I am delighted to have joined Finance for Peace – an initiative incubated by Interpeace – as Head of Partnerships in October 2023 . With 17 years’ professional experience as a social impact, gender and senior social safeguards manager in private-sector operations for renowned development banks (the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation (both at headquarters and in Ghana) and the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) Group in Germany (DEG Invest)), I am excited to keep innovating at the intersection of finance, peace and human development.
Equipped with a PhD and a master’s degree in political science from the Free University of Berlin (Germany), as well as a second master’s in international relations and international economics from Johns-Hopkins University (JHU) and its School of Advanced International Studies, I enjoy staying in touch with the next generation of development professionals as an academic advisor and adjunct lecturer at my alma mater. My thematic work has focused on income inequality, social cohesion, gender and female entrepreneurship in Latin America and Africa, as well as on education policy, politics and federalism in Brazil. Throughout my travels, work and living experience on four continents, I have become fluent in six languages and enjoy exploring the outdoors wherever I go.
In my role as Policy Support Officer I work to support Finance for Peace with my strong belief in its potential to bring about structural change to the peacebuilding sector. I am from the Netherlands but I grew up in several places around the world. I have a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Erasmus University (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) and a master’s in international affairs from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva (Switzerland). I derive great meaning from being a part of Interpeace, an organisation filled with unique and warm people whose determination to foster peace is exhibited through their hard work every day. I have been aiming to work in the world of peacebuilding for as long as I can remember, so I am right where I belong as I contribute to the mission of Finance for Peace.
I am a Policy Support Officer at Finance for Peace. In my career, I have focused on finding ways to operationalize the development–peace nexus by working at non-governmental organisations or start-ups dedicated to harnessing sustainable development to empower local communities struggling with a lack of opportunities in fragile or conflict-affected contexts. Prior to joining Interpeace, I spent a few months at the United Nations, first at the Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, then within the prevention and sustaining peace section of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, where I learned first-hand about contemporary challenges to peace and security and about the United Nations toolbox for conflict response.
I have a bachelor’s degree in politics and international relations from the University of Bath (United Kingdom), and a master’s degree in international affairs from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva (Switzerland), for which I majored in global security.
I am thrilled to support Finance for Peace to bridge the gap in peacebuilding funding and promote sustainable development by channelling more private-sector funding into frontier markets according to peace-responsive principles.
I am the Head of Research and Senior Peacebuilding Advisor at Interpeace, an international non-governmental organisation for peacebuilding headquartered in Geneva (Switzerland). I am currently leading Finance for Peace initiative, which seeks to catalyse more peace-promoting and lower-risk private-sector investment in fragile countries through new financial structures, standards, frameworks and partnerships.
I have published research on the economic costs of violence and on the measurement of peace and positive peace, which I am pleased has been widely cited. For several years, I led the development of the Global Peace Index and I contributed to several flagship studies on international peacebuilding policy, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development States of Fragility report and the United Nations–World Bank Pathways for Peace report. I have consulted to the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank and the Commonwealth Secretariat, and I have worked with various United Nations agencies on their peacebuilding approaches.
I am a peacebuilder focusing on policy and, more importantly, learning every day with the Finance for Peace initiative at Interpeace.
I previously lead programme development in Ukraine with Interpeace, applying the concept of peace responsiveness to advance a peace and health agenda as part of a strategic partnership with the World Health Organization and its country office in Ukraine. Before that, I worked on broader policy at Interpeace, having previously been a visiting researcher at the United Nations Office in Geneva, where I focused on global disarmament and the ethics of artificial intelligence. I also conducted research at the Global Resilience Institute at Northeastern University in Boston (United States of America) into the aftermath of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans (Louisiana, United States of America); I supported the scheduling and external affairs team at the executive bureau of the Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey; and I worked part-time as a gun violence prevention advisor at the same office.
I believe in systemic change, a nexus approach and strengthening capacities of individuals, institutions and states to improve lives and build sustainable peace. This is why I consider myself extremely lucky to now have this opportunity to generate policy ideas that could enable finance to meaningfully contribute to peace outcomes.
My role is Head of Standards and Market Intelligence at Finance for Peace. Before joining this fantastic team, I worked in the world of business, finance and peace as a consultant through my own social enterprise, FCS Impact.
On my journey so far, I have had several roles. I contributed to the Institute for Economics and Peace, an organization driven by data and research. At Oxfam, I served as the Policy Specialist on Private Sector and Conflict, where I closely examined the intersection of policy and social change. Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of directing several organisations operating in fragile countries and territories and conflict-affected areas across South Asia, Africa, the Balkans and the Caucasus. Among them were the Forum on Early Warning and Early Response, the Institute for International Mediation and Conflict Resolution, and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting-NL .
