Former team members

Aga Staruch is from Poland but lives in Amsterdam. She volunteered for UNOY Peacebuilders in the period of January-April 2004 as a fundraising assistant.

Alessandra Casano is from Italy. She has a Masters Degree in International Relations; she wrote her thesis on Angola after being there as a volunteer. She came to Leiden as an exchange student and then started working at UNOY Peacebuilders as the African Students Conference Coordinator in 2007.

Ama van Dantzig joined UNOY in February 2005, working on the administration of the "Peace IT Together" campaign and communicating with network members in Africa. In 2006 she coordinated the Earth Charter Activities and assisted in the UNOY Training.

Andrew Bearese originally comes from the US, though he has spent much of his life living abroad. Prior to him joining the UNOY team, he attended the European Center for Peace and Conflict Studies in Stadtschlaing Austria where he earned his MA. In addition, he holds a bachelors degree in Conflict Resolution and Political Science from Salisbury University in Maryland. Andrew has also worked as a community mediator. He has worked at the UNOY advocacy and Asia desks in 2008.

Andrea Auxt comes from Hungary and she studies Public Administration at the Haagse Hogeschool. She was an intern at the UNOY and assisted with the preparation of the European training seminar 2007 in the Netherlands. Besides that, she communicated with members by developing and maintaining the network’s communication tools. After her internship she plans to continue with her studies at the Leiden University.

Angélique Been comes from the US/The Netherlands and is of Dutch/Vietnamese origins. She holds Bachelor Degrees in Global Studies and Sociology, and an MA in International Relations and International Organizations. She was a member of the Advocacy Team in 2007, assisting in the "Youth Advocacy for Peace: A Guide to Good Practices" project.

Anika May joined UNOY in February 2005. She is a qualified social worker and has work experience in the NGO sector in Germany, Indonesia and Venezuela. At UNOY she was involved in managing the Resource Centre and is a member of the "Peace IT Together" campaign, the Youth Advocacy team and the COP05 Team. In 2006 she conducted research in Uganda. She supported the Advocacy Team of UNOY.

Anjala Ward is from Canada and and was an intern from 1998 to 1999. She wrote her thesis on a Culture of Peace.

Ann is from Sweden and she assisted in the preparations of the African Students Conference in 2001.

Anne-Claire Frank was a Board Member until the end of 2007. She was an intern at UNOY between 1998 and 1999. She studied History with a specialization in International Relations. She is the treasurer of the Young SIETAR (Young Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research).

Anton is from Ukraine and did a Nuffic internship in spring 1999.

Aparajita Dutta is from India and she did an internship at UNOY from 1998 to 1999. She used to be a member of the board.

Bea Stolte was a Board Member until the end of 2007 and was formerly the coordinator of cooperation and assistance to partners in North-East Africa at the Emergency Department of ACT Netherlands. She is now working freelance. Since 1998 she has been a board member of the European Centre for Conflict Prevention.

Benjamin Bureau is from France and he was an intern from February to August 2003. He did an internal audit for UNOY and developed the concept for the old UNOY website.

Bimal Patel was a Board Member of UNOY and former intern between 1991 and 1992. He comes from India and works as a lawyer for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague.

Bodil Dronkers has a Dutch-Canadian family and joined the UNOY team in 2005. She is currently studying at the University College in Utrecht pursuing her studies in Law, Anthropology, Development Studies and Psychology. Bodil is a member of the Peace IT Together campaign.

Carolien van den Berg is Dutch, and holds BA in International Law and Politics. She joined UNOY in 2007 and worked on advocacy that focused on lobbying at the EU level for furthering the International Decade for the Culture of Peace.

Caroline de Bruin is from The Netherlands, but has lived in Canada, Japan, Australia, and Jamaica. She has a Bachelors Degree in Social Sciences from University College Utrecht. Her academic interests lie in the field of international relations and development. In June 2007, she participated as a Fellow in the Humanity in Action Programme in Amsterdam. At UNOY she was a member of the Advocacy Team for the "Non-Violence Against Children" campaign in the fall of 2007.

Cees Bouwmeester was our hardware specialist and trouble shooter, always ready to fix a problem in the hardware or software.

Celina Del Felice is from Argentina. She joined UNOY Peacebuilders in August 2003 and worked as the International Coordinator until December 2006. Celina has volunteered to develop and improve the network's policies in 2007. She holds a BA in Political Science and an MA in Peace Studies.

