Selmin Hava Caliskan

Director, Institutional Relations at the Open Society Foundations’ Berlin office | German WPS Pioneer

Selmin Çalışkan is director of Institutional Relations at the Open Society Foundations’ Berlin office. In this role, Çalışkan establishes Open Society’s networks and advocacy outreach to a wide range of audiences in Berlin and beyond. She also works closely on developing partnerships with local civil society, as well as with players from philanthropy, arts, and politics. 

Çalışkan has a strong background in human rights work both in Germany and in war and conflict regions both as an advocacy expert and as trainer in the field. Before joining the Open Society Foundations, Çalışkan was the secretary general of Amnesty International Germany. In this role, she was the organization’s public face for politics, media, and civil society. Other organizations she has worked for include the European Women’s Lobby in Brussels, Medica Mondiale, the German Society for International Cooperation in Kabul, and the Diakonia. Çalışkan started her career as a social worker by founding the intercultural girls center Azade and the migrant women’s center Gülistan in Bonn.

Follow her on Twitter: @SelminCaliskan

Jennifer Cassidy (PhD)

Lecturer at University of Oxford | Editor of the book 'Gender and Diplomacy' | Former diplomat

Jennifer A. Cassidy is a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Oxford (St Peter’s College). Her PhD from the University of Oxford focused on the changing nature of diplomacy in the information age, examining the digitisation of diplomatic communication during times of political crisis.

In 2017, Jennifer produced the first edited volume on Gender and Diplomacy: Theory and Practice (Routledge). By bringing together established scholars and seasoned practitioners of diplomacy, the volume provides a detailed discussion of the role of women in diplomacy and crafts for its readers a global narrative of understanding relating to their current and historical role within it. Based on her work for the book, in 2016, at TEDxOxford she gave the talk: The Road Less Travelled: Why we need a Feminist Foreign Policy. In her work on Gender and Diplomacy, Jennifer endeavours to move the conversation beyond the simple perception of women entering the diplomatic corps as a ‘novel’ or ‘unique’ act. She rather aims at beginning a necessary discussion regarding the type of role women play, or are provided with, once they enter the diplomatic sphere.

Outside out of the realm of academia, Jennifer has served as a Political Attaché to Ireland’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations (New York), Human Rights Attaché to the European External Action Service to the Kingdom of Cambodia, and Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Headquarters during its 2012 Chairmanship of the OSCE and 2013 Presidency of the Council of the European Union. She is currently a founding and active member of Oxford’s Digital Diplomacy Research Group, who amongst other ventures, also established the ‘London Ambassadors Forum’. The forum provides a series of lectures to Ambassadors resident in London on technology and diplomacy, designed primarily to bridge the growing gap between academia and practitioners. Jennifer also contributes to both the BBC and The Irish Times, on issues of digital diplomacy, data protection and the role of gender in the political and diplomatic sphere.

Follow her on Twitter: @OxfordDiplomat  and Instagram: @mynameisjennifer

Sawsan Chebli

Former State Secretary for Civic Engagement and International Relations I Foreign policy expert I Creator of the annual #Farbenbekennen award I Social media influencer

Sawsan is a longtime and experienced foreign policy expert, having worked as the spokesperson to former German Foreign Minister and now president Frank-Walter Steinmeier and foreign policy adviser in the parliament to the Social Democratic Party, which she is a member of. Sawsan further is a member of and actively participates in many high-profile think tanks; she was a member of Koerber Foundation's Foreign Policy Network and a Young Leader of the Munich Security Conference. Showing specific interest in promoting young people's engagement in foreign policy, Sawsan co-founded the Young Professional Chapter at the German Council on Foreign Relations. Apart from that, Sawsan is also a member of the Global Citizen Europe Board of Directors and a member of the Apolitical Foundation Global Advisor Network. Sawsan's wide range of expertise spans from identity politics, majority-minority relations, Islam and muslims in Western countries to racism, anti-semitism, and discrimination against minorities as well as international relations and security issues. As a social media influencer herself, Sawsan has experienced sexism, hate speech and digital violence against women, which is why she is so keen on being a strong voice for women's rights. In her role as CFFP Advisory Council member she will thus be particularly focusing on antifeminism in right-wing circles.

