion with parliamentarians and academics on the conflict in the region, and how to build peace. Prior to this Narmen was a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for International for Monitoring and Evaluation. Narmen obtained a diploma in Islamic Studies and German as a foreign language at the Ruprecht University Heidelberg, in Heidelberg, Germany.

Elsa Saade is a social and political activist working in the fields of humanitarian assistance and capacity building. Elsa is a Human Rights Officer at the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, where she works to support women human rights defenders and promotes freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. She is active in Lebanese civil society movements, engaging in campaigns specifically related to women’s rights, war reconciliation, observing elections, youth leadership, and peace building.

Maha Nassar spent four years studying Arabic literature in Syria and later moved to Egypt to study theology at the Evangelical Theology Seminary in Cairo. She received a degree in theology, the first woman ever to receive one there. I am responsible for the provision of humanitarian aid for the National Evangelical church in Lattakia, Syria, where she is the first female Elder. She is also a volunteer for the Awareness Foundation, and has played a significant role in the establishment of their “Ambassadors for Peace” programme.

Shahrazad Odeh is a human rights defender and researcher. She currently works with the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel as a freelance attorney and lecturer. Whilst working there, she has introduced a gender sensitive approach to the documentation of torture, which is now used throughout the organisation’s work. Shahrazad also provides legal consultation for families with disabled children; and holds a research position at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Here, she obtained her LLM in Public International Law and Gender Studies in 2015. Shahrazad’s research focuses on the legal rights of children and the status of Palestinian women; topics that she has been working on with a number of institutions, such as MAKAN, the Palestinian Rights Studies Centre, in London, UK. Shahrazad has testified in front of the Israeli parliament and the European Union on human rights violations during the 2014 military operations, and violations of due process and the excessive use of force by the Israeli military and police in the arrest and detention of Palestinian youth. In addition, Shahrazad is legal advisor and spokeswomen for Taita Leila, an organisation that aims to empower Palestinian women.

Majeda Korbane is a social worker and women’s rights activist. She was a member of Ornamo Organisation for Justice and Human Rights and conducted research documenting cases of hostages with a particular focus on women and children. She was also a member of Musawa Women’s Studies Center, which works with female Syrian refugees on economic empowerment, their rights and developing their capacity to participate in peace building efforts. Majeda is also a member of the Syrian Women’s Initiative for Peace and Democracy.

Jihan Sindi is an advisor to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of Kurdistan Regional Government, Iraq. She obtained a Master’s in International Peace and Conflict Resolution in 2003, and took part in the Leaders in Development programme at Harvard University in 2009. Jihan is a Member of the KRG’s High Commission for Revitalisation, as well as a Member of the Board of Directors for ITV (Iraq Satellite TV). She has acted as the contact and coordinator person between the Council of Ministers of KRG and a number of foreign representations in the region, such as the Korean Army and US Regional Reconstruction Team. Jihan has also assisted in the supervising and organising of capacity building programmes for employees of the KRG.

Inas Miloud is an activist and researcher focusing on indigenous rights and the involvement of women in peace and political processes. She currently works as project manager and research coordinator for a policy brief on “Women, Peace and Security from Libyan Women’s Perspective”, for the 1325 Network in Libya and the Together we build it Initiative. The report aims to identify the security priorities through the lens of women’s lived realities. Inas is also the lead coordinator for the 1325 Network in Libya, where she worked amongst others on projects relating to violence against women during conflict. Further, Inas is the co-founder and director of Tamazight Women’s Movement, an organisation dealing with the intersection of gender, race and ethnicity amongst indigenous populations. Prior to this, Inas has worked as Protection Officer in Dhyba Refugee Camp, Tunisia; has engaged with displaced people communities as a Vulnerable Case Support Officer at Mercy Corps Libya; and has provided consultancy to a number of organisations including the UNDP. Inas has recently obtained a Master’s in North African Feminism from the Minnesota State University in Mankato, MN, US, and has obtained an undergraduate degree in English Literature from the University of Nafusa Mountains, Yefren, Libya.

Shahrazad Magrabi is the Executive Director of Libyan Women Forum (LWF), a local Libyan civil society organization for women’s empowerment. Shahrazad is a passionate advocate for the active engagement of women in both public and private spheres, and gender equality. She has implemented several political and economic empowerment training programs through LWF. LWF’s first project dealt with the issue of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of militia fighters in Libya. Shahrazad was among the 13 women selected for the National Preparatory Dialogue Commission established by the government of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan in January 2014. She also collaborated with the UN Mission in Libya in preparing for the conference of women’s agenda for peace in 2015.

Mariela Shaker is a violinist, and is currently studying towards a Masters degree in music at DePaul University in Chicago. She started playing the violin at the age of 10, when she joined the Arabic Institute of Music in Aleppo in 1999, graduating with distinctions in 2004. She took part in many concerts and festivals in Syria, including at the St Ephrem Syriac Orthodox Cathedral. In 2013, she received a scholarship to study at Monmouth College in Illinois, where she went on to receive a bachelors in Music Performance, and also served as concert master for the Monmouth College Chamber Orchestra. In 2015, she gave a recital at the Kennedy Centre, and has has also performed at the White House, the Pentagon, the United Nations, and the Arab American Institute.

