Jeff Seul

Jeff Seul is a lawyer and conflict resolution scholar-practitioner.

Mr. Seul is Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and Lecturer on Peace Studies at Harvard Divinity School. He teaches courses on religion, conflict, and peacebuilding and on the resolution of conflicts involving deeply held values, including Negotiation Across Worldviews. Mr. Seul previously was a senior associate of the Program on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. His scholarship focuses on negotiating and mediating across differing worldviews; the causes of protracted and violent conflict (including conflict with a religious dimension); and peacebuilding, reconciliation, and transitional justice (including the relationship between conflict resolution and human rights). He has served as a facilitator, mediator, arbitrator or adviser in a broad variety of conflicts.

​Mr. Seul is a partner in the law firm Holland & Knight, where he chairs the Technology & Telecommunications Industry Sector Group. He previously served as general counsel of Groove Networks, a software company acquired by Microsoft in 2005. Mr. Seul has served as a director of several other companies in the technology and renewable energy sectors.

Mr. Seul is involved in the Peace Appeal’s field work, with a special focus on the Middle East, in addition to serving as board co-chair.

Mr. Seul is a Zen teacher in the White Plum lineage.

Shirley Moulder

Shirley Moulder has worked in the religious and nonprofit sectors for nearly six decades, promoting human rights, peacebuilding and social development. She currently serves in a number of board capacities, including Chair of the Sohco Amalinda Housing Company (Sohco) and Sohco Property Invesment (SPI), which together provide affordable, accessible and safe rental accommodations to people with limited incomes across South Africa. She is also Chairman of the Tiger Kloof Educational Institution, which was re-established in 1995 after being closed down in 1956 by the apartheid regime.

Previously, Ms. Moulder was a founding board member of the Development Resources Centre in Johannesburg, which played a critical role in creating an enabling environment for the NGO sector in South Africa after the fall of apartheid. She was also a founding Trustee of the Southern Africa Trust, established to address poverty, regional dialogue processes, human rights and capacity building at the national and regional levels.

Ms. Moulder has served on a number of commissions for the Anglican Church in Southern Africa, as well as a global Anglican Communion Commission set up by the Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1999 she was awarded the Bishop’s Medal in the Johannesburg Diocese for services to the diocese, and in 2017 she received the Order of Simon of Cyrene, the highest award given by the Anglican Church of Southern Africa to laity for distinguished service. (The award is named after the first African saint.)

Chris Crockett

Chris Crockett is a partner in Acela Biotek, which is active in the sustainable agricultural space. Acela is a manufacturer of soil microbial solutions and has set up distributor operations in Brazil, Indonesia and Nigeria. Previously, Mr. Crockett was in the private equity business as a founding partner of Bridge East Capital. He began his career with Citibank in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Crockett is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Johns Hopkins University. He lives in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

Derek Brown

Derek Brown, Secretary and Co-Director. Derek Brown joined the Peace Appeal in 2005, as the organization was expanding its support of confidential peace initiatives in Sri Lanka. Upon joining, he focused his work on helping diversify the resource base to support the Peace Appeal’s work and its partners in Sri Lanka, while expanding its support to child victims of the civil war as the conflict escalated. Organizationally, Mr. Brown initiated the restructure of the Peace Appeal’s operations and global governance, including developing new partnerships with legal, accounting, technology, and local and global peacebuilding organizations.

In 2015-2016 Mr. Brown was a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. His research during his fellowship focused on a comparative study of formal and nonformal national dialogue processes and resulted in the study, “Nonformal Dialogues in National Peacemaking,” published in 2017. More recently, he has led the Peace Appeal’s work supporting nonformal and formal dialogues in the US and Zimbabwe, as well as peace education initiatives, including those highlighting the impact of displacement in US communities and opportunities for the expansion of restorative justice approaches. Prior to joining the Peace Appeal, Mr. Brown was Vice President and Associate Chair of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, a global institution investing in leading social entrepreneurs and other changemakers in over 90 countries. A strong internationalist with a deep commitment to social justice, he has devoted most of his professional and personal life to supporting and nurturing innovators and changemakers in many different contexts. His board service currently includes a number of organizations, including the Charity and Security Network and the Constellation Project. Mr. Brown holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and a B.A. in History from Yale College.

