Zoë Wildig – British High Commission, Nairobi

 Zoë is Minister Counsellor and Head of the Political and Governance Section at British High Commission Kenya. She leads the UK’s engagement with the Government of Kenya on agreed priorities in the UK Kenya Strategic Partnership. Prior to this she spent seven years in leadership positions with DFID and FCDO in Ethiopia, leading the UK’s governance and human rights work – and the UK’s response to the Tigray conflict. Zoë has worked in South Sudan and Sudan for the UK Government and the UN. 

Abel Abate Demissie – Chatham House

Dr Abel Abate Demissie is an associate fellow in the Africa Programme at Chatham House and a researcher with XCEPT, focusing on Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa region. Abel worked as a political advisor for the British Embassy in Addis Ababa from 2015-2019 and as a senior researcher and later programme head at the government-run think tank, the Ethiopian Foreign Relations and Strategic Studies Institute, between 2012-2015. He has extensive experience providing analysis and high-level policy briefings to a wide range of organisations and government departments and has been published widely across international media and in academic literature. Over the years, Abel has worked with and advised several international organisations working on peacebuilding, conflict resolution, governance and democratisation.

Chido Mutangadura – United Nations University

Dr Chido Mutangadura provides support to the United Nations University’s Centre for Policy Research (UNU-CPR) work on the UN’s Our Common Agenda, specifically in its role as Secretariat to the High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism. Her research addresses peace and human security, political trends and challenges in sub-Saharan Africa. She works on security sector reform, conflict prevention, post-conflict reconstruction and development, governance, multilateralism and foreign policy. Dr Mutangadura previously served as a consultant at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africa. She holds a Doctorate in Conflict Management from Nelson Mandela University. She is co-leading research under an XCEPT Research Fund award: “Behaving Beyond Borders: Evaluating the Relative Effectiveness of Peace Support Personnel Gender, Origin, and Status on Cross Border Conflict De-Escalation.” 

Martha Bakwesegha – Life & Peace Institute

Martha Kiiza Bakwesegha has over 20 years of experience working with, and leading African and International Organisations in advocacy, governance, policy and peace and security. She currently works with the Life & Peace Institute (LPI) as the Senior Global Peacebuilding Policy Advisor and she is the focal point for the Horn of Africa Regional Programme, where she provides peacebuilding and policy support to both the global and regional programmes. Martha holds an MA in Public Policy from the University of Natal, Durban and a BA in Political Science with a certificate in International Studies from Rutgers University, New Jersey.