Scholar

Jessica Rado

New York, NY

School

International Arbitration Summer School in Paris

My name is Jessica Rado, I am a recent LL.M. graduate, and soon-to-be-admitted New York attorney.

Since the very beginning of my studies, I have been an active member of the arbitration community, focusing most of my efforts to the promotion of diversity in ADR. In fact, I volunteered at the New York ADR Inclusion Network, became a fellow of the ABA Section of
Dispute Resolution, a member of R.E.A.L (Racial Equality for Arbitration Lawyers), and I joined many
international organizations such as NYCLA’s ADR Committee, ArbitralWomen, Young ICCA, and Young ITA. I am currently working on a new webinar series, in collaboration with Careers in Arbitration, that aims to inspire young students by sharing career paths of brilliant practitioners from all over the world.

All of these experiences allow me to connect with fellow practitioners, and, most importantly, to do my part to keep this community so active, welcoming, and kind. I am currently working as a litigation associate to sharpen my drafting and advocacy skills which I hope to transfer into an international arbitration position. In addition, I volunteer as a teaching assistant for Professor and Arbitrator Dana MacGrath at Fordham Law School. In this role, I have the pleasure of coaching and guiding our Vis moot team through their preparation for the competitions, and I had the opportunity to support them in Hong Kong this past March. Thanks to the many pre-moots and practices that I coordinated and arbitrated, I forged very meaningful connections with Professors, students, and practitioners both in New York and all over the world ,including many friends at the American Arbitration Association.

Scholar

Nomawethu Iris Ngangqu

South Africa

ABOUT

My name is Nomawethu Iris Ngangqu, resident of Ekuphumleni Location, Kenton-On-Sea, South Africa. I am 47 years old. I was recently graduated as Peace builder after I attended Mediator Beyond Borders International Training.
For as long as I remember, I have a passion in giving back to the community and trying to bring people together and help in conflict resolution. I am particularly excited by the opportunity I am given to be part of the congress and I know and believe that with the skills that I will learn there, they will empower me to achieve to be able to achieve my goals which is helping people to live in a non-violent community.

Scholar

Kostas Aslanidis

Greece

ABOUT

My full name is Konstantinos Aslanidis, however I prefer people to simply call me Kostas. I acquired my Bachelor’s Degree in Law at Democritus University of Thrace. Consequently, I completed my Master’s Degree in Civil, Civil Procedure and Labour Law at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. At the same time, I interned at the legal department of one of Greece’s largest banks, Eurobank, where I focused on due diligence on arbitration clauses included in bond loan agreements and legal research on complicated legal cases we faced. It was a welcome opportunity to gain experience in the practical aspect of my studies.

In December 2021, I passed the Greek bar examination and was granted my practicing license. From that point on, I established my own private practice, where I mainly focus on mediation procedures, trying civil cases, and working with counsels to reach resolutions or settle cases. Afterwards, I decided to further develop my insight on Arbitration by applying in the LL.M. program of NYU in International Business Regulation, Litigation & Arbitration. I am planning after competing my studies in NYU to take the New York Bar Examination.

Scholar

Henry Rajoro

Nairobi, Kenya

ABOUT

Born and raised in Nairobi Kenya, Henry has had a most dynamic experience of Life symbolized by a region that has seen tremendous changes in one generation thanks to the digital transformation and this has translated into great opportunities for leaving a lasting impact in his Generation.

It was destiny that ultimately led Henry into walking in his purpose and impacting communities around him. What began as a passion for storytelling using the camera, opened the door for him to work with International Non-profits like Norwegian based New Life Mission Aid and Netherlands based EDUKANS. This experience is what gave him a sense of calling and purpose in the humanitarian field. After training with Mediators Beyond Borders International in Mediation and Peace Building, Henry found his niche in the broader Humanitarian Field and has since dedicated himself to pursuing this path with special focus on the incarcerated and ex-convicts, in helping them find peace with communities around them, and vice versa. With a Background in Communication and among other skills such as Cybersecurity, Henry’s Vision is to Build Communities centered on Peace and tell stories that propagate Peace and Wholeness.

Scholar

Raihal Fajru

Aceh Besar, Indonesia

ABOUT

Raihal Fajri is currently the Executive Director of the Katahati Institute she has been running the operations the non-profit organization since June 2013. At the end of 2007-2009, Raihal joined the Katahati Institute as Project Officer for Clearing House Policy Advocacy with the main concentration on encouraging an information Center and policy advocacy for earthquake and Tsunami victims in Aceh in 2004.