Hannes Siebert

As an international peace process and negotiations adviser and facilitator, Hannes Siebert has worked in many of the world’s most conflict-ridden societies. He continues to provide technical and facilitation support to national dialogues and peace structures and to political reform processees, including those in Lebanon, Myanmar/Burma, Cyprus and Zimbabwe.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Siebert served as director in South Africa’s National Peace Secretariat, the multi-party body mandated to implement its 1992 National Peace Accord. Post-1994 he assisted the Special Presidential Task Force in key intractable conflicts, focusing on de-militarization of youth militia.

Mr. Siebert co-founded the Peace Appeal with James Wine, Colin Jones and five Nobel Peace Laureates in 2000, in support of the “Appeal of the Nobel Peace Laureates for Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World.” In 2001, he was invited to serve as an associate and fellow at the Center for War, Peace and the News Media at NYU, where he coordinated the West-Dar al Islam Media Dialogues program, facilitating dialogue between major media institutions in the U.S. and the Middle East.

In his work with the Peace Appeal, Mr. Siebert advised Sri Lanka’s peace secretariats and facilitated the confidential dialogue forum, One Text; he co-facilitated and contributed to the drafting of key agreements in Nepal’s peace process, including co-facilitating talks between the Nepali Army and the Maoist Army and supporting the establishment of the multi-party dialogue process (NTTP); and he has engaged in supporting peace and dialogue processes in many other countries. He continues to contribute to the development of two Peace Appeal initiatives that he co-founded: “Peace Tools” and the “Peace and Dialogue Platform.”

Jayne Seminare Docherty

Jayne Seminare Docherty is Executive Director at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, where she was a professor for sixteen years. She has also taught at George Mason University and Columbia College (South Carolina). Professor Docherty earned her Ph.D. at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University and holds an undergraduate degree in religious studies and political science from Brown University. She also studied theology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Professor Docherty consults with organizations and communities in transition, working with them to harness the positive energy of conflict and to minimize its negative effects. Her current area of focus for research, writing and practice is on improving the use of negotiation in unstable situations so that the results yield durable but flexible systems for creating long-term, sustainable peace with justice. She has also conducted research – especially action research projects – for nonprofit organizations; consulted on designing, monitoring and evaluating projects and programs; worked with universities on curriculum development; and conducted trainings on conflict analysis, negotiation, and program design.

In addition to serving on the Board of Directors for the Peace Appeal, Professor Docherty has served as Chair of the Research Section (2004-2007) of the Association for Conflict Resolution, and on the Council for the International Peace Research Association. She is the author of two books: Learning Lessons from Waco: When the Parties Bring Their Gods to the Negotiation Table (Syracuse University Press), and The Little Book of Strategic Negotiation: Negotiating During Turbulent Times (Good Books).

Professor Docherty also contributed four chapters to The Negotiator’s Fieldbook: The Desk Reference for the Experienced Negotiator (American Bar Association), and she is the author of numerous articles in journals such as Terrorism and Political Violence, Nova Religio, and the Marquette Law Review. Her work on culture and negotiation has been incorporated into three different textbooks used in law schools around the country.

Dave Matthews

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Dave Matthews became a naturalized American citizen in 1980. His family moved frequently during his childhood, spending time in the U.S. and England, in addition to South Africa. Matthews and his family moved to Charlottesville, Virginia in 1986 where he formed Dave Matthews Band in 1991. Approaching its 30th anniversary, Dave Matthews Band is one of the most influential bands in rock history. Dave Matthews Band’s infectious and distinctive sound garnered lots of early attention and a die-hard loyal fan base, catapulting the band into one of the most successful touring acts of the past two decades. Their studio release, Away From The World, bowed at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, making Dave Matthews Band the first group in chart history to have six consecutive studio albums debut atop the chart. Matthews’ solo debut, 2003’s Some Devil, was certified Platinum, and its lead single, “Gravedigger,” won a GRAMMY® for “Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.”