Charlotte Kerihuel is from France and graduated in English Linguistics and Arabic. She now studies International Relations in the Sorbonne University, Paris. At UNOY she was in charge of the Asian and European networks in the summer of 2007.

Charlotte Meyer is from Denmark and holds a BA in Social Sciences. She started working with UNOY in October 2004, working with the Peace IT Together campaign.

Colins Imoh is from Nigeria and he was the African Desk officer from February to August 2003.

Dana Azouri is from Norway and she did an internship from February to September 2003. She developed the Peace IT Together campaign.

Dave Taylor is from the UK was the European Network Officer and Peace It Together Newsletter Editor in the winter of 2007/2008. He holds a Bachelor degree in Law and Criminology from Cardiff University and has graduated from Utrecht University in the Netherlands with an LLM in International and European Protection of Human Rights.

Dimitry is from Ukraine and did an internship for 6 months in 1997-1998.

Dinasas Abdurashid Abdell is from Ethiopia and was a volunteer at UNOY in 2005.

Donata Cassini comes from Italy and assisted with research in support of the EU Advocacy Project in Brussels.

Edyta Kalinowska is from Poland. She studies European Studies at The Haagse Hogeschool. Her specialization is Public Administration and after her graduation she is planning to do the MA in the field of Human Rights. She was responsible for organizing Dutch Training Seminar for UNOY in 2007.

Emine Dalyan from Turkey completed an MA in Political Science and a Bachelor in International Relations. Her area of interest is democratisation in developing countries. Up to now, she has rendered work in different NGOs in the Netherlands, Portugal and Turkey. She joined UNOY in October 2005 and coordinated the Peer Support Project.

Eric Ansah is from Ghana and he was the International Youth Coordinator from 1993 to 1995.

Erin Melnick from the US joined UNOY in the winter of 2007 as the Latin American Network Officer and to undertake bookkeeping. She is beginning her career in non-profit and charity organisations, having completed her Bachelor in Television and Radio in New York and Los Angeles. She has experience organising and leading various community-serviced based volunteer efforts, including trips to aid hurricane relief and for low-income community support. Being new to non-profit, she looks forward to learning many new skills.

Esther Lever was born in the Netherlands, but grew up abroad. She has a Bachelor in Social Sciences and an MA in International Development Management. Esther joined UNOY in July 2005 for an internship to assist with the African Students Conference. Her specialization lies within the Political Motivation of International Development and Foreign Aid.

Esther de Witte is from the Netherlands and she completed her MA in Intercultural Communication. She did her internship at UNOY after following the 1st Training Building Peace Skills in autumn 2005. Her internship was focused on organising the 2nd Training Building Peace Skills in spring 2006.

Farrel is from Sierra Leone and did an internship at UNOY from January to August 2003.

Freed Schmitter from the Netherlands helped design some of our materials and designed a poster for the ASC 2005.

Gerda Dummerholt was the Treasurer of UNOY until the end of 2007. She has worked in Development Coordinating during 35 years at NNV, Foreign Affairs. She is now a free lance consultant on migration and development issues.

Gina Donoso is from Ecuador and lives in Costa Rica. She was the Latin American Network officer at UNOY in the fall of 2007. She holds a Master's Degree in International Peace Studies from the United Nations University for Peace, Costa Rica. She has worked for the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights in San José, Costa Rica, since 2003 as a Consultant for different human rights and mental health projects.

Graziella Guimaraes is from Sao Paulo in Brazil and is interested in International Relations and Development Studies. During her internship at UNOY, she worked as Campaign Coordinator and is proud to be able to work towards building a culture of peace worldwide, feeling privileged to assist and support all of those who are taking concrete steps for the realisation of their ideal.

Hans Ola Haavelsrudcomes from Norway. He joined UNOY in September 2005 to replace Celina Del Felice as the UNOY International Coordinator for a period of four months.

Henry Wasung comes from London, UK, but spent the last six years living in Krakow, Poland, and various parts of Spain. He completed an MA in Central and Eastern European Studies in Krakow in 2005 and wrote his thesis on Polish-Ukrainian Relations.

Hilary Jeune from Jersey, the Channel Islands, is the former Chair of UNOY (2006-2007), and also former coordinator of the Advocacy projects at UNOY from 2005 to 2006. After four successful years working at UNOY, and with her Master’s in International Development, as well as her experiences with West and East African NGOs, she is now pursuing her career and other activities as an advocacy officer.

Ilona Vinogradova is a journalist from Estonia and supports the Advocacy Team visiting Embassies and other important institutions.