Kholoud Htewash is the communications director and executive board member of The Voice of Libyan Women, a youth-led organisation that aims to improve the political participation and the economic empowerment of women in Libya and advocates against gender-based violence. Kholoud is responsible for managing all media and communication pertaining to the organisation, and supports the staff and board members in their activities. In 2013, Kholoud obtained an undergraduate degree in Web Design and Development from Abertay University in Dundee, UK, and is currently reading for an MSc in Strategic Communication and Pubic Relations at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, UK.

Ayse Bingol is a lawyer and human rights defender. She has brought a number of cases before the Constitutional and Supreme Court of Turkey, as well as the European Court of Human Rights. Ayse also works with internally displaced persons in Turkey and provides pro-bono legal assistance to survivors of gender-based violence. In 2011, she obtained a LLM in Human Rights at Queen Mary University in London, UK, and obtained an undergraduate degree from the Faculty of Law at Istanbul University in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2002. In addition to her legal work, Ayse has carried out consultancy work for institutions such as Open Society Justice Initiative, Economic and Social Research Centre and Democratic Progress Institute, and is a founding member of the Peace Foundation (Baris Vakfi), which advocates for a peaceful resolution of the Kurdish question.

Esra Elmas is the Turkey Programme Co-ordinator at the Democratic Progress Institute. Esra is the co-founder of Istanbul Bilgi University for Conflict Resolution Studies and Research. She is also a PhD student in Political Science at Écoles des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. She has an MA degree in Cultural Studies, and her publications cover areas such as Turkish modernization, internal migration, civil-military relations, and the history of Turkish media.

Nadine Gerges works for Youth with a Mission (YWAM) in Northern Ireland, working with young refugees on forgiveness and reconciliation. She has assisted in the organisation of faith and conflict conferences in Lebanon with NGOs working with refugees. Prior to this, she worked with young Syrians, Lebanese and Palestinians in Lebanon and as a Facilitator and translator for Humedica International Aid in the Syrian refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

Razan Ghazzawi is a freelance researcher and journalist. Razan received a Chevening scholarship to complete a Master’s degree in Gender, Sexuality and the Body at the University of Leeds. Her research focuses on sexuality politics in the context of the ‘refugee crisis’ in the West. She will be commencing a PhD at the Centre for Gender Studies at Sussex University in 2017 on a similar topic. Razan has co-authored several research reports, amongst other things on the role of women’s peace activism in Syria. Further to her work as a researcher, Razan has been a freelance journalist and blogger since 2007. She has produced several reports for a number of media outlets such as Now Lebanon and ARTE. She worked as a Media Officer at the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression in Damascus, Syria, and has worked with the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in Gaziantep, Turkey. In addition, Razan is currently working with the US based foundation Free Syria.

Dr. Sanaa Alsarghali is the co-founder and director of the Constitutional Studies Center. She is the 9th member of the Palestinian drafting committee appointed by the Palestine Liberation Organization legislative arm; the Palestinian National Council in 2019. In July 2020 UNESCO approved the appointment of Dr. Alsarghali as the new holder of UNESCO Chair on Human Rights, Democracy and Peace hosted by An-Najah University. Sanaa Alsarghali was previously a Lecturer at An-Najah Law School in Palestine. She was awarded a full scholarship from An-Najah University to study for a PhD in Constitutional Law in order to participate in constitutional building in Palestine.  Sanaa’s PhD thesis focused on the presidential concentration of powers within the Palestinian Basic Law. In 2016 Sanaa was elected as the Chairwoman of TAM, an NGO that intends to change the stereotypical image of the Palestinian women in the Media. She is the youngest Chairwoman of an active NGO in Palestine.  Previously, she worked as a TV presenter on Al Fajer TV. Her social and political talk show ‘Tam Time’ was screened on the Palestinian National TV for two years.  Sanaa also helped in producing several documentary movies that focused on the protection of social rights.

Atiaf Alwazir is a researcher, human rights activist, citizen journalist and blogger, and co-founder of the media advocacy group Support Yemen. She has a Master in International Relations from American University, and her dissertation focussed on women in prison in Yemen. Since 2011, she has chronicled the revolution in Yemen on her blog, ‘Woman from Yemen’. She also has many years of experience of campaigning for social justice programmes in the Middle East and North Africa. She was born in Sana’a and grew up in the USA, and in Egypt. Her father is Zaid Ali Alwazir, a Yemeni scholar, who produced a large number of publications on political Islam. Atiaf additionally has several years of experience in research and education and is currently an Instructor and Academic Advisor at American University.

Reem Assil is the Co-Founder of Makani Cambridge and Managing Director of Reem Assil LTD. She previously served as Chair of the Syrian Platform for Peace, an open platform aiming to promote and build peace among Syrians. She is a member of several Syrian opposition bodies and has worked on the coverage of and communication with Syrian activists on the ground.  Since early 2016, Reem has been a PhD candidate at the Centre of Religions for Reconciliation and Peacebuilding at the University of Winchester, UK, studying peace education and religious reconciliation. Previously, she obtained a Master’s in biotechnology from the University of Damascus, Syria, and was a PhD candidate in immune-parasitology at the University of Montpellier, France – a study, which was interrupted due to the conflict in Syria. Further, Reem is working as a translator and is co-founder and manager of Free Syrian Translators. 