In 2000, Matthews co-founded ATO Records, an independent label now home to Alabama Shakes, Brandi Carlile and more. Matthews owns Blenheim Vineyards, a winery in Charlottesville, VA designed to have minimal impact on the environment. He is also a partner in The Dreaming Tree Wines, which has raised over $1M for environmental groups since its inception in 2011. A member of Farm Aid’s Board of Directors since 2001 (along with Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp), and The Wilderness Society’s Governing Council since 2010, Matthews is dedicated to conservation and environmental protection. In 2014, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation honored him with its Chairman’s Award, commending his environmental dedication. Matthews serves as an ambassador for Turnaround Arts, a program of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Additionally, Matthews is a Presidential Ambassador for Citizenship and Naturalization. Matthews has played numerous benefit concerts, and the band’s Bama Works Fund, along with his own Horton Foundation, have raised more than $45M for a wide variety of humanitarian and environmental initiatives. ​

Kristiina Rintakoski

Kristiina Rintakoski is Director for Peacebuilding and Advocacy at the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission, one of the largest Finish civil society organizations working in global development. She has over fifteen years of experience in policy analysis and program planning in mediation support, peacebuilding and national dialogue processes. Regionally, much of her work has focused on Myanmar, Syria and Nepal.

Before joining FELM, Ms. Rintakoski served as Programme Director at the Crisis Management Initiative for ten years, leading the development of CMI’s crisis management, conflict resolution and peacebuilding projects and activities. Prior to that, she worked at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Ms. Rintakoski holds master’s degrees in International Relations from the University of Tampere, Finland and in Human Rights from the University of Padova, Italy.

The Very Reverend Michael Weeder

The Very Reverend Michael Weeder is an Anglican priest with over twenty-five years of service in ordained ministry and current Dean of St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa. The Very Reverend has served several parishes in the Anglican Diocese of Cape Town, and some of his extra-parochial duties include participation in the Diocesan Post-Ordination Training Program and service as Director of the Board of Social Responsibility, where he coordinated a social justice program of the Diocese of Cape Town as part of the staff of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He was the Director of Project Vote, a product of the Anglican Board of Social Responsibility, which developed and coordinated a national voter education program for the 1994 elections.

Internationally, The Very Reverend studied the role of religion and revolution in Lebanon and Nicaragua; acted as an election observer to Romania and Pakistan; conducted workshops on democracy in Swaziland, Mozambique, Malawi and Ethiopia; and took part in a Peace and Solidarity tour in North Carolina and Chicago as a guest of the American Friends Service Committee. He is a founding member of the December First Movement, a socio-cultural deliberation on the impact of slavery on consciousness and practice. He co-produced a documentary on slavery called Lydia Williams: A Fervent Simplicity and acted as an organizer, coordinator, and chaplain to the African National Congress.

Reverend Weeder was nominated to the board of the Peace Appeal by one of its Nobel Laureate mandating members, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.

Andre Howson

Andre Howson devotes his talents at the intersection of peace research and information technology, working to make the latter a valuable tool in the hands of stakeholders in all the processes that the Peace Appeal supports. Since first working as a researcher for Sri Lanka’s One Text Initiative, Mr. Howson has helped compile, analyze and disseminate vast amounts of data and knowledge resources pertaining to specific conflicts and substantive areas of peacebuilding and conflict transformation. He received his B.Sc. in Information Systems and Management from the University of London.

Charlotte Kaeppel

Charlotte Kaeppel received her M.A. in International Human Rights Law from the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the American University in Cairo, and her Mag. Phil in Political Science from the Institute of Political Science at the University of Vienna. She has worked extensively at the intersection of human rights and public international law in both the Middle East and Mexico, with a variety of non-governmental and multi-lateral institutions. Ms. Kaeppel has been central to the Peace Appeal’s research function, aiding its staff and partners in designing research tools and knowledge sharing platforms, as well as conducting research to support formal and nonformal dialogue processes.

