Our people
Our people
Our team boasts 25+ years of experience in complex conflict resolution, spanning both the private and public sectors.
Our expertise includes working with companies, governments, UN agencies, and development banks. We're known for our professionalism, solution-focused approach, pragmatism, creativity, and ability to work effectively across diverse constituencies. We practice kindness and integrity in all our work.
We're fluent in English, French, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Swahili, Bahasa, and several local languages.
Our team boasts 25+ years of experience in complex conflict resolution, spanning both the private and public sectors.
Our expertise includes working with companies, governments, UN agencies, and development banks. We're known for our professionalism, solution-focused approach, pragmatism, creativity, and ability to work effectively across diverse constituencies. We practice kindness and integrity in all our work.
We're fluent in English, French, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Swahili, Bahasa, and several local languages.
Dr. Carissa Western
Kenya/USA
Carissa is an accredited mediator with a decade of experience in dispute resolution across the agriculture, infrastructure, mining, and energy sectors. She mediates in disputes between communities negatively impacted by development projects and companies in East and West Africa, most recently in Uganda and Cameroon. She has worked with the dispute resolution functions of the World Bank Group’s accountability mechanisms.
Dr. Carissa Western
Kenya/USA
Atukpa Dakoru
Nigeria
Atukpa Dakoru
Nigeria
Over the last 25 years, Atukpa has been involved in the disarmament, demobilisation and reconciliation of warring factions and engaged the oil and gas industry in the design of pro-active processes to dealing with conflicts in the Niger Delta. He originally designed the Peace and Security intervention strategy for reconciling communities in disputes in that part of Nigeria.
David Nyheim
Norway
David Nyheim
Norway
David has 25 years of conflict resolution experience in the private and public sector. He has resolved company-community conflicts in the Niger Delta, Iraq, and Honduras and elsewhere for mining, infrastructure, and energy companies. He designed and facilitated dialogue processes for the UN in Indonesia, Fiji, Mauritania and Kyrgyzstan. He is a pre-approved member of the UN’s mediator roster.
Robert Cole
Canada
Robert Cole
Canada
An accredited mediator and certified facilitator, Robert focuses on dialogue, conflict resolution, and Indigenous Peoples. He has over 20 years’ experience, including with the World Bank, IFC, and EBRD. Recently, he led dialogue involving Indigenous communities on a hydropower project in Nepal and supported progress on community resettlement agreements in Guinea.
Sofia Carrondo
Brazil/Portugal
Sofia Carrondo
Brazil/Portugal
Sofia has 25 years of experience working in fragile and conflict-affected regions, where she has specialised in mediation, dialogue, negotiation, and facilitation. She has led the analysis and design of community engagement and conflict resolution initiatives for companies in Mauritania and Senegal, negotiated outcome documents at UN conferences, and brokered agreements between donors and beneficiary countries in Afghanistan and Somalia.
Batabiha Bushoki
Democratic Republic of Congo
Batabiha Bushoki
Democratic Republic of Congo
Bushoki has 30 years of experience in mediation and dialogue within the DR Congo and the Great Lakes region. His accomplishments include brokering successful ceasefires between warring ethnic communities, negotiating the release of hostages, facilitating peace processes between various rebel groups, and establishing enduring dialogue mechanisms rooted in the African concept of interethnic baraza.
Dr. Vefa Veisalova
Azerbaijan
Dr. Vefa Veisalova
Azerbaijan
Vefa (Vivi) specialises in trauma-informed mediation and public dialogue. She has experience in facilitating dialogue across the private and public sectors. Her recent work includes a public dialogue process involving a mining company, environmental and Indigenous groups in Russia, as well as a strategic communications intervention in Europe aimed at promoting social cohesion between host communities and refugees.
Florence Iheme
Nigeria
Florence Iheme
Nigeria
Florence has 30 years of mediation experience. She has supported several political mediation processes in West Africa, including the ECOWAS Liberian Mediator in 2003 and the ECOWAS Special Envoy to Guinea Bissau, President Obasanjo. She is a member of the Humanitarian Dialogue Centre’s Women’s Reference Group and the pool of High-level Female Mediators of the UN.
Talal Shubailat
Jordan
Talal Shubailat
Jordan
Talal has over 30 years diplomatic experience in multilateral settings, which has involved supporting dialogue between the Arab League and the European Union, as well as between Arab League member states on political and crisis management issues.
Dr. Vanda Santos
Portugal
Dr. Vanda Santos
Portugal
Vanda brings over 25 years of experience in facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogue processes at the multilateral, governmental, and inter-governmental levels for the United Nations and with the EU. As part of UNDP, she supported EU insider mediation efforts. Vanda has also worked on inter-religious and political participation dialogue in communities in Brazil and Angola.
Dr. Rastislav Vrbensky
Slovakia
Dr. Rastislav Vrbensky
Slovakia
Rastislav has 25 years' experience in facilitating dialogue in multi-ethnic communities in the Balkans and Central Asia. He mediated cross-border water disputes between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and, as a former UN Resident Coordinator, regularly mediated conflicting priorities between government, UN agencies, and the international community.
Tri Susdinarjanti
Indonesia
Tri Susdinarjanti
Indonesia
Tri (Dinar) has over 20 years of experience working on sub-national dialogue in post-conflict settings in Indonesia, as well as on conflict resolution for mining, energy, and agribusiness in the country. This work has covered the Malukus, Aceh, Papua, and other parts of Indonesia, and involved leading national companies.