Mediators

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.

Layık Topcan Mesutoğlu is a town planner with over 40 years of experience. She graduated from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara. After 36 years of serving in the Town Planning Department of Northern Cyprus she retired as deputy director of the department. Currently, she serves as a consultant on planning and environmental issues. She is a member of the High Committee of Historical and Cultural Heritage. During 2015 – 2020, she was involved in the Cyprus peace negotiations as a member of the Turkish Cypriot Property Working Group.
She has trained in historic preservation, strategic planning and management, sustainable development, gender policies in development planning, and EU environmental acquis. She is a trained mediator and a facilitator.
Ms. Topcan Mesutoğlu has been active in civil society in women, environment, and peace. She has been actively working for the achievement of the goals of sustainable development, environmental protection, historical and cultural heritage conservation, gender equality, and peace.
Ms. Topcan Mesutoğlu regards the absence of gender sensitivity and effective participation of women in peace processes as one of the major constraints preventing success in many conflict prevention and resolution efforts. She considers achieving gender equality and justice, the participation of women in decision-making in all fields of life as a vital element for a sustainable future.
Her strong belief and dedication in the empowerment of women, lead her to join the Mediterranean Women Mediators family and even further motivated her to be one of the co-initiators of MWMN Cyprus Antenna, to strengthen the role of women as active change agents in peace-building, environmental protection and all other areas of life.

Soad Shalaby is an Egyptian diplomat, who has served her country for 40 years including as ambassador to several countries. She is presently the Director General of the Egyptian African Centre for Women and is serving her second term as a member of the Board of the Tana High Level Forum. She is a founding member of FEMWISE, the Arab Women Mediators Network, MWMN and a member of the Global Alliance of Regional Women Mediator Networks contact group. She was elected Member of the Committee of Elders of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa for a 5-year term. Elected twice, she served for ten years as Member of the Council of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in Sanremo. From 2007 to 2012, she was the Director of the Cairo International Center for Conflict Resolution, Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding. Throughout her career, she was selected member of the AU Panel of Experts for the Evaluation of the African Standby Force in 2014; member of the expert group who launched the report of the AU MSU; member of the POW team for the Evaluation of the present Kenyan pre Presidential Election; and headed the COMESA team for monitoring the parliamentarian election in the Kingdom of Swaziland. She completed many courses such as the AU Senior Mission Leaders Course and the Clingendael Institute Course on Negotiation and Mediation as a tool for conflict resolution. She published several articles, nationally and internationally on WPS, and is a regular commentator and a guest speaker on African issues on Nile TV international, and many regional and international conferences.