Candace McGuire

Candace McGuire supports the financial reporting and administrative functions of the Peace Appeal. She comes to the organization with a wealth of experience aiding clients in small businesses and nonprofits. A native New Yorker, Ms. Widmer received her B.A. studying American History at Tufts University. Along with her years of financial management practice, she has enjoyed raising her family of five children, first in Martha’s Vineyard; then in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she has resided since 2005.

Steve Hege

Steve Hege has nearly two decades of experience working with the UN, international NGOs, think tanks, and governments on issues related to security sector reform, DDR, local governance, human rights, political dialogue and natural resources. As a part-time senior advisor to the Peace Appeal since 2007, he has provided technical assistance on security reforms and transitional arrangements in support of peace processes in Nepal, Lebanon and Myanmar/Burma. Mr. Hege is the Regional Deputy Director for the United States Institute of Peace.

Andries Odendaal

Andries Odendaal is an independent conflict transformation speicliast based in South Africa with deep experience in studying and aiding local peacebuilding structures. He has served as an international advisor to Nepal’s Transition to Peace Institute, and as a Senior Associate at the Centre for Mediation in Africa at the University of Pretoria. He was a regional coordinator of the Western Cape Peace Committee in 1993–1994 during South Africa’s political transition, responsible for establishing and supporting local peace committees. During 1995–1998, he continued experimenting with local peace committees in post-apartheid South Africa and Lesotho under the auspices of the Centre for Conflict Resolution at the University of Cape Town. From 1999 to 2004, he coordinated projects of the Centre for Conflict Resolution in other African countries, and since 2005 provided freelancing support to peace-building initiatives of the UN and international organisations in Africa and elsewhere. Contracted by the Nepal Transition to Peace Initiative (NTTP) during 2006–2007, in collaboration with the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, he assisted with the conceptualization and implementation of local peace committees.

Lauren Taylor

Lauren is currently a student at the University of Virginia. “My passion for improving the United States’ healthcare system has led me to where I am. I hope to pursue a Global Public Health major to learn about how various communities’ healthcare understandings and experiences are shaped historically, economically, anthropologically, religiously, and philosophically. As an aspiring doctor, I am dedicated to reducing race, class, and gender-based health disparities. I care strongly about social justice and improving the experiences of ethnic minorities locally, nationally, and internationally. Furthermore, I am passionate about empowering citizens and increasing the worldwide levels of political self-efficacy. As such, I serve as a research intern to connect potential donors with those that need resources to establish peace in their communities and nations. I want everyone to know they have power to confront or work with their leaders to improve their circumstances.”

Erbay Akansoy

Erbay Akansoy is the president of Humanitarian Relief Mission (HRM). HRM was founded in 1998 and coordinated the relationships between UNOPS and later UNDP with the Turkish Cypriot Community. At the time of UNOPS and UNDP-ACT, HRM participated and chaired the Programme Steering Committee for the Turkish Cypriot community. HRM currently is one of the two administrative partners that supports the Secretariat function of the Cyprus Dialogue Forum.

Erbay has been the president of HRM since 2013. He is the co-coordinator of the Cyprus Dialogue Forum who has previously worked extensively for conflict transformation with political and non-political actors in Cyprus. Within this context, he has also worked with key actors from other conflict countries specifically from Palestine, Israel, Germany, Northern Ireland, Lebanon, Syria, Burma, Sri Lanka and Nepal. He is a devoted peace activist who believes in the power of dialogue and provides research and facilitation assistance and support to the political and non-political actors within the community. He has a political science background with a MSc in European Management from ESC Rouen.

