» The Finance for Peace Standards Committee

Hafez Ghanem

Director

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

Peace Expert

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.

Governance of the Peace Finance Standard

The Finance for Peace Standards Committee is an independent operating body, reporting to the Board of Finance for Peace, supported by sub-committees and working groups and working closely with the market network established by Finance for Peace.

The key tasks of the Standards Committee include setting the Finance for Peace Standards and overseeing the certification process.

The supporting sub-committees and working groups include Technical Sub-Committees, contributing with specialised advice and recommendations through research and insights, and Regional/Project Working Groups, mainly tailored to provide practical advice on regional issues, the implementation of Peace Enhancing Mechanisms and specific issues linked to the certification and verification processes.

The Standards Committee reports to the Board of Finance for Peace. The key objectives or responsibilities of the Standards Committee include:

Develop the Finance for Peace Standards (‘Standards’): This relates to both the creation and further development of the Finance for Peace Standards, including both Bonds and Equities, as well as other potential future financial instruments.
Oversee the Certification Process: This refers to the oversight of the decision-making process for the certification of Bonds and Equities.
Approve Verifiers: The committee approves Finance for Peace Verifiers (‘Verifiers’) following an application process.
Facilitate contacts with Peace Builders: The committee will on a best endeavour basis facilitate the contact between issuers/project owners and Peace Builders.
Supervise Sub-Committees and Working Groups: The Standards Committee appoints and oversees the activities of the Technical Subcommittees and regional/project Working Groups.
Provide Feedback on the Guidance Notes: The committee provides feedback and input on the Guidance Notes.

Arne Hassel

Chair

Shahd Hammou

Vice Chair

Michal Fonea Alexandron

Member

Steven Loyst

Member

Peter Webster

Member