Dr. Shaheen Akhtar is a Professor in International Relations and Editor of Journal of Contemporary Studies at the Faculty of Contemporary Studies, National Defence University in Islamabad. Her areas of expertise are conflict resolution and peacebuilding in South Asia, foreign policy of major powers, and non-traditional security: energy, water, climate change and gender issues in South Asia. She has published a number of papers regarding peacebuilding and Kashmir. She is also part of the Kashmir Initiative Group (KIG) which aims to bridge the gap between local communities and policy makers

Asmaa Al Ameen is the General Director and Project Manager at INMAA Organization for Development. INMAA is a civil society organization that implements different programs at grassroots level aimed at attaining sustainable development. Prior to this, Asmaa was a Co-ordinator at the UN Iraq Operations Centre (UNOPS), where she was involved in a series of projects related to the National Dialogue and Reconciliation Programme and general civil society development initiatives in Iraq. An expert in capacity building and organisational development, Asmaa has advised over 15 regional and national Iraqi NGOs working to combat torture and human rights violations. She is also an accomplished trainer having run courses on project management, conflict resolution and the protection of human rights for the non-profit sector and the police forces in Iraq. 

Dr. Sawsan Al Refai is an expert in Public Policy and Advocacy. She managed and provided support to government, civil society organizations, United Nations and international organizations in the Arab region and East Europe in areas of gender/Human rights based policy and advocacy. She has extensive experience working in humanitarian settings and emergencies. Dr. Al-Refaei is founding member of the Arab Network for Civic Education in the Arab region. She is also a member of the Yemen Pact for Peace and Security, a Yemeni women movement working on women & security issues. Dr. Al Refai holds a Master’s degree in health policy, planning and financing, from London School of Economics, a diploma in population and gender studies from University of Costa Rica, and she is a qualified trainer in human rights and gender mainstreaming and gender auditing.

Khulood Al Saidi has over 12 years of experience in managing and coordinating sustainable and humanitarian projects in the Middle East and North Africa, with a focus on peace-building, conflict transformation, and reconciliation. She is currently a Team Leader at Peace Paradigms. She has served as Women, Peace and Security Programme Manager at Beyond Borders Scotland and as a programme officer at Interpeace in Tunisia where her work focuses on peace building and reconciliation in Libya. Her previous work has focused on managing and coordinating sustainable and humanitarian projects in the realm of reconciliation and peacebuilding, media, health, capacity building, and women’s empowerment. She has a range of experience working for local and international NGOs and CSO including, Interpeace, UNDP – Libya, DCA Libya, BBC Media Action – Tunisia, Tamkeen for Development, Progressio and USAID.

Roua Al Taweel is a PhD candidate at Ulster University specializing in transformative/transitional justice in Syria, with dual MA degree in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Hull. Her MA thesis was on ‘Critically Reading the Dominant Human Rights Discourses: Freedom of Movement in the Context of Syria Forced Displacement’.  Human Rights in relation to forced displacement is an issue of concern on personal, academic, and professional levels. Roua has been in a direct contact with refugees and IDPs since 2006. It started in Damascus with Lebanese and Iraqis refugees as well as Syrian IDPs (as a result of the drought) and continued in Sudan where she worked with IDPs from Darfur. Another key experience was working with Syrian forced migrants in the hosting communities of Egypt and Turkey as well as the IDPs in northern Syria. Her scope of work varied from providing humanitarian aid and first-aid services, administration work, conducting surveys, facilitating youth and women empowerment programs and workshops, and working on project proposals. She was a Project Manager at the Syrian Women’s Network, and a Youth Empowerment Program Consultant at the International Medical Corps. She has also formerly worked as an aid work at the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, and a Peer Educator at Y-PEER.

Noha Al-Eryani is the Executive Manager for the Humanitarian Forum – Yemen, which supports and develops civil society organisations, responding to disasters and emergencies and implementing humanitarian and development projects in areas such as health, education, and gender. Prior to joining the Humanitarian Forum – Yemen in 2011, Noha worked for the Yemeni Women’s Union on projects relating to women’s income generation and social accountability.

Mona Al-Maghafi is an experienced Human Rights and Development Professional with a demonstrated history of working in international human rights and humanitarian law, gender and health. She was a Human Rights Officer at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Mona has contributed to the reporting portfolio of the country office, with a special focus on women and girls in armed conflict. She has also investigated allegations of human rights violations, and made contributions to regular international reporting. Mona recently drafted the women and child rights sections of the HRC report update on the situation of human rights in Yemen, pursuant to Resolution A/HRC/RES/30/18 (2015). Mona also was communications focal at OHCHR in Yemen, where she led the organization of a youth talent competition, where over 3,000 youth entered their videography, photography, and poetic works highlighting key human rights issues in Yemen as well as a Yemen Researcher at Amnesty International.