A highlight in my career was during civil war in Sri Lanka, where I was Country Director for the Nonviolent Peaceforce. I worked alongside an international civilian peacekeeping team, engaging in negotiations with rebel and paramilitary groups to secure the release of child soldiers.
My academic background is in international law and politics, with a focus on finance and business and their influence on peace. I have progressively honed my expertise in conflict sensitivity, analysis, and human security. I live in the Netherlands with my wonderful Sri Lankan wife and our delightful daughter.
Peter has worked on creating a market for Peace Bonds and the formation of Finance for Peace to provide market integrity since 2018, with the objective of emulating green bonds which have gone from nil to over USD 1 trillion in 10 years.
Peter has extensive international experience in fund management. He founded TGM in Australia in 1997, a pioneer in global overlay asset management which recently merged with the AI company Alpha Vista. He co-founded and chaired Wellers Impact in London, an impact investment firm. It works in partnership with charities, primarily in Africa, to build commercial buildings on land owned by the charities to generate income to support their work. It manages a global south focused water sanitation and plastic recycling investment fund. Peter is also a co-founder and Chair of Peaceinvest in Geneva, a global investment firm designing targeted, project and context-specific risk-reduction measures that improve the risk-adjusted returns on investments and their positive impact on communities and societies.
Finally, Peter is an economist by training with a PhD from Harvard University and was awarded the Academy of Social Sciences Australia Medal for excellence in research.
Hafez Ghanem is a development expert with many academic and policy publications; and more than forty-year experience in policy analysis, project formulation and supervision, and management of multinational institutions. He has worked and lived in Africa, Europe and Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa, and Asia.
He is a non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, a distinguished fellow at the Finance for Development Lab of the Paris School of Economics, a Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South in Rabat, and a Research Fellow at the Economic Research Forum in Cairo.
Between 2015 and 2022 he was Vice President of the World Bank, initially responsible for the Middle East and North Africa, then for Sub-Saharan Africa and then East and Southern Africa. In this latter capacity he was responsible for developing and implementing the World Bank’s strategy in the region, including a nearly USD 20 billion annual lending programme and a large volume of analytical work and policy papers.
During 2012-15, he was a Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development program of the Brookings Institution. His research focused on the economic drivers of the Arab Spring, in six countries: Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen.
During the period 2007-12, he worked at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as the Assistant Director-General responsible for the Economic and Social Development Department. This department, with more than 300 employees from all over the world, is responsible for FAO’s analytical work on agricultural economics and food security, trade and markets, gender and equity, and statistics.
Prior to joining FAO, Hafez spent twenty-four years on the staff of the World Bank where he started as a research economist and then senior economist in West Africa (based in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire) and later South Asia (based in Dhaka, Bangladesh). In 1995, he moved to Europe and Central Asia where he was Sector Leader for Public Economics and Trade Policy (based in Washington DC). In 2000, he returned to Africa as Country Director for Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles (based in Antananarivo, Madagascar). Between 2004-7, he was Country Director for Nigeria (based in Abuja, Nigeria).
Hafez holds a PhD in Economics from the University of California, Davis. He is fluent in Arabic, English and French, and has intermediate Italian and some knowledge of Russian.
Itonde Kakoma assumed the role of President of Interpeace on 2 October 2023. Prior to Interpeace, he most recently served as the Permanent Representative of the International Federation of the Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to the African Union and International Organizations (2021-2023). In this capacity, he advanced continent-wide humanitarian diplomacy initiatives with the African Union in public health security; climate change; disaster risk management; food security and humanitarian affairs.
Itonde served in various leadership capacities on matters of international peace mediation, including as Director for Global Strategy and member of the leadership team at CMI Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation. Over a period of eight years at CMI, he steered mediation support teams for both official and informal peace processes, and advanced high-level peace mediation and dialogue undertakings in the Great Lakes, the Horn, and wider Red Sea region.
Previously, Itonde was the Assistant Director for the Conflict Resolution Program at The Carter Center, managing a portfolio of the Center’s peace initiatives and supporting former President Carter’s backchannel diplomatic efforts. He was an international observer for The National Referendum on the Right to Self Determination for the People of South Sudan; and served as an advisor and report writer for the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
He is an experienced facilitator and moderator for high-level peace processes and dialogue fora; and has expertise in mediation, negotiation, process design, humanitarian diplomacy and transitional justice. Itonde is an advocate for women, peace and security and frequently moderates seminars on inclusive mediation strategies.
Itonde was an Executive-in-Residence and subsequently Global Fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). He holds an Executive Master in International Law in Armed Conflict from the Geneva Academy for International Humanitarian Law & Human Rights and the Graduate Institute of International & Development Studies.
Since 1983 and its formation, Peter has been the CEO of EIRIS, the ESG ratings agency, and the EIRIS Foundation. EIRIS became Vigeo Eiris in 2015 and Peter remained involved with the senior management team at Vigeo Eiris until the business was sold to Moody’s in 2019. He stayed as a consultant to Moody’s ESG for the following 12 months, providing him with experience of a credit rating agency and a large US information service provider.
