Mediators

Esraa Saied

Categories: Africa, Arab region, Capacity Building, Development, Gender, International Development, Mediation, Mena Region, Peace and Security, Peacebuilding, Social Cohesion, Sustainable Development
Location: Egypt
Geographical expertise: Africa, MENA region, Arab region
Topical expertise: Peace, Conflict, Development, Gender, mediation, peacebuilding, social cohesion, WPS, capacity building, IHL
Languages: Arabic (native), English (fluent), Spanish (intermediate)

Esraa Saied is a peace and development consultant with extensive experience working with several international and regional organisations. Prior to that, she was a program manager for Peacemaking, Peacebuilding and Women Peace and Security (WPS) at the Cairo International Center for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding (CCCPA). She is also the former Secretariat of the International Association of Peacekeeping Centers (IAPTC).

Prior to joining CCCPA, she was a training manager at Sutherland Global Services for five years. She served in different duty stations including New York, Louisiana, Manila and Cairo.

She worked at CCCPA from 2014 to 2020, and her responsibilities included managing all capacity building and research activities in the areas of peacemaking, peacebuilding and WPS. She took part in developing many of CCCPA’s training manuals, including (Conflict Analysis, Dialogue, Negotiation and Mediation, Women Empowerment in Peace Processes, Preventing Sexual Exploitation and Abuse). She was also in charge of implementing all pre-deployment trainings conducted to the Egyptian peacekeepers. She has coordinated several high-level workshops in partnership with the African Union and United Nations (in NY, Addis and Cairo).

Prior to joining CCCPA, she was a training manager at Sutherland Global Services for five years. She served in different duty stations including New York, Louisiana, Manila and Cairo.

She holds a Master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of St. Andrews (UK, 2018). Her thesis focused on Methodologies of Evaluating UN Peace Operations. She holds a BA in Political Science from the Cairo University, 2009.

She joined the network because of her belief in the significant importance of women empowerment and the dire need for their inclusion in peace and development processes.

Esraa Saied

Esraa Saied is a peace and development consultant with extensive...

Farida Jaidi

Categories: Africa, Arabic, Diplomatic training and protocol, English, Europe & EU, French, Gender, Governance, Italian, Leadership, Portuguese, Professional Development, Spanish
Location: Morocco
Geographical expertise: Europe and Africa
Topical expertise: training, leadership, governance, diplomatic training and protocol, professional development, gender
Languages: medium knowledge of Arabic, English, Italian and Spanish, fluent in French and basic knowledge of Portuguese

Farida Jaidi, a career diplomat, has worked for 38 years at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation as Head of Department, Head of Division, Director of Multilateral Cooperation, as Consul General in Montreal, as Ambassador to Sweden, Brazil, Paraguay and Suriname, and as Diplomatic Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. She has participated in numerous Conferences and Summit at the international level (UN, MNA, UNDP, UNEP, FAO). Advisor to the Prime Minister at the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), she was part of the OIF delegation that oversaw the elections in Mauritania and chaired the delegation of OIF that oversaw the elections in Niger. Currently, she is a trainer and master coach in personal and professional development as well as a diplomatic coach, practicing in the Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She is very active at the national level participating in seminars on numerous gender-related issues ranging from health to economics to entrepreneurship to development. Over the years she has also received numerous honors and has been decorated by His Majesty the King of Morocco. She is a member of the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network, which she joined to contribute to the achievement of peace in the world. She believes women have an important responsibility in this regard but need the autonomy and the political and economic rights. She is a member of FemWise and since 2016, she is the President of the Environmental Women Association (EWA).

Farida Jaidi

Farida Jaidi, a career diplomat, has worked for 38 years...

Giulia Massotti

Categories: Anti-corruption, Civil society organizations, English, Europe & EU, European policies, French, Gender, Gender inclusion and perspectives, Governance, Italian, Non-state actors
Location: Italy
Geographical expertise: Europe
Topical expertise: European Union, European policies, political science, anti-corruption, gender, civil society organizations
Languages: English, French and Italian

Giulia Massotti is diplomat in training at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. From 2014 to 2019, she worked at the presidency of the Council of Ministers of Italy, first in the cabinet of the Secretary of State for European affairs and subsequently in the taskforce responsible for EU infringement procedures. Previously, she worked as project manager for a European Brussels based foundation funded by the European Parliament. She holds a MA in European Studies from the College of Europe, as well as a MA in international relations and a BA in political science from the RomaTre University. She did an Erasmus at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and was a Schuman Trainee at the European Parliament. During her professional career, she specialized in the field of organized crime and anti-corruption and holds an MA on the subject from the University of Pisa. Over the years, she has actively participated in various organizations, such as the Aspen Institute Italia, the European Media Initiative, the European Movement, and the Italian association “Pubblici Cittadini”. Since its foundation in 2017, she is a member of the MWMN, for her theoretical background in the field of gender and mediation. She attended the first edition of the training on Mediation and conflict resolution from a gender perspective organized by the Spanish and Moroccan Ministries of foreign affairs in 2014 and then participated in later editions organized by CITpax. As a member of the MWMN, she has also benefitted from trainings organized by the network. Finally she has drafted various research projects on WPS.

