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.
Ferdaouis Bagga serves as the Policy Analyst for Africa with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Prior to joining USCIRF, Ferdaouis worked with the U.S. Department of State conducting conflict analysis and research on Libya. Earlier, she worked with the United States Institute of Peace for four years, where she supported grants programming in Africa and Latin America, rule of law work in Libya, and a Justice and Security Dialogue Program in the Sahel and Maghreb.
Neil Oliver is a Certified Professional Facilitator with experience of working with diverse groups across a wide range of sectors in the UK and internationally. Most of his experience comes from working with complex public sector organizations including the UK National Health Service. Since 2011 Neil has worked with the Caux Forum organizing conferences and providing training. This year Neil is part of the Tools for Change Makers organizing team. He has a particular interest in working with multi-cultural groups and teams.
With more than 30 years of experience in diplomacy, Colum Murphy is the president of the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations. Specialized in the study of the roots of war and conflict, he served the cause of peace with the United Nations and the European Union. In the field of peace negotiation, he served in several wars, including those of Somalia, Liberia and the former Yugoslavia. He spent over four years in Sarajevo, and was, during the war, the United Nations Deputy Head of Political Affairs inside Bosnia.