Inge Ortelee was born in The Netherlands, but moved to South Africa at the age of eleven. Following her Bachelors degree in Political Science, she completed her Honours in International Relations at the University of Stellenbosch. She will be doing her masters in Conflict Studies and Human Rights. Inge was in charge of fundraising in 2007.

Iris Falkensteiner is from Italy and joined UNOY for an internship during the first half of 2006 to assist in the design, restructure and launch of the new site.

Itziar Aparicio is from Spain and and she assisted in the preparations for the conference African Youth Building: a Culture Of Peace in Franschhoek, South Africa, July 2001.

Jan Ruyssenaars after completing studies in sociology of non-western civilisations, socio-political and economic anthropology and economy of developing countries in 1973, he has been a researcher at the Universities of Nijmegen and Amsterdam and worked for the Dutch Royal Institute of the Tropics. Since 1977 he has been working for Novib, interrupted by work for an international NGO working on conflict prevention and transformation. Since 2002 he is senior policy advisor for Novib/Oxfam on human rights, conflict issues and emergency situations. At UNOY, he was a member of the board and an advisor.

Joyce Gabeler is from the Netherlands and was the Desk Officer between April 1998 and June 1999.

Jonnah Baron is from the Philippines and graduated in 2006 with a Bachelor in Public Administration from the Haagse Hogeschool. She was an intern at UNOY for the period of six months in 2006 researching lessons learnt in building a global network.

Juan Salgado is from Mexico and he was UNOYs programme manager from January 2000 to December 2002.

Julia Gierse is of German origin, but grew up in Belgium. She has a BA in European Studies and is currently enrolled in a Masters programme on Human Rights and Humanitarian Action in Siena, Italy. She was the African Network officer of UNOY.

Karen Wakkers from the Netherlands, has designed the campaign logo, posters and postcards. She also gave her advice and professional insight in the development of the new logo and the new web design.

Katharina Block studies Political Science, Philosophy and Modern History at the University of Potsdam in Germany. She joined UNOY as an intern in February 2006 working on a research on the assessment of possible core member organisations and assisting in planning the UNOY Training in Crimea in 2006.

Lea Gibert is from France and has completed an MA in Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. She has experience working in a French NGO related to Child Trafficking in Cambodia. In the summer of 2006 she was the African Network officer.

Lenka Antalkova comes from a small town called Senica, Slovakia. She is studying European Studies, specialisation Public Administration at The Hague University. She used to be an assistant in fundraising and also assisted in up-dating the website for UNOY in 2007.

Lenka Chludova is from the Czech Republic and holds a BA in Philosophy and Politics and an MA in Applied Ethics. She has experience in intercultural understanding, activities with and for children, women and youth and art expression. In July 2005 she completed her research project for UNOY.

Maria Chempalova

Martijn Dalhuijsen is from the Netherlands and has vast experience studying and working abroad. He completed an MA in Journalism and worked for UNOY in 2005.

Merlijn van Waas is from the Netherlands and was an intern for eight months assisting in the preparations for the UNOY Second Global Peace Conference between 6th and 16th of May 1999.

Milena Zarate is from Bogotá, Colombia and and is doing a BA in International Business. She was an intern at UNOY, focusing on researching youth organisations in Central and East Asia

Myrthe Struiksma was born in The Netherlands. She lived in Bangkok, Thailand until 1998 before she returned to her home country. She has lived in The Hague ever since. Currently Myrthe is in her last year of European Studies at The Hague University for a bachelor’s in Public Administration. After achieving her bachelor’s degree she plans to continue studying for a master’s in the field of International Relations. Last year she studied at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan. During this half year exchange program Myrthe followed courses such as Peace, Conflict & Democratization and Pacific Rivalry. Myrthe joined UNOY Peacebuilders in the winter 2007 for an internship. She was a member of the Advocacy Team working on the Violence Against Children and Youth campaign.

Nancy Chen is from China and and she worked at UNOY as an intern in 2004. She holds an LL.M. degree from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and currently she is pursuing an MA in Humanitarian Assistance at Groningen University. She assisted in the coordination of the Peace IT Together campaign.

Natascha is from Ukraine and did a Nuffic Internship for 6 weeks in 1996.

Nathaniel Holmes is from the UK and holds a BA in War, Peace and International Relations. He has taken on the role of Information and Communications Officer in 2007, and he also helped organize the ISG meeting in 2007.

Nina Aeckerle is from Germany. Shewas the European and Latin American officer and organised the European Training Seminar in the spring of 2007. After her internship at the UNOY she continued her university studies in Peace and Conflict.