Giulia Massotti

Giulia Massotti is diplomat in training at the Ministry of...

Karima Megtef

Categories: Arabic, English, French, Gender, Gender-based violence, Mena Region, Terrorism and (de)radicalization, Women Empowerment, Women Peace and Security Agenda, Women’s rights
Location: Algeria
Geographical expertise: MENA region
Topical expertise: Terrorism and (de)radicalization, Gender and gender-based violence, women peace and security; women’s rights, Empowerment
Languages: Arabic, French (fluent) and English (basic)

Karima Megtef is a doctoral student, teacher, researcher, and gender and radicalization expert. Her commitment to the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network is to raise her voice to promote peace and women’s empowerment. As a victim of Terrorism (the Black Decade when 10 members of her family were killed) it is a question of honouring the memory of her 6 sisters kidnapped by terrorists and those of all the victims by bringing their stories to life and share her experience of reconstruction and mourning.

She is a founding member of the OAF (Algerian Observatory for Women) and a member of the ONVT (national organization of victims of terrorism).  Former executive in charge of study and synthesis, she held the position of central director in charge of the status of women. As a member of ANMJA (National Association of Algerian Judicial Mediators) she is in charge of communication and cooperation. Ms. Megtef is an active member of many networks and commissions on peace promotion, fight against violence, extremism, and radicalisation at both national and regional level. She provides consultancy for the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). As a gender equality and women’s rights activist, she has attended the Seminar of Panafrican Network of the Wise in Algeria on the occasion of the establishment of the African Network of Women Mediators FemWise-Africa.

Karima Megtef

Karima Megtef is a doctoral student, teacher, researcher, and gender...

Laura Bologna

Categories: Africa, Conflict prevention, Cyprus, Diplomacy, Elections, English, French, Gender, Intergovernmental processes, Israel, Italian, Mediation, Nepal, Palestine, Peace and Security, Spanish
Location: San Marino
Geographical expertise: Africa, Cyprus, Israel and Palestine, Nepal
Topical expertise: diplomacy, peace and security, conflict prevention, mediation, elections, gender, intergovernmental processes
Languages: English, French, Italian (mother tongue) and is confident in Spanish

Laura Bologna is a Political Affairs Officer at the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) at UNHQ in New York since 2000, after having served in the diplomatic service at the Permanent Mission of San Marino to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg where she focused on human rights and gender. Laura is part of the Network as Member from the Mediterranean region and can contribute thanks to her extensive and direct experience in mediation processes as well as her wide network of contacts in the region and in Africa. She brings over 20 years of experience in diplomacy, international relations in the field of peace and security, intergovernmental processes, conflict prevention, mediation, elections and gender. For several years, she focused on Africa, in particular the Great Lakes region, Eastern and Southern Africa and Sudan. She served in UN peace operations including Nepal in 2007, in Sudan in the Office of the Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel for the Sudan Referenda in 2011, and in Nicosia in the Office of the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus where she assisted during the negotiations in 2016. Over the last few years, she focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the relative peace process. She has extensive knowledge on UNSR 1325 and women peace and security issues as well as gender parity. She holds a master degree in Political Science and International Affairs from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan.

Laura Bologna

Laura Bologna is a Political Affairs Officer at the Department...

Linda Gusia

Categories: Activism, Albanian, Dealing with the past, Dealing with the Past and Memory, English, Gender, Kosovo, Memory, Nationalism, Public space, Representation, Serbian
Location: Kosovo
Geographical expertise: Kosovo
Topical expertise: gender, nationalism, activism, representation, public space, memory, dealing with the past and conflict
Languages: Albanian (native) English (fluent) Serbian (advanced)

Linda Gusia is a feminist activist and a lecturer at the departments of Sociology at the University of Prishtina. Her research has focused on topics of gender, nationalism, activism, representation, public space, memory, dealing with the past and conflict. As part of her PhD theses she interrogated ambiguities of nationalism and gender by looking both; at the women movement in Kosovo and the sexual violence as a strategy of war centring at the politics of gender representation visually and textually. She holds a PhD from University of Prishtina (2016) and MA from NYU (2003).

Linda was co-curator and researcher in the multimedia art exhibition on women’s peaceful resistance in Kosovo and co-founded the University Program for Gender Studies and Research, UP. She was visiting research scholar and fellow at the Gender Research Institute, Dartmouth College, and fellow for five years of the Academic Fellowship Program OSI. She is the principal investigato for several research grants, such as ‘Changing the Story’ Phase II ‘Making of the Museum of Education” AHRC (Global Challenges) project and ReSpace Reanimating Contested Spaces-ReSpace: Designing Participatory Civic Education Changing the Story project (UK-AHRC/GCRF grant) and co-investigator for the ‘Changing the Story’ large Grant Phase II Kosovo and Ruanda project ReSpace- AHRC (Global Challenges).