Since 2019, Peter has focused increasingly on the work of the EIRIS Foundation in pioneering the next steps in sustainable finance through research, advocacy and advice. His involvement in Vigeo Eiris and Moody’s came to an end in 2020, five years after the original merger.
Peter is a regular speaker on topics ranging from fiduciary duty to individual ESG areas and their global evolution as well as how responsible investment can contribute to a more sustainable and robust financial system. He was treasurer of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association for 20 years until the end of 2011 and from October 2013 to October 2019 was a member of the PRI Advisory Council.
Steven has worked in the humanitarian, development and governmental domains for nearly three decades. He specialises in strategic planning and representation, leading responses, financial support and organisational transition in conflict, post-conflict and disaster-related contexts. For over the last ten years he has been working with the UK Government through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) (formerly the Department for International Development DFID), currently as a Humanitarian Adviser.
Previously, Steven has worked with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Canadian Red Cross. His career began with the Lester B. Pearson Canadian International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Shahd is a gender, peace and security specialist focused on bridging vital sectors to foster systemic change. In the third sector, she engages with communities through her roles with international NGOs, serving as the Programme Lead for Women, Peace & Security for Mercy Corps in Sudan, and as a Programmes & Partnerships Specialist for Girl Effect in Rwanda, Malawi, Tanzania and Ethiopia. Through this work, Shahd has collaborated with grassroots communities, governments and decision-makers – advancing programme, policy and advocacy initiatives related to gender, governance and peace.
In the private sector, Shahd has worked on corporate sustainability and social impact strategies through ESG and CSR with the Haggar Group in Sudan – bridging the gap between the private sector and the communities they profit from and impact.
Shahd has led complex programming in Sudan across tumulus scenarios, including coups and war – focusing on the resilience, recovery and social cohesion of local communities. In these roles, she has collaborated with both civil society and international organisations, dedicated to representing and empowering marginalised groups and advancing socio-economic initiatives in the pursuit of peace, equity and inclusive growth.
Shahd has a background in economics and is currently reading for an MSt in Social Innovation at the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School.
Arne has 30 years of successful international investment and management experience, spanning senior roles in banks, asset management companies, hedge funds and pension funds. These include Goldman Sachs, Coutts Private Bank, Barclays Bank and Kuwait Investment Office. Currently, he is a partner at Kanad Capital Partners.
Arne has strong management, leadership and advisory skills due to his experience in building and leading high-performance businesses and investment teams with focus on people and process management, on boards, management committees, executive and investment Committees of major organisations.
Arne has broad investment experience, having managed a broad range of asset classes (asset allocation, FX, fixed income, equities and alternatives), with different investment styles (discretionary and systematic), in several types of organisations (banks, independent asset management firms, hedge funds, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds).
In addition, he has extensive experience in business, and strong communication skills – Arne is a frequent conference moderator and speaker.
Fiona Reynolds is an independent director and advisory board member working across the business and investor sectors on ESG and sustainability issues. Fiona served as the CEO of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) for just under a decade, stepping down at the beginning of 2022.
Fiona is the Chair of the UN Global Compact Network Australia; and Chairs the Steering Committee for Finance for Peace based in Geneva. She also serves on the Board of Frontier Advisors and the Australian Sustainable Finance Institute. She is on the Advisory Boards of Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, Affirmative Investment Management, and ROC Partners. She chairs the ESG Advisory Board for Qualitas and is on the think tanks Climate Catalyst, and the UBS Sustainability and Impact Forum, as well the Advisory Committee for the NSW Commissioner for Anti-Slavery and the Australian Human Rights Institute.
Fiona has 25 years’ experience in the financial services, superannuation and pension sector. She joined the PRI from the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST), where she spent seven years as CEO.
Fiona was named one of the 20 most influential people in sustainability globally by Barron’s magazine and has twice been named one of Australia’s one hundred women of influence by the Australian Financial Review.
Fiona was announced as the Chair of the Finance for Peace initiative’s Steering Committee in September 2023.
Michal Fonea Alexandron is an expert in ESG, Sustainable Finance and ultra-long-term investments. She advises investors, governments and sovereign wealth funds and teaches sustainable finance and environmental economics in MBA programmes worldwide. She is ESG and Sustainable Finance Course Leader, Technion at the Israel Institute of Technology.
Michal serves as Chair of Trustees for Oxford University’s Climate Alumni Network and heads the Business Impact Forum at the Hurvitz Institute for Strategic Management. She also co-owns and manages a portfolio of energy and infrastructure companies in Europe. Previously, as a Senior Manager at the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), Michal collaborated with institutional investors to develop relevant standards and reporting frameworks.
Michal holds an MSc in Environmental Policy from the University of Oxford and a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE).