Nina Koevoets recently received her Master's degree in Conflict Resolution and Governance from the International School for Humanities and Social Sciences. She did a major-minor program in psychology and cultural anthropology & development studies at the Universiteit Leiden. She has written a master thesis on psychosocial support for Palestinian children and has participated in a training program for Palestinian, Israeli, Dutch and Belgium youth. At UNOY she has organized a study session on conflict transformation and peace building theory and practices in Budapest, 2008 and she was the Asian network officer.

Nina Maqami is from Germany and she was an intern from January 2004 to May 2004. She developed the Resource Centre.

Patrick Effiboley is a student of Museology. He joined UNOY in 2004 to do outreach for the Peace IT Together campaign; communicate with members of African Network especially in French and collaborate with ASC Report writing.

Paul Huber is from the Netherlands and holds an MSc in Labour and Organisational Psychology and an MA in International and European Law. He has experience in Research, Policy, Communications, Training and works for Amnesty International. He joined UNOY Peacebuilders in June 2005 as Fundraiser and Project Coordinator until December 2005.

Paulien Beet has a MA in International Development. She joined UNOY as a volunteer in April 2005 and was involved in the African Network of Young Peacebuilders (ANYP). She was an intern in the period April to December 2005.

Persefoni Neophytou completed her studies in the university of Cyprus taking a degree in Pedagogical science. In the spring of 2007, she coordinated the European Training Seminar.

Phillip Barry Phiri is from Zambia, but now lives in Japan. He has a BA in Religious studies from Mississippi, USA and he is a 2006-2008 Rotary World Peace Fellow (RWPF). Currently, he pursues a Master’s degree in Public Administration with a focus on Peace and Conflict Resolution at the International Christian University (ICU), Tokyo, Japan. Phillip has studied in South Africa and established an NGO in Zambia where he worked with inmates, women, orphans and vulnerable children, especially those affected by HIV/AIDS. In the summer of 2007, he volunteered to work on the website.

Maria Alejandra Pineda is from Bogotá, Colombia and came to the Netherlands to conclude her BA in International Business. She joined the UNOY team as an intern and was mainly working with the assessment of core members in the Americas. She has a major interest on issues concerning Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility, and is planning to complete an MA in this field.

Rachel Eichholz is from the United States. Together with Lenka she created the evaluation tool What is Good Youth Peace Work.

Rebeca Cenalmor is from Spain and was the International and Project Coordinator in 2005 replacing Celina during her absence for study. She has a background in International Law. She has extensive experience in youth work in the Red Cross Youth Activities and ELSA Associations.

Sahro M. Ahmed was a Board Member of UNOY and comes from Somalia. She has a Masters degree in Cultural Anthropology / Development Sociology obtained from Leiden University. Sahro worked as a volunteer at the UNOY office in the summer of 2001 and has been involved with UNOY eversince. Sahro is involved in national and international youth work focusing on gender, health and healing.

Shoshana Iten is originally from Switzerland and has also lived in the US. She holds an MSc in technological and socio-economic planning. She was the African Desk Officer at UNOY in 2007.

Umar Ahmed comes from Dublin, Ireland and joined UNOY as the African Network Officer in the spring of 2008. He has recently completed an MA degree in Intelligence and International Security at the Department of War Studies at King's College London, following a BA in Political Science at Trinity College Dublin. Before joining UNOY he worked as an intern for the Communications and Advocacy Division at the London office of Human Rights Watch. The major project that he will be involved in during his time at UNOY will be the organisation of the 'African Youth in Motion for Peace' conference that is scheduled to take place in Nairobi, Kenya in 2008.

Ute Roehl used to be a Board Member and for ten years active in Stichting Universal Education, co-organiser of numerous conferences since many years involved in projects internationally. NGOs in community- and peacebuilding, character of values education and co-founder of UNOY.

Vera Silva is of Cape Verdean origin and was born in The Hague. She finished her studies at the Haagse Hogeschool, specialization in Public Administration. After she took part in an exchange program to Portugal, the internship at UNOY was her final stage of her studies. She organized African Students Conference 2006.

Viola Janbroers has a BA in Behaviour and Society, with specialization in International Development, Sociology and Pedagogy. As an intern at UNOY between August and December 2005, her focus was on project reviewing and on the Peace IT Together campaign.

Zaneta Danihelova is 27 and she comes from Slovakia. As soon as she finished Grammar school in her country she went abroad. She is a student of The Hague University specialised in PA. In 2007, she was responsible for organizing Dutch Training Seminar for UNOY.