Follow her on Instagram: @sawsanchebli and Twitter: @SawsanChebli

Photo credit: Daniel Biskup

Scilla Elworthy

Three times Nobel Peace Prize nominee | Founder of ‘The Business Plan for Peace’ | Founder of ‘Peace Direct’

Scilla is a three times Nobel Peace Prize nominee for her work with Oxford Research Group to develop effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers worldwide and their critics. She now leads The Business Plan for Peace to help prevent violent conflict and build sustainable peace throughout the world, because it is possible (see three minute video). This work is based on her latest books The Business Plan for Peace: Building a World Without War (2017) and The Mighty Heart: how to transform conflict (2020), which is now an on-line course.

Scilla founded Peace Direct in 2002 to fund, promote, and learn from local peace-builders in conflict areas: Peace Direct was voted ‘Best New Charity’ in 2005. She was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize in 2003, the Luxembourg Peace Prize in 2020, and was adviser to Peter Gabriel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Sir Richard Branson in setting up ‘The Elders’. Scilla co-founded Rising Women Rising World in 2013, and FemmeQ in 2016 to establish the qualities of feminine intelligence for women and men as essential to use in building a safer world. Her TED talk on nonviolence has been viewed by over 1,500,000 people.

Scilla is an Ambassador for Peace Direct, patron of Oxford Research Group, and is an adviser to the Syria Campaign and the Institute for Economics and Peace. She also advises the leadership of selected international corporations as well as students and young social entrepreneurs. Scilla is a mother, stepmother, and grandmother and loves messing about in her garden near Oxford in the UK.

Toni Haastrup

Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Stirling | Executive Committee member ‘Women Also Know Stuff | Editor in Chief of JCMS

Toni is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh (Politics, PhD). Her work seeks to understand prevailing global power hierarchies that inform cooperation and conflict within the international system. Drawing on Black feminist thought, decolonial and postcolonial feminisms, her work has explored the politics of knowledge making in the context of the Women, Peace and Security, Global South perspectives on Feminist Foreign Policy and the gendered and racialised nature of and responses to contemporary crises. Toni's current research provides feminist analysis on the foreign practices of Global North actors in the Global South. Much of this work is situated within the activities of formal institutions like the African and European Unions, and she has published extensively in these areas.

Toni is currently an executive committee member of US based Women Also Know Stuff, a database promoting the work of women in political science globally. Currently, she is joint editor in chief of JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, she is also a member of the editorial boards of European Journal of Politics and Gender and Politics and Gender among several others. Toni is an experienced speaker and moderator, commentator, and analyst. She is also an occasional media commentator having contributed to or featured in a range of media including BBC, Irish Times, NewStatesman, The Scotsman, Newsweek and Foreign Policy.

Valerie M. Hudson

Distinguished Professor and Department Chair at Texas A&M University | Founder of WomenStats

Valerie M. Hudson is a University Distinguished Professor and holds the George H.W. Bush Chair in the Department of International Affairs in the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, where she directs the Program on Women, Peace, and Security. She is a founder and co-Principal Investigator of The WomanStats Project, and her co-authored books include Bare Branches: The Security Implications of Asia’s Surplus Male Population, Sex and World Peace, The Hillary Doctrine, and The First Political Order: How Sex Shapes Governance and National Security Worldwide.

Jutta Freifrau von Falkenhausen

Lawyer in Berlin, Co-Founder FidAR e.V. | Member of the Board of DGAP e.V.

Jutta Freifrau von Falkenhausen practices law in Berlin. Having completed her law studies in Bonn, Geneva and at Free University Berlin, she obtained a Master of Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. In 1993, Jutta obtained her second law degree and was admitted to practice law in Berlin. Having worked at a large international law firm advising major business clients in the areas of German and international corporate and commercial law and transactions for 15 years, she started her own firm in 2009. Today, the focus of her practice is to advise non-profit organizations on corporate, governance and commercial legal issues and to advise private individuals and institutions with regard to the establishment of foundations and other vehicles for non-profit activities. Another area of her practice is art law, where she advises clients in civil law and restitution matters.

