The International Coordinating team, based in New York, provides strategic insight and information into the workings of the United Nations and other policy-making bodies, and facilitates the effective engagement of partner organizations in various policy spaces.
TEAM
Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, the Philippines; International Coordinator/Program Director
Mavic is the international coordinator of the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders. She is responsible for the overall coordination and implementation of projects and programs developed through direct consultation with GNWP members.
Prior to the GNWP, Mavic was the coordinator of the International Women’s Tribune Centre’s Women’s Human Rights, Human Security and Peacebuilding Program. Mavic also serves as the president of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters – Women’s International Network. She is also a member of the Executive Committee of the UN NGO Committee on the Status Women – New York and concurrently a member of the Coordinating committee of the Global NGO Forum on Beijing + 15. Additionally, she is a member of the Oversight Panel for UNDP’s Information Disclosure Policy. Mavic has a master’s degree in Communication Research with cognate on women’s studies. Her masteral thesis on Communication Strategies and Action on UNSCR 1325 in the Philippines was selected best thesis at the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication.
Helena Gronberg, Finland; Program Associate
Helena administers a comprehensive activity program that will meet the needs and interests of the members of the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders. She coordinates the information and communication tools of the network and assists in the design and development of capacity building programs, projects and activities on women and peace and security. Before joining this dynamic network Helena conducted research for a number of projects, including a handbook on international law and reconstruction, at the International Women’s Tribune Centre in New York.
Selamawit Tesfaye, Ethiopia; Advocacy Officer
Selamawit graduated from Addis Ababa University in 2004. Her senior thesis was entitled The Legality of HIV testing under the Ethiopian Law. After earning her law degree, Selamawit worked at the Federal First Instance Court as an Assistant Judge. She then earned her M.A from the same university in Gender Studies with a focus on Domestic Workers for her post-graduate thesis. At this time, she started working at St. Mary’s University College as a lecturer, and was promoted as an Assistant Dean for the Law Faculty in the College. After earning her M.A, Selamawit got accepted for a vacant post as a Project Officer at The African Child Policy Forum which is an independent, advocacy organization established to put the rights and wellbeing of African children on the public and political agenda. After this, Selamawit was selected as a participant for an exchange program between Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA) and Uganda Women Lawyers Association in collaboration (FIDA-U) in collaboration with Fredskorpset Norway. After staying in Uganda for a period of 8 months Selamawit worked at EWLA in replicating advocacy strategies, adoption of different legal aid mechanisms, and other similar lessons from FIDA-U. Subsequently, she was recruited as a Programme Officer for UNDP and is currently working (worked) in the Democratic Institutions Programme (DIP) which is a multi-donor supported programme for deepening good governance in Ethiopia. Selamawit is actively involved in numerous activities of EWLA including research, legal aid and serving as a member of the task force currently established to help the organization for fundraising. Selamawit has recently graduated from Georgetown University Law Center where she was a fellow under the Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA) program and has earned an LLM in International Legal Studies and a Human Rights Law Certificate.
Sanam Anderlini, Iran; ICAN Executive Director/GNWP Adviser
Sanam is co-founder of the International Civil society Action Network (ICAN). She has been a leading international advocate, researcher, trainer and writer on conflict prevention and peacebuilding for over a decade. Since 2005 she has provided strategic guidance and training to key UN agencies, the UK government and NGOs worldwide. In 2008 she was appointed as Team Leader for a newUNDP global initiative on the “Men and the Gendered Dimensions of Violence in Crisis Contexts”.
As a Senior Policy Advisor to the UK-based NGO, International Alert between 1999-2000, she was a leading advocate and drafter of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. In 2008 she was a contributor to the US-sponsored resolution SC 1820 on women, peace and security. Between 2002-2005 as Director of the Women Waging Peace Policy Commission Ms.Anderlini led ground breaking field research on women’s contributions to conflict prevention, peace processes, governance, transitional justice and post conflict disarmament and reintegration issues in 12 countries.
She has taught at Georgetown University and is a Research Affiliate at the MIT Center for International Studies. In 2009 she was appointed as a personal representative of the UN Secretary General to the Advisory Board of the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF). Her latest book, Women Building Peace: What they do, why it matters was published by Lynne Rienner in 2007. Ms. Anderlini is Iranian, lives in Washington DC and has twin daughters.
Dawn Thomas, USA; Program and Advocacy Intern
Dawn holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Rutgers University. She is now a graduate student at The New School studying International Affairs with a double concentration in Governance & Rights and Conflict & Security. Her interests are in peacebuilding, transitional justice and statebuilding. She hopes to put her studies to practical use at GNWP and join them in the pursuit to bring greater attention, accountability and equality to women of conflict and post-conflict situations.
Eléonore Veillet Chowdhury, France/USA; Advocacy Intern
Eléonore has just completed a doctoral dissertation on peace and conflict in contemporary literature at the Johns Hopkins University as well as a certificate in Global Affairs at New York University. While examining literature’s potential to describe, perpetrate, and denounce injustices, as well as its power to imagine alternatives to any given conflict, Eléonore has read, studied, and taught the work of women writers who have faced censorship, abuse, and incarceration as a result of their exercising their right to freedom of opinion and expression. As an advocacy intern at GNWP, she hopes to use her voice, experiences, research skills, and writing aptitudes in the service of peace building and women’s empowerment.
Jamie Hagen, USA; Information and Communications Intern
Jamie Hagen holds an English BA from Hunter College and an MA in Political Science from Brooklyn College and is an NYC based writer. She has worked with several organizations on projects addressing gender mainstreaming following the passing of UN Resolution 1325 including the Social Science Research Council where she worked on their Center for Gender, Peace and Security Hub and The Peacewomen Project where she worked on their Debate Watch project. She is currently a contributing editor for Autostraddle a website for a new generation of lesbian, bisexual and otherwise inclined ladies, a contributing writer for The Line Campaign which is a movement empowering young leaders to end sexual violence and for the website One Green Planet which is an online ecosystem that draws links between the environment, animals and vegan living. Jamie looks to intersectionality between movements in covering social justice issues for these communities. With GNWP she is excited to work with members to learn about their work in peacebuilding on the ground and share these stories through social media and the organization’s newsletter connecting women and organizers across the globe.
Kristine Lim Ang, the Philippines; Intern
Kristine originally hails from the Philippines and currently resides in Singapore. As a GNWP intern, she assists in the in-country monitoring on the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 with a particular focus on countries in Asia via online research and coordination with GNWP members. She also supports GNWP in specific projects and tasks e.g. assisting members with fellowship applications. She previously served as a virtual intern at the International Women’s Tribune Center (IWTC) working under their human rights, human security and peace building program. Her work at IWTC centered on mapping of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820 initiatives and providing assistance in teleconferences with UNSCR 1325 partners in the Philippines. Kristine completed two bachelor’s degrees in International Studies and Business Administration from Miriam College and the University of Santo Tomas respectively, and participated in a student exchange program at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).
N’deye N’gone Diop, Senegal/France; Development and Communications Intern
N’deye holds two master degrees in Strategies and Policies of Human Resources and in Economic and Social Sciences from Institut Catholique de Paris. Having worked as a consultant in management of change in Paris at BPI (an international company) and as a assistant in human resources at (societé générale) in London she joined GNWP to put her communications, management of change, economic, sociology of organizations and project skills to good use in a subject she is passionate about: women, peace and security. N’deye is also a member of “Nos quartiers ont du Talent”, a coalition of national organizations in France who help young graduates to find employment.
If you are interested in an internship, please send an email to gnwp@gnwp.org