Vinya Ariyaratne

Sri Lanka

Vinya Ariyaratne, M.D., Ph.D., is the General Secretary of Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya. He holds doctorates in Medicine and in Community Medicine from the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine of the University of Colombo, and he also earned an M.Sc. in Community Medicine from the University of Colombo and a Masters in Public Health (International Health) from Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Ariyaratne has been a Visiting Fellow of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the U.K. and has contributed to the corpus of medical literature through articles published in medical journals. He also served as a lecturer in Community Medicine at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

Andrea Bartoli

USA

Andrea Bartoli is President of the Sant’ Egidio Foundation for Peace and Dialogue and past Dean of the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University.

Professor Bartoli was previously the first Dean of the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University and holder of the Drucie French Cumbie Chair, where his research efforts have focused on peacemaking and genocide prevention. The Founding Director of Columbia University’s Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR); a Senior Research Scholar at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA); a Teaching Fellow at Georgetown University; and at the University of Siena, Dr. Bartoli has taught in the U.S. since 1994. He chaired the Columbia University Seminar on Conflict Resolution, is a member of the Dynamical Systems and Conflict Team, and is a board member of Search for Common Ground. He has been involved in many conflict resolution activities as a member of the Community of St. Egidio and has published books and articles on violence, migrations and conflict resolution. He was co-editor of Somalia, Rwanda and Beyond: The Role of International Media in Wars and International Crisis. Dr. Bartoli served as Associate Director, Italian Academy for Advanced Studies at Columbia University from 1992-99. He was a lecturer at the University of Rome-Tor Vergata, 1987-92, and director of the Center for the Study of Social Programs, 1986-92. He was president of Unita Sanitaria Locale 7, 1983-87 and a consultant to Consiglio Nazionale dell’Economia e del Lavoro, 1980-84.

An anthropologist from Rome, Dr. Bartoli completed his Italian dottorato di ricerca (Ph.D. equivalent) at the University of Milan and his laurea (BA-MA equivalent) at the University of Rome.

Daman Nath Dhungana

NEPAL

Daman Nath Dhungana, a former Speaker for the Parliament, has played an active role in the Nepali peace and negotiations processes for the past three decades. He was a Founder Executive Member of Amnesty International and has been jailed several times for the cause of human rights and the restoration of democracy in Nepal. In 1990 he served as a member of the Constitution Recommendation Commission, co-drafting Nepal’s first democratic constitution. Throughout a long and fiercely independent political and legal career, Mr. Dhungana served as a member of parliament; was appointed as National Facilitator, Advisor and Observer of Nepal’s negotiations processes from 2003 to 2009; and was the principal advocate for the establishment of a Constituent Assembly in Nepal from the mid 90s on. The Assembly was finally established in 2008.

Mr. Dhungana was President of the Supreme Court Bar Association in 1984; General Secretary of the Nepal Bar Association from 1971-73 and 1976-79; and Founder Executive Member of the Nepal Law Society and President of Transparency International (Nepal Chapter) from 1997 to 1998. Mr Dhungana is a founder-member of Nepal Transitions to Peace (NTTP).

Omar Abdulaziz Hallaj

Omar Abdulaziz Hallaj is a consultant on urban planning, development and local governance. He is co-founder and advisor for the Syria Project at the Common Space Initiative in Beirut, where he is engaged in facilitating various dialogue and research projects for peace building and recovery planning in Syria. His professional and published research covers institutional, financial and political aspect of the urban built environment; housing, land and property (HLP); and the war economy. Formerly, he was the CEO of the Syria Trust for Development, and served on the boards of several NGO’s, and public commissions. In 2007, Mr. Hallaj was the recipient of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture as team leader of the Shibam Urban Development Project (GIZ). He subsequently served on the master jury and the steering committee of the Award.

