Given her passion in peace, security and human capital development, Zulaika Nanfuka has 5 years’ experience in applying rigorous analyses of local conflict dynamics to strengthen tools for assessment while improving the design of community peacebuilding programs. Zulaika is a member of the Extremely Together Uganda Chapter and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Development Economics.
Hassan Ndugwa has over seven years’ experience in community development and peace promotion, specifically in preventing violent extremism in Uganda and East Africa. After surviving the July 11, 2010 Al-Shabaab bombings at the FIFA world cup in Kampala, Hassan co-founded the Uganda Muslim Youth Development Forum. His work involves managing programs, idea generation, conceptualization of projects, implementation of activities, monitoring the impact and outcomes of activities.
With a deep passion for peace work and human growth, Jannik Gresbrand is a Berlin-based elicitive Peace Facilitator. He is a certified coordinator in international project management in development cooperation and humanitarian assistance and holds a MA in Peace and Conflict Studies. For navigating the questions of international conflict transformation and peace work, he has lived, studied and worked in Southern Africa, South-East Asia and Central America. As the founder and director of the Peace Elicits Project, for him “peace is the quality of how we relate”.
Penuo Hiekha is an ardent believer of social transformation through personal change. She is one of the co-founders of a community hub called ACT (Action by Communities Together) Zubza, Nagaland. She commits most of her time volunteering for Initiatives of Change especially in the North East part of India, facilitating dialogues and creating platforms for bridging gaps and reaching out to different tribes and communities.
Sunny D Mawiong is from Shillong, Meghalaya, North East India and is a graduate of Law and Business Administration. He served as the Vice President of the North East Community Organization Pune (NECOP) and the Meghalaya Youth Association Pune (MYAP), which focused on activism for the rights of the North East India students studying in Pune. Since 2016, he has served full time with Initiatives of Change (IofC) with a focus on outreach in different parts of India, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Irfan Amalee has a Masters from Brandeis University (USA) and over 15 years of experience in publishing book and media for kids industry while serving as a CEO at Pelangi Mizan and Mizan Apps Publisher. He has published over 50 books, audios and videos including Encyclopedia for Muslim Kids, Islam for Kids, and 12 peace modules for kids. Irfan has awards including International Young Creative Entrepreneur 2008, UAJY Multiculturalism Award 2010 and Young Creative Enterprise from Kemenparekraf 2012.
Michelline Safi Ngongo, originally from Democratic Republic of Congo, is a resident of Islington in the U.K where she first arrived as a refugee. As a founder and the Chairperson of Trustee at Light Project Pro International, an educational charity established in 2004, Michelline has initiated projects to improve educational opportunities for local communities with a focus on those at risk of social marginalization.
Chiranjibi Bhandari is an experienced educator and peace worker from Nepal, currently working at the Department of Conflict, Peace and Development Studies, Tribhuvan University. He has been a peace practitioner for more than a decade contributing to grassroots initiatives and research work led by the government of Nepal and civil society actors. Bhandari played a key role in the peace process, especially in terms of management of arms and ex-combatants in Nepal.
Dr. Tatiana Kyselova’s expertise lies in the study of mediation and dialogue facilitation as mechanisms of conflict resolution and transformation, as well as Alternative Dispute Resolution and access to justice. Dr. Kyselova is a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the University of Torino, Italy (2015-2017). She has research background from the Center for Peace Mediation, European University, University of Giessen and Queen Mary University of London.
Dr. Iryna Brunova-Kalisetska has 17 years of work experience in prevention, transformation and reconciliation of identity-based conflicts. Since 2015, she has been facilitating dialogues for Ukraine OSCE with central, regional and local authorities, local NGOs and activists in Donbass. During 2017-2019, Dr.