Retired Associate Professor from the University of Cyprus, a feminist, a conflict resolution expert & a gender & peace activist Maria Hadjipavlou speaks on #HerStories of conducting trainings in conflict resolution and gender-awareness building especially in conflict situations in several countries.  She speaks of her activist work and especially about the “Gender Advisory Team” which worked exclusively on implementing and integrating UNSC Resolution 1325 in the Cypriot negotiations. She also speaks of being appointed a member of the Technical Committee on Gender Equality advising peace negotiators on gender equality provisions and of the challenges and opportunities this presented.

As an Egyptian diplomat who has served her country for 40 years including as ambassador to several countries, Soad Shalaby is particularly proud of having served for ten years as Member of the Council of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo - http://iihl.org/ - and of the work done there. She also speaks on #HerStories of being a member of the AU Panel of Experts for the Evaluation of the African Standby Force in 2014; a member of the POW team for the Evaluation of the present Kenyan pre Presidential Election; and of having headed the COMESA team for monitoring the parliamentarian election in the Kingdom of Swaziland.

Vesna Skare Ozbolt, a lawyer and active member of the political scene in Croatia speaks on #HerStories of her experience as the leading negotiator with the rebel Serbs in the war-affected areas, as the Deputy Special Envoy to the Croatian-Serbian Peace Talks and as a member of the Croatian delegation in the Bosnia and Herzegovina peace process. She spoke of being pregnant during some of these tough times and participating the implementation of a peaceful reintegration of the Eastern part of Croatia, of the local elections and amnesty and of coordinating activities between the UNTAES, Croatian refugees, representatives of international organizations (UNHCR, OESS, IOM, etc.) and rebel Serbs amongst other things.

With ten years’ experience with International Non-Governmental Organisations in Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Darfur, supporting peace and reconciliation processes through humanitarian interventions Anna Cervi, an Italian International Humanitarian Officer speaks passionately on #HerStories about dealing with the immediate basic needs on the ground of IDP’s and refugees, while at the same time having to connect to local, national, regional and international bodies. She also speaks of her hopes to further contribute to playing an active and transformative role on gender equality, peace and security.

Algerian Senator and an active member of several regional networks Hafida Benchehida discusses her dedication to the political participation of women and in peace processes on #HerStories and about the value of mediation and negotiation in her region and how the best bridge towards peace is speaking to people in their language or listening to their stories.

Katerina Kresal is President and Founder of the European Centre for Dispute Resolution, a regional institutional provider of alternative dispute resolution procedures and consulting institution for the Rule of Law projects, based in Ljubljana. She speaks on #HerStories about her engagement in various international projects as international consultant and about her specific expertise as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) expert, in designing mediation systems and various ADR schemes. Apart from her extensive legal career, she talks about her time as Minister of the Interior, member of the National Assembly (MP), and President of the Slovenian parliamentary party Liberal Democracy.

Former International Affairs and Relations Advisor to former PM of Lebanon Saad Hariri, Karma Ekmekji speaks on #HerStories about the need to connect all the dots (the local, national, regional, global and diplomatic), stemming from a strong interest in empowering women in the field of diplomacy, peace-making, mediation and negotiation. In addition to that, she speaks about #Diplowomen,  a physical and digital platform that she recently founded in order to empower women through knowledge sharing, mentoring and networking. 

International Relations scholar and Africanist based at the Department of Political Studies of NOVA University of Lisbon Alexandra Magnolia Dias speaks on #HerStories of her several research projects on Conflict, Peace and Security in Africa with fieldwork experience in the Horn of Africa; of mediation across divides: societal, civilizational and gender-based ones; and of the similarities and differences between what she knew of the Horn of Africa and what she saw when she visited Cyprus.

As a member of several cross-community dialogue groups for reconciliation and reunification focusing on tangible ways to resolve the frozen conflict, Turkish Cypriot lawyer/barrister, Emine Çolak speaks on #HerStories of coordinating committees negotiating laws attached to the Annan Plan in 2004; a comprehensive peace solution proposal. As a co-founder and head of the Turkish Cypriot Human Rights Foundation for 10 years, she also speaks of working to elevate the standard of human rights in her community through awareness raising, reporting and legal challenges also contributing to the formation of the Immoveable Property Commission to solve property disputes pending a solution.

Activist, feminist linguist and political activist Rada Borić spoke on #HerStories of editing the first Finnish-Croatian / Croatian-Finnish dictionary, ensuring that all nouns included both the feminine and masculine forms and of returning to Zagreb as the start of the Bosnian War, and working at the Center for Women Victims of War. She also speaks of a life-changing meeting with writer Eve Ensler, and together with other women involved in the movement to end violence against women of launching V-Day, to raise awareness globally. The movement kicked off in 1998 with a production of The Vagina Monologues, aimed to raise funds to support community anti-violence groups and programs.