As a Project Officer, Raihal was responsible for managing information and ensuring the policy documents that were produced can be used by the Government and related parties in the process of rehabilitation and construction of Aceh in fulfilling the basic rights of Tsunami victims. Specific expertise possessed in this program is policy analysis and media analysis. Raihal was an alumnus of Mediators Beyond Borders: International Training Institute “Women in Peacebuilding, Enhancing Skills and
Practice” in 2016. After that, Raihal received the formal certificate of Mediator from the Impartial Mediator Network with Indonesia Supreme Court after mediation training in Indonesia in 2020. Raihal is also a member of Mediator's Beyond Border International and has several times been a resource person on the topic of The Role of Women in Natural Resource Mediation Processes in Indonesia, first on March 31, 2021, and second at the Kyoto Peace Conference on the same topic on October 29-30 2021. She was a resource person on the topic of Feminist Ecotheology from an Islamic perspective on October 8th, 2021 conducted by JIPC-OFM Indonesia.

Raihal was an Assessor of USAID-SEGAR Project Assessment of Incentive Mechanisms for Improved Land Management, methodologies to evaluate the environmental Performance of Local Governments, and Extension Services in Aceh from November 9, 2021, to February 28, 2022. Raihal was a participant in the 2019 Australia-ASEAN Women in Constitution-building Capacity Development Program on 25-29 November 2019 at Melbourne Law School, Australia. She has been selected to participate in this first ever Constitution Building Summer School to be hosted by the Constitution Transformation Network (CTN) at Melbourne Law School (MLS). The Summer School will bring together a small cohort of eight women with an interest in constitutions and their operation in practice, two each from Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand. Raihal became a panelist representing Aceh, Indonesia in the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW61) in New York on 13-24 March 2017. At the UN conference which is a routine agenda of UN Women every year, she presented about the role of women in Aceh's

peace with the title of presentation "Women's roles in peace building; Support for Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Aceh “. From July to November 2017 she became a member of the Banda Aceh City Medium Term Development Plan Team (RPJM) in 2017-2022. She was also responsible for the Banda Aceh City CBDIS (SIPBM Online) Program under Aceh Social Protection Program as well as the Stunting Decrease in Aceh in collaboration with UNICEF and the Katahati Institute from 2013 until 2018.

In 2007, Raihal received training as a Trainer in the Training of Gender Sensitive Active Non- Violence Trainer and was followed up in the 2008 WPP Desk Asia Cochin, India. In addition to training for nonviolence activists, Raihal also received leadership training in the Vital Voices of Asia: Women's Leadership and Training Summit in September 2010 in New Delhi, India, after this Training, Raihal became a member of the Women Democracy Network. In 2010-2012, Raihal became the Program Manager of the Katahati Institute, which is responsible for ensuring that aspects of program planning and implementation run optimally. One of the major programs that were successfully implemented was Aceh Democracy Design. Rachel was responsible for compiling program planning to obtain funding support from the TIFA Foundation to design the Aceh Democracy Development based on the roadmap of the experience of Aceh's civil society, community organizations and the private sector. She is one of the drafting teams in the process of Compiling Academic Papers on the Management of Public Information Disclosure in Aceh to encourage the management of public information disclosure in Aceh in June-December 2017. She was the Manager of the Socialization Program for Handling the Inheritance Law of Tsunami Victims based on Law no. 48 of 2007 which is tasked with increasing understanding in managing inheritance rights and inheritance, especially in terms of managing and accessing tsunami victims' accounts to heirs in 2008. In the same year, she managed the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Transition process in realizing a comprehensive and sustainable Aceh Development whose task is to encourage multi-stakeholder synergies in the Aceh transition process to map the post-BRR NAD-Nias rehabilitation and reconstruction agenda as well as input for the end of BRR's tenure and the sustainability of rehabilitation and reconstruction for the Aceh Government. To ensure the involvement of women in the policy formulation process related to environmental issues, she started by becoming a researcher in the Beusaboh Pakat Working Group (WGBP) in Aceh Tengah and Bener Meriah was responsible for Gender Scanning Mainstreaming who was tasked with conducting initial scanning on the mechanism of socialization of Gender Mainstreaming in the Sarak Opat structure in Central Aceh and Bener Meriah districts in collaboration with the Aceh Police and IOM. Then at the end of 2017, she was involved in the process of women's dialogue on natural resource management in Quezon City, Philippines with the theme Resister Dialogue Resister's Dialogue on land, life, and rights. This dialogue forum was attended by women representatives of six ASEAN countries consisting of Indonesia, Burma, Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia plus India. The recommendations for this dialogue forum were then submitted to the representatives of their respective countries at the ASEAN Ministerial level meeting which took place at the same time. In addition, she also became a member of the Women's Earth Alliance (WEA) Indonesia in 2019 and became a mentor to facilitate WEA members the following year. WEA catalyses women-led, grassroots solutions to protect our environment and strengthen communities from the inside out.

