In her current position Maria Manuela Cabral is responsible for policy orientation for cooperation with countries in situations of fragility or crisis. She is also actively involved in the management of major crisis situations in such countries, providing support, guidance and tools for effective crisis management. With over 20 years of experience at the European Commission, Cabral has served as Head of Unit in the area of customs policy and has worked in the office of former EU Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs António Vitorino.

Formerly serving as an official for the United Nations, Lawrence Dechambenoit oversaw the management of peacekeeping efforts as missions and was instrumental in mediating conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Africa’s Great Lakes Region. Dechambenoit is also a board trustee of the African Leadership Network, a community aiming to contribute towards Africa’s prosperity by bringing influential leaders together.

Farahnaz Ghodsinia is an active advocate for conflict prevention and peacebuilding through education and inter-faith dialogue. She is the founder of “Children of Mindanao”, a programme providing educational assistance to both Muslim and Christian groups in the southern Philippines. Ghodsinia was elected as President of the 10th National Youth Parliament of the Philippines, the largest parliamentary gathering of young leaders in her country, and in 2017 was included among Lifestyle Asia’s “30 Young Gamechangers”.

Hannes Lambrecht advises the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development on policy developments and strategic orientation on long-term peacebuilding in relation to its Near East development cooperation portfolio. With GIZ since 2008, he has gained profound knowledge on conflict analysis, peacebuilding activities and security sector reform approaches. Lambrecht was previously in charge of a community policing project in the Palestinian Territories and held short term assignments in Lebanon and Iran.

María Victoria Llorente has led the Fundación Ideas para la Paz (FIP), a leading Colombian think tank on peacebuilding and security issues, for the past ten years. Before joining the FIP, she worked as director of a citizen security and justice programme at Los Andes University and as an associate researcher coordinating the university’s Public Peace Studies Group. Llorente has also served at the office of the High Commissioner of Peace and the office of the Minister of Defense.

Since 2014, Olivier Ray has been responsible for AFD’s strategy for situations of crisis and violence and for creating tools to operationalise it, including financial instruments and country assessments. Previously, he was diplomatic advisor to France’s Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Marisol Touraine, and also worked at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Policy Planning Department, where he was responsible for international development. Ray has also written prolifically on issues of global development.