Donna Hicks

USA

Dr. Donna Hicks is an Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University. Dr. Hicks was Deputy Director of the Program on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution (PICAR) at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. She worked extensively on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and as a member of the third party in numerous unofficial diplomatic efforts. In addition to her work in the Middle East, Dr. Hicks founded and co-directed a ten-year project in Sri Lanka, which brought the Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslim communities together for dialogue. She has been actively involved with the conflict in Colombia, where she was invited to give workshops and lectures in conflict resolution. For several years, she was involved in a project designed to improve relations between the US and Cuba. She is the Vice President of Ara Pacis, an Italian organization sponsored by the Italian Foreign Ministry. They are currently involved in a dignity restoration project in Syria and Libya. Dr. Hicks was a consultant to the British Broadcasting Company where she co-facilitated encounters between victims and perpetrators of the Northern Irish conflict with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The encounters were made into 3 television programs that were aired throughout the United Kingdom and on BBC World. Dr. Hicks has taught courses in conflict resolution at Harvard, Clark, and Columbia Universities and conducts trainings and educational seminars in the US and abroad on the role dignity plays in healing and reconciling relationships in conflict as well as dignity leadership training. She consults to corporations, schools, churches, and non-governmental organization. She is the author of the book, Dignity: It’s Essential Role in Resolving Conflict, published in 2011 by Yale University Press. Her new book, Leading with Dignity: How to Create a Culture That Brings Out the Best in People was just released by Yale University Press in August 2018. For more information, go to http://drdonnahicks.com

Herbert Kelman

USA

The late Herb Kelman was the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, Emeritus, at Harvard University and was (from 1993 to 2003) Director of the Program on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. He received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Yale University in 1951. He wa past president of the International Studies Association, the International Society of Political Psychology, the Interamerican Society of Psychology, and several other professional associations. He was recipient of many awards, including the Socio-Psychological Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1956), the Kurt Lewin Memorial award (1973), the American Psychological Association’s Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest (1981), the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order (1997), the Austrian Medal of Honor for Science and Art (1998), and the Gold Medal of Honor of the Federal Capital of Vienna (2012). His major publications included International Behavior: A Social-Psychological Analysis (editor; 1965), A Time to Speak: On Human Values and Social Research (1968), and Crimes of Obedience: Toward a Social Psychology of Authority and Responsibility (with V. Lee Hamilton; 1989). He had been engaged for many years in the development of interactive problem solving, an unofficial third party approach to the resolution of international and intercommunal conflicts, and in its application to the Arab-Israeli conflict, with special emphasis on its Israeli-Palestinian component.

Ron Kraybill

Ron Kraybill is a facilitator, consultant and trainer in conflict resolution based in Silver Spring, Maryland. He was Senior Advisor on Peacebuilding and Development for the United Nations in Lesotho and the Philippines, 2009-2014, Professor of Conflict Transformation at Eastern Mennonite University, 1996-2007, Director of Training at the Centre for Conflict Resolution in Capetown, 1989-1995, and Founding Director of the Mennonite Conciliation Service, 1979-1988. In recent years he has been involved in peace efforts in Israel/, Iraq, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Guyana, Lesotho, and the Philippines. He blogs on his publishing website, Riverhouse ePress.

Sajana Maharajan Amatya

Nepal

Sajana Maharajan is licensed advocate with longstanding experience managing complex democracy and governance and civil society strengthening programs throughout Nepal. She was one of the founding members of Nepal Transitions to Peace Institute (NTTP-I), where she served as Executive Director. She has served as Project Director for the Data for Development (D4D) Programme, Chief of Party for the Civil Society: Mutual Accountability Project-Human Rights Strengthening (CS:MAP-HRS), and has has extensive experiences working with civil society groups, political actors, government officials, media and women both at national and sub-national levels. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Science and in Law (International Law and Human Rights Law), and an M.A. in Sociology from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. She is trained on Negotiation Approaches and Skills in Protracted Conflict at Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA, April 2013 and had done a summer course on peace and human rights studies from South Asia Forum for Human Rights (SAFHR) in 2006

Andries Odendaal

South Africa

Andries Odendaal is an international advisor to NTTP-I. He is a Senior Associate at the Centre for Mediation in Africa at the University of Pretoria. He was a regional coordinator of the Western Cape Peace Committee in 1993–1994 during South Africa’s political transition, responsible for establishing and supporting local peace committees. During 1995–1998, he continued experimenting with local peace committees in post-apartheid South Africa and Lesotho under the auspices of the Centre for Conflict Resolution at the University of Cape Town. From 1999 to 2004, he coordinated projects of the Centre for Conflict Resolution in other African countries, and since 2005 provided freelancing support to peace-building initiatives of the UN and international organisations in Africa and elsewhere. Contracted by the Nepal Transition to Peace Initiative (NTTP) during 2006–2007, in collaboration with the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, he assisted with the conceptualization and implementation of local peace committees.

