Mediators

Alexandra M. Dias is an International Relations scholar and Africanist based at the Department of Political Studies of NOVA University of Lisbon (NOVA/FCSH). She is a researcher and member of the Board of Directors of the Portuguese Institute of International Relations (IPRI-NOVA). She has integrated and been the Principal Investigator of several research projects on Conflict, Peace and Security in Africa with fieldwork experience in the Horn of Africa. She has integrated the International Electoral Observation Missions of Somaliland Presidential Elections in June 2010 & November 2017. She is a founding member of the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network (MWMN). She joined the network because it engages with mediation across divides: societal, civilizational and gender-based ones; it is based upon the principle of bringing together different parties without advancing one party’s interests in detriment of the others; and it is gender-sensitive and through those lenses it engages with silenced topics in peace processes.

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).