Scholar

Vaiba Kebeh Flomo

Liberia

ABOUT

Creating community means a lot to my career goals. I want work through young people to create a community free from corruption, drugs, SGBV, and gender inequality. to see a community with high integrity, self-reliance and hardworking people.

Scholar

Abiola Funmilayo Faleye

Nigeria

ABOUT

Abiola Funmilayo Faleye is from Nigeria, a seasoned legal practitioner of over 18 years, a certified Mediator and a Peace building Advocate expert with special interest in WPS, Peace education, Community peace building and conflict resolution. She has niche in family mediation and Restorative Practice. She is Passionate about building peaceful communities and using her expertise in this field as social change mechanism. She has over 18 years of experience as a legal practitioner both in the judiciary and private practice and have spent the last six years as a peace builder and good governance advocate in both conflict and post conflict zones. She has volunteered and still volunteering with many organizations locally and regionally especially in community peace building. She is deeply involved in women empowerment and gender equality advocacy. She has gone for several trainings both at home and abroad to deepen her knowledge and understanding in peace building. She facilitated several capacity building sessions spanning over several areas of peace building. She is a member of several

organizations and initiatives on and also co- founded a network of Women Mediators (WiMNet) to bring women in this field to visibility in Africa.

Scholar

Xikhongelo Pearl Mukhari

South Africa

ABOUT

Xikhongelo Pearl Mukhari is a 30-year-old lady from a small village called Elim under Makhado Municipality in the Limpopo province in South Africa. A 4th year LLB student with the University of South Africa and recently graduated as a peacebuilder with MBBI for ARCoM, very passionate about peacebuilding and praying to make the world a better place with her acquired skills from the all the trainings she will be receiving.

Scholar

Khin Thida Soe

Myanmar

ABOUT

My name is Thida, and I am from Myanmar. I have been serving as a Peace practitioner, mediator and a community dialogue facilitator over a decade. I am also a strong humanitarian. Over past years, I have brought my expertise on Humanitarian-Development-Peacebuilding (Nexus) to address the intersectional issues of H-D-P. On the other hand, whilst I am emphasizing on building peace that bringing community cohesiveness, I am promoting the human rights/ SOGIE rights that respect the diversity and inclusion. On professional front, I have left Christian Aid where I worked as a Programme Manager (Peacebuilding Nexus) and I just recently joined The LinQ Foundation based in Chiang Mai Thailand. The LinQ promotes the Human Rights and SOGIE rights, advocate for acceptance and recognition towards LGBTQ+ communities, bringing and respecting diversities and inclusion.

In Myanmar since the Coup, Myanmar Military Regime took over power on Feb 1, 2021, all the functions of social, political and economy collapsed and thousands of innocent civilians got killed by the Myanmar Security Force while over thousands of young people including journalists, politicians and activists were detained and some were sentenced to death. Government staff joined Civil Disobedience Movement and students quit the education. The economy and healthcare system were completely collapsed. Post Covid and due to the compounded crises of the current political turmoil, the people got traumatized with a lot fear due to the brutal military crackdown and crime against humanity and genocide towards minority groups, women, children and LGBTQ+ individuals. The people are in a traumatized situation and over 15 million of people are facing with poverty and humanitarian crises. As the repercussion affect, suicide is on the rise and lots of people have frequent suicidal attacks and are negatively impacting their mental trauma. Being a peacebuilder, human rights defender, it is so vital for me to take some responsibilities of helping people healing trauma and brining peace and unity amongst the communities along with bringing transitional justice. Hence having right knowledge and skills on trauma informed peacebuilding is highly important for me to bring more positive changes in the community and building peace.

On top of this, I have been so fortunate that I am one of MBBI alumni since 2015 and I am well trained by MBBI mentors over conflict resolution, leadership challenge and mediation. I have been adapting the gained knowledge into action in my workplace as well as peacebuilding journey throughout the years.

To be able to understand not only the local/regional peacebuilding spectrum, but it is also so crucial to understand the Global peacebuilding trends in daily changing world. Hence having a chance to get connected with peacebuilders across the Globe is highly important for me to learn about their works that I can adapt in my workplaces as well as in peacebuilding sectors. Taking this opportunity, I am keen to share the current context of Myanmar and draw attention of international communities towards supporting in addressing Myanmar issues.

Scholar

Adama Sesay

Sierra Leone

ABOUT

I am Adama Sesay. I am from Sierra Leone and I live in a small town called Port Loko District in Sierra Leone by the north west region.

I have a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Sierra Leone and I have gone through so many trainings on peace building and leadership for girls and women empowerment.

I am more interested in peace because of my community and country fight about family life, superiority, discrimination etc., which is affecting girls and women the most. I stand to fight for their rights and freedom. I therefore, founded a community based organization called Collective Woman Network Sierra Leone which main aim is to see women attain their full potential in society through peace.