Throughout her career, Jutta von Falkenhausen has been interested in the promotion of equal rights and female empowerment.  A long-term member of the German and European Associations of Women Lawyers, in 2006 she co-founded FidAR e.V. (Frauen in die Aufsichtsräte), which has become the principal German NGO working for the promotion of more women in corporate boards. Furthermore, her interest in international affairs lead to her being elected to the Executive Board of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP e.V.). In addition, Jutta is a board member or trustee in a number of charitable organizations focusing on international cooperation, education, music and art. She is a regular speaker, both in Germany and abroad, about art law and restitution as well as diversity, leadership and female empowerment.

Rosebell Kagumire

Curator & Editor of African Feminism | Activist | Journalist

Rosebell is a Ugandan multimedia communications specialist, blogger, journalist and activist. She has expertise in media, gender, human rights and peace and conflict issues. Rosebell is a pan-African feminist and is the curator & editor of African Feminism. She is vocal on social accountability, active citizenship, women's rights, rights of migrants, and social justice. In 2013 she was recognised as one of the Young Global Leaders under the age of 40 for her advocacy work. In 2018 she was honoured with the Anna Guèye award for her contribution to digital democracy, justice and equality on the African continent. Moreover, she has worked as Social Media Manager at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), documented rights of women and migrants in conflict settings and worked in gender and peace building projects in different African countries. She holds an MA in Media, Peace and Conflict Studies from the United Nations-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica. She also studied non-violent conflict at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Chandra Talpade Mohanty

Distinguished professor and department chair at Syracuse University | Widely translated author of numerous books

Chandra Talpade Mohanty is Distinguished Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Dean’s Professor of the Humanities at Syracuse University. Her work focuses on transnational feminist theory, anti-capitalist feminist praxis, anti-racist education, and the politics of knowledge. She is author of Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity (Duke University Press, 2003), and co-editor of Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism (Indiana University Press, 1991), Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures (Routledge, 1997), Feminism and War: Confronting U.S. Imperialism, (Zed Press, 2008), The Sage Handbook on Identities (Sage Publications, 2010), and Feminist Freedom Warriors (Haymarket Books, 2018). Her writing has been translated into Arabic, German, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Farsi, Chinese, Russian, Swedish, Thai, Korean, Turkish, Slovenian, Hindi, Czech, Slovakian, Armenian, and Japanese. Mohanty is series editor of “Comparative Feminist Studies” for Palgrave/Springer.

She is a member of the advisory boards of Signs, A Journal Of Women in Culture and Society, Transformations, The Journal of Inclusive Pedagogy and Scholarship, Feminist Africa (South Africa), Asian Women (Korea), Feminist Economics, The Caribbean Review of Gender Studies, Gender and Politics, and Journal of Cultural Anthropology. She has taught at universities in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, including serving as the Angela Davis Guest Professor at Goethe University, Frankfurt in 2015. Ms. Mohanty is a steering committee member of the Municipal Services Project (municipalservicesproject.org), a transnational research and advocacy group focused on alternatives to privatization in the Global South, a founding member of the Democratizing Knowledge Collective (democratizingknowledge.org) at Syracuse University, and Coordinating Team member of the Future of Minority Studies Research Project (fmsproject.cornell.edu). Mohanty was a member of the Indigenous and Feminist of Color Solidarity delegation to Palestine in 2011, and has served as a consultant/evaluator for the Association of American Colleges & Universities, the Ford Foundation, and UN Women.

