“Contemporary conflicts have multiple layers, which makes them increasingly difficult to resolve. Mediation, including preventive mediation becomes all the more important. The United Nations have an indispensable contribution to make in that respect and I am honored to join a group that will support the Secretary General in his efforts to strengthen the political role of the UN.”

A 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate, Ms. Gbowee is a peace activist, trained social worker, and women’s rights advocate. Her leadership of the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace brought together Christian and Muslim women in a nonviolent movement that played a pivotal role in ending Liberia’s civil war in 2003. Ms. Gbowee is the founder and current President of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, founder of the Liberia Reconciliation Initiative and co-founder and former Executive Director of Women in Peacebuilding Network/West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WIPNET/WANEP).

There will be no sustainable peace in any part of the world unless it is inclusive and protects and empowers the vulnerable. I hope to be that voice.“

FLORENCE MPAAYEI (Kenya – Gender and Inclusion) has, while on the Standby Team, provided advice on gender and inclusion in Kenya, Sudan and Zambia and shared insights elsewhere on women, youth and civil society engagement in peace processes. In South Sudan, she has supported UNMISS in engaging with and strengthening the mediation capacity of religious leaders. Florence has twenty-five years of experience in peacebuilding, dialogue facilitation, and capacity-building.

RICHARD SMITH (South Africa – Process Design) has, while on the Standby Team, worked in support of peace processes and conflict prevention programming in Europe, Northern Africa, the Americas and the Pacific. He is an expert in process design and facilitation, gender sensitive conflict analysis and strategy development, and has extensively worked on conflict prevention, local peace processes, electoral support, inter-religious dialogue, cyber security, digital technologies and environmental mediation, in multiple countries.

JUANITA MILLAN HERNANDEZ (Colombia – Security Arrangements) has, while on the Standby Team, supported the Sudan peace process, provided security arrangements expertise in support of the Libyan-led ceasefire monitoring mechanism, and regarding the situations in El Salvador, Mozambique, Ukraine and Yemen. Prior to joining the SBT, she served for seven years as Adviser to the High Commissioner for Peace of Colombia during the Havana Peace Talks with the FARC.

EMMANUEL HABUKA BOMBANDE (Ghana - Process Design) has, while on the Standby Team, advised on the establishment of infrastructures for peace in Burkina Faso and the Sudan transition process. He has also been deployed in support of dialogue efforts in Montenegro and conflict prevention initiatives in São Tomé and Príncipe. Before joining the SBT, he was as a senior mediation adviser with MINUSCA in the Central African Republic.