Linda Gusia

Linda Gusia is a feminist activist and a lecturer at...

Maria Hadjipavlou

Categories: Conflict resolution, Cyprus, English, Feminist theories, French, Gender, Greek, Mediterranean, Middle East
Location: Cyprus
Geographical expertise: Mediterranean region and Middle East (israeli-Palestinian conflict)
Topical expertise: Conflict resolution, feminist theories, WPS narrative, gender
Languages: Greek, English and some French

Maria Hadjipavlou, is a retired Associate Professor from the University of Cyprus. She holds a Ph.D. in Social and Political Change from Boston University, was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University and member of its International Conflict Analysis and Resolution Program. She cofounded the Center on International Conflict Resolution at Columbia University. She published widely on gender related issues, conflict resolution and peacebuilding on which she also coordinated a number of research projects and is often invited to universities and international fora to share her experience. She conducts training in conflict resolution and gender awareness building especially in conflict situations including for UNFPA and has trained women in several countries. She is currently working on a book on 40 years of peace engagement work in Cyprus. Her book Women and Change in Cyprus: Feminisms, Gender and Conflict (I.B.Tauris, 2010) has become a reference book. As an activist, she was a founding member and president of the NGO “Cyprus Peace Center”; of “Hands Across the Divide”; and a co-founder of the Cyprus Academic Dialogue and the “Gender Advisory Team” working exclusively on implementing and integrating UNSC Resolution 1325 in the Cypriot negotiations. In 2015, she was appointed member of the Technical Committee on Gender Equality advising peace negotiators on gender equality provisions. She has been a founding member of the MWMN because she strongly believes that women’s meaningful participation in peace processes and post conflict peace building is not only a democratic right but has also proven to contribute to sustainable peace and gender equality efforts. She has been instrumental in establishing the MWMN/Cyprus Antenna in 2019.

Maria Hadjipavlou

Maria Hadjipavlou, is a retired Associate Professor from the University...

María Solanas

Categories: English, Europe & EU, French, Gender, Latin America, Spanish, Women, Peace and Security
Location: Spain
Geographical expertise: Latin America, Europe.
Topical expertise: Gender issues, Women, Peace and Security
Languages: Spanish, English, French

María Solanas is a senior expert in international relations, with more than 25 years of experience in political analysis of international scenarios, conflict analysis, research on international affairs, and strategic partnership building. She currently is director of Programmes at the Elcano Royal Institute, the leading Spanish think-tank on international relations and strategic studies and research in gender Issues and global governance. Previously, from 2004 to 2011, she was Executive Senior Policy Adviser on International Affairs at the Spanish Prime Minister Office responsible for Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa, in addition to migration and human rights. From 2003 to 2004 she was the Coordinator of the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party Secretariat for International Relations, being responsible for European Union, Central and Eastern Europe and former URSS countries (1993-2003). In February 2018, she has been nominated Vicepresident of the UNICEF National Committee in Spain. She holds a Bachelor Degree in Sociology & Political Science, as well as one in Journalism from the Madrid’s Complutense University. She is part of the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network due to a combination of political experience as a senior adviser at the Spanish government and her research skills on gender issues, particularly on Women, Peace and Security. In the last 25 years she was involved in several negotiations within the governmental framework, she has actively participated in the preparation of the II National Action Plan on WPS and has published several policy papers on Gender issues.

María Solanas

María Solanas is a senior expert in international relations, with...

María Villellas Ariño

Categories: Catalan, Colombia, English, French, Gender, Peace Processes, South-East Asia, Spanish
Location: Spain
Geographical expertise: South Asia, Colombia
Topical expertise: Gender, peace and security; Peace Processes and Armed Conflict analysis
Languages: Catalan, English, French and Spanish

María Villellas Ariño is a researcher at the Program for Conflicts and Peacebuilding, School for a Culture of Peace at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She teaches at the UAB Postgraduate Diploma in Culture of Peace and other postgraduate programs at several Spanish universities. She has been a consultant for national and international institutions on issues related to peace processes and the Women Peace and Security agenda. She has participated in several policy making processes such as the consultation process with civil society for the preparation of the II National Action Plan on WPS by the Spanish government and the Action Plan: Women and Peacebuilding in Spanish Co-operation, by AECID (Spanish Aid Agency). She is a board member of the Spanish section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). She has written several articles and reports on the analysis of armed conflicts and peacebuilding from a gender perspective, and is the coauthor of the yearbooks “Peace Talks in Focus. Report on Trends and Scenarios” and “Alert! Report on conflicts, human rights and peacebuilding”. She is part of the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network due to her experience in providing technical support and comparative analysis to stakeholders involved in peace processes and her involvement in civil society initiatives in promoting the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

María Villellas Ariño

María Villellas Ariño is a researcher at the Program for...