He has authored several articles on local peace building and was a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the US Institute of Peace (USIP) in 2009–2010. His study on local peace committees, A Crucial Link: Local Peace Committees and National Peacebuilding, was published in 2013 by USIP.

Jehan Perera

Sri Lanka

Jehan Perera is Executive Director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, an independent advocacy organization. He is also a columnist for the Daily Mirror and the Lanka Monthly Digest in Colombo. He holds a Doctor of Law degree from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in economics from Harvard College. In April 2007 Dr. Perera received the Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti National Award for Peace, Tolerance and Harmony from the Interfaith Harmony Foundation of India.

Joe William

Sri Lanka

Joe William is Chairman of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka and a former Senior Development Officer at the Program Support Unit in Sri Lanka of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). His focus areas include governance, human rights and humanitarian issues. He is a Presidium Member of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka (NPC), which promotes non-violent initiatives and acts as a catalytic body to facilitate peace and conflict resolution in Sri Lanka. He holds a master’s degree in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford.

Padma Ratna Tuladhar

Nepal

The late Mr. Tuladhar was a facilitator and mediator of Nepal’s democratic peace and negotiations processes for more than two decades, from the inception of the country’s transition to democracy. He became a member of the National Assembly (Rashtriya Panchayat) under the party-less political system in 1986, elected from Kathmandu District. During his decades-long fight from within and outside of the assembly for the restoration of multi-party democracy, he was arrested, detained and jailed multiple times during the pro-democracy movements from 1981 to 1990, and then again in 2006.

Bishnu Sapkota

Nepal

Bishnu Sapkota is an international peace and conflict specialist who has served with a number of domestic and international NGOs engaged in supporting Nepal’s national peace process for over a decade. Since 2005, he has been a key advisor to the Nepal Transition to Peace Initiative (NTTP), managing the Nepal Transition to Peace (NTTP) Forum comprising senior politicians from Nepal’s major political parties, the Secretary of the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction and civil society representatives. He currently serves as Country Director, Nepal for FHI 360. Previously, Mr. Sapkota was a Program Advisor to the Asia Foundation/Nepal, responsible for managing the foundation’s National Peace Support Project, and he provides technical advice to the Foundation on program areas related to political processes, transitional justice and the strengthening of democratic institutions.

Maria Zeniou

Maria Zeniou is the co-coordinator of the Cyprus Dialogue Forum Secretariat since 2014. As part of the Secretariat, Maria is responsible for the coordination and facilitation of political and non-political stakeholder dialogues, political issues, human rights, economic and labour issues, as well as education. Through this role and working as part of the Secretariat team, she supports stakeholders in the creation of shared knowledge resources and joint visions for the future. In her previous role, she has worked for UNDP-ACT in Cyprus as the Dialogue Practice Leader.

She is a passionate believer in the power of people to bring about change through dialogue and has devoted herself to supporting the local political and non-political stakeholders in their efforts for change in Cyprus. Maria has a knowledge management background and has received her PhD in this area from the University of Derby.

Nelson Mandela

Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa.

1993

The Nelson Mandela Foundation

Frederik Willem de Klerk

Awarded the ​Nobel Peace Prize for his work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa.

1993

FW de Klerk Foundation

Mairead Maguire

Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for being the Founder of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement

1977

Peace People​

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel

Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for working for social development by means of nonviolent liberation.

1980

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel

​Desmond Tutu

Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his opposition to South Africa’s brutal apartheid regime.

1984

Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation