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Advisory Board

Our Advisory Board brings together a diverse group of accomplished leaders, practitioners, and experts who provide strategic guidance, technical insights, and thought leadership. With deep experience across governance, peacebuilding, civil society, and international policy, they play a crucial role in shaping our vision and strengthening the impact of our work.

The Advisory Board serves as a sounding board for new initiatives, offers specialized technical advice, and helps us remain grounded in the realities of the contexts in which we operate. Their collective wisdom and networks ensure that our organization is guided by both global best practices and locally driven solutions.

Haile Menkerios
Former UN Assistant Secretary-General

Haile Menkerios

Haile Menkerios is an Eritrean-born diplomat renowned for his pivotal role in African peace and diplomacy. A former Eritrean freedom fighter, he transitioned to high- ranking diplomatic postings following Eritrea’s independence, representing his country in Addis Ababa and the United Nations. Within the UN family, he ascended through leadership roles—from overseeing political affairs to spearheading peace missions in conflict zones across Africa. As Assistant Secretary-General and Special Representative to the African Union (UNOAU), he served from 2013 to 2018. Menkerios’s remarkable achievements include brokering landmark agreements like the Nairobi Communiqué, contributing to South Sudan's independence, and earning a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. Today, he continues to champion peacebuilding initiatives as a senior adviser to leading global mediation organizations.

Rosalind Marsden
Veteran British Diplomat

Dame Rosalind Mary Marsden DCMG

Dame Rosalind Mary Marsden DCMG is a veteran British diplomat celebrated for her leadership in complex international posts, especially across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. A graduate and Honorary Fellow of Oxford (Somerville and St Antony’s Colleges), she has served as British Ambassador to Afghanistan and Sudan, Consul-General in Basra, and EU Special Representative to Sudan and South Sudan. Since 2013, she has focused on African affairs as an Associate Fellow with Chatham House and as an advisor to humanitarian dialogue initiatives. A distinguished patron of the Kids for Kids charity and author of influential analyses on Sudan’s conflicts, she was honored with a Damehood (DCMG) in 2010 for her outstanding public service.

Mohamed Behi Yonis
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Somaliland

Mohamed Behi Yonis

Mohamed Behi Yonis is a seasoned Somaliland-Canadian diplomat and development expert with over three decades of leadership across international institutions, multilateral diplomacy, and government. He has held senior roles at the United Nations, including Deputy Joint Special Representative for Operations and Management in UNAMID, where he directed mission support for one of the UN’s largest peacekeeping operations in Darfur. He also served as Chief Administrative Officer at the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) and the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. Prior to his UN service, he worked at the African Development Bank in Abidjan in executive roles, including Director and Management Adviser to the President of the Bank, and Deputy Director of Human Resources.

From 2013 to 2015, Yonis served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Somaliland, where he elevated the country’s international profile, initiated high-level diplomatic engagements with regional and global partners, and oversaw the drafting of Somaliland’s first foreign policy and recognition strategy. He spearheaded Somaliland’s inaugural Investment Conference in London, advanced bilateral trade and infrastructure negotiations with Ethiopia, and represented Somaliland at international forums including the World Economic Forum on Africa and the African Development Bank Annual Meetings. Educated at Miami University and Harvard Kennedy School, where he was a Mason Fellow, Yonis continues to contribute his expertise in governance, peacebuilding, and regional diplomacy.