Michelle Müntefering

Member of the Bundestag | Former Minister of State for International Cultural Policy at the Federal Foreign Office of Germany

Michelle Müntefering, born in 1980, has been Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office since 14 March 2018. She is a member of the German Bundestag since 2013, directly elected in her constituency Herne/Bochum II. After her studies of journalism with a focus on economics (B.A.) she worked as a freelance journalist and as a political advisor at the German Bundestag. During the 18th legislative period Ms. Müntefering was member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and rapporteur for Turkey and the Middle East in the Committee. She was the SPD parliamentary group’s spokesperson for Cultural and Education Policy Abroad and chairwoman of the German-Turkish Parliamentary Friendship Group of the German Bundestag. Inter alia Ms. Müntefering is member of the Board of Trustees of the German Federal Cultural Foundation, member of the Supervisory Board of the Humboldt Forum Kultur GmbH, and member of the Broadcasting Board of the Deutsche Welle.

Follow her on Twitter: @Mi_Muentefering and Instagram: @michellemuentefering.

Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini

Co-Founder and Executive Director of the International Civil Society Action Network | Adjunct professor at Georgetown University | Member of UNDP’s Civil Society Advisory Council

Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN), spearheading the Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL) with member organizations active in preventing violent extremism by promoting peace, rights and pluralism in over 30 countries. She is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. In 2011, she was the first Senior Expert on Gender and Inclusion on the UN’s Mediation Standby Team. For over two decades she has been a leading international advocate, researcher, trainer and writer on conflict prevention and peacebuilding. In 2000, she was among the civil society drafters of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

Between 2002 and 2005, as Director of the Women Waging Peace Policy Commission, Ms. Anderlini led groundbreaking field research on women’s contributions to conflict prevention, security and peacemaking in 12 countries. Since 2005, she has also provided strategic guidance and training to key UN agencies, the UK government and NGOs worldwide, including leading a UNFPA/UNDP needs assessment into Maoist cantonment sites in Nepal. Between 2008-2010, Ms. Anderlini was Lead Consultant for a 10-country UNDP global initiative on “Gender, Community Security and Social Cohesion” with a focus on men’s experiences in crisis settings.

In 2018 she was invited to join the Commonwealths Panel of Experts on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE). She is also a member of UNDP’s Civil Society Advisory Council. Prior appointments include the Advisory Board of the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF), the Civil Society Advisory Group (CSAG) on Resolution 1325, chaired by Mary Robinson in 2010 and the Working Group on Gender and Inclusion of the Sustainable Development Network and between 2005-2014 she was a Research Associate and Senior Fellow at the MIT Center for International Studies.

Ms. Anderlini has published extensively on peace and security issues, including on Iran and Saudi Arabia, the phenomenon of violent extremism, and women’s agency in shaping national security. In 2007 she published Women building peace: What they do, why it matters (Lynne Rienner) . She was the 2014 recipient of the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area Perdita Huston Award for human rights and the 2016 Greeley Peace Scholar at the University of Massachusetts.  Her media appearances include the BBC World Service television and radio. Her editorials have appeared in The Guardian, Foreign Affairs, Open Democracy, Ms. Magazine and other publications.

She holds an M.Phil in Social Anthropology from Cambridge University. Iranian by birth, she is a UK citizen, and has twin daughters.

Scheaffer Okore

Vice Chairperson for Ukweli Party in Kenya | Columnist | Obama Foundation Africa Leader Fellow 2018 | Gates Foundation Goalkeepers Advisory Board | She’s The First Board Member | The She Tank Board Member

An International Relations and diplomacy graduate who describes herself as an Afro-Politico-Feminist. She's a development strategic advisor for philanthropies, non-profits and social impact organisations. Her work is intersectional between policy, governance, youth and gender using a feminist lens.

She is Vice Chairperson for Ukweli party in Kenya, a columnist for one of Kenya’s top newspapers and one of the revered voices with over 7 years of broad experience advocating for women and youth participation in governance, leadership, democratic processes and sexual reproductive health rights. She is Ex campaigns manager at Purpose Global Kenya.

Okore is an Obama Foundation’s Africa leader fellow of 2018. She serves on several boards as a thought leader who is currently among 10 global leaders serving on the Gates Foundation's Goalkeepers advisory board, She’s The First organisation in New York and The She Tank in Abuja, Nigeria.

Okore was recognised as one of ONE Campaign's global women of 2018, she is celebrated as one of Africa’s top 100 most influential youth and Kenya's top 100 most influential youth, both in the category of governance and law.

She has participated in several global shifting engagements from the African Feminist Macroeconomics Academy (AFMA) in Accra, African youth perspectives discourse at Chatham House in the UK, the 31st African Union summit on anti-corruption in Mauritania, Feminist future discourse in Berlin, First Geopolitical Conference held in Kampala-Uganda among others.

Follow her on Twitter: @scheafferoo

Madeleine Rees (OBE)

Secretary General of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom | Human rights lawyer | Professor at LSE | Bosnia UN human sex trafficking scandal whistleblower

Madeleine Rees was educated at the University of Wales, has a BA honours degree in History and Post Graduate qualification in Education before re-qualifying as a lawyer in 1989. As a lawyer she worked for the Women’s Legal Defence Fund specialising in discrimination law, particularly in the field of employment. She worked for both the Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal Opportunities Commission on developing strategies to establish rights under domestic law through the identification of test cases. She successfully brought labour discrimination cases both to the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court in Luxembourg and was cited as one of the leading lawyers in the field of discrimination in the Chambers directory of British lawyers.

During and immediately after the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, she helped to set up a Lawyers’ NGO to assist the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) through submitting amicus briefs and working with women’s NGOs in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). She worked in BiH from 1997 at the Office of the Ombudsperson.In 1998, she commenced working for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) as the gender expert and then as the Head of Office in BiH. She was member of the expert coordination group of the Anti-Trafficking Task Force of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. She took strong public positions against the United Nations’ complicity in trafficking of women and children and was outspoken against the collusion of the international community, including the United Nations, in rendition of Algerians from BiH to Guantanamo. The UNOHCHR in BiH played a crucial role in the first successful rendition case against a government using international law in the Bosnian Human Rights Chamber.

From 2006 to April 2010, she was the head of the Women`s Rights and Gender Unit in UNOHCHR Geneva.

Madeleine Rees became the General Secretary of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in May 2010 and has been re energizing that organization in its work on addressing root cause of conflict, challenging militarism and patriarchal structures of power. WILPF is now one of the major organisations engaging in conflict zones, engaging with grassroots groups, conducting conflict analysis and bringing advocates into the multi lateral system.

She is a national of the United Kingdom and was awarded the O.B.E in 2014 for her work on Human Rights, particularly women’s rights, International Peace and Security.

Catalina Ruiz-Navarro

Activist | Journalist

Catalina Ruiz-Navarro is a Colombian-Caribbean feminist activist and journalist living in Mexico City. She is the editor-in-chief of the feminist Latin American magazine Volcánica, the co-creator of Amazona TV and has worked as a weekly columnist for El Espectador and El Heraldo in Colombia, writing on feminist topics such as abortion rights in Latin America. Catalina also founded the feminist Youtube channel “(e)stereotipas”.

Follow her on Twitter: @catalinapordios and Instagram: @catalinapordios

Margot Wallström

Former Swedish Foreign Minister | First Vice President of the European Commission | First UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict

In 2014, Margot Wallström announced Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy as the first foreign minister in the world to do so. Ms Margot Wallström was elected to the Swedish parliament in 1979 before serving as Minister for Youth, Women and Consumer Affairs from 1988 to 1991, Minister of Culture from 1994 to 1996, and Minister of Social Affairs from 1996 to 1998. Before taking up her appointment as EU Commissioner in 1999, she worked with Worldview Global Media in Colombo, Sri Lanka. From 1999 to 2004, Ms Wallström served as the European Commissioner for the Environment and then as first Vice President of the European Commission from 2004 to 2010. In 2007, Ms Wallström became Chair of the Ministerial Initiative of the Council for Women World Leaders. In 2010, the Secretary-General of the United Nations appointed her the first Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict until 2012. From 2012-2014 she was Chair of the Board of Lund University, Sweden. She then served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden from 2014-2019.