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Virtual workshop

Race, Power, and Peacebuilding – Exploring structural racism in the peacebuilding sector *Postponed - New date TBD

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Overview of the workshop

Peacebuilding, humanitarian work, and development work around the world exists to support people in need, primarily in “the Global South”. At the same time, this very sector is deeply challenged by structural racism and neo-colonial worldviews pervasive across “the Global North”.

One of the organizations deeply committed to decolonizing peacebuilding efforts and leading sector change in this area is PeaceDirect, an international charity dedicated to supporting local people to stop war and build lasting peace in some of the world’s most fragile countries.

For this discussion, we are joined by:

~ Dylan Matthews, Chief Executive at PeaceDirect; and

~ Shannon Paige, Policy Associate at PeaceDirect.

You can access here a copy of the latest report from PeaceDirect on “Race, Power, and Peacebuilding”: https://www.peacedirect.org/publications/race-power-and-peacebuilding/

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop is for anyone interested in learning more about the complexities and challenges of enabling positive change in the world.

We learn from the perspectives, successes, and challenges faced by leaders of a world-class peacebuilding organization, truly committed to overcoming the challenges of systemic institutional racism of their industry.

Faculty Bios

Henry Zinglersen

As a coach and facilitator for multinational organizations, Henry’s passion and dedication is to the successful collaboration, alignment, and performance of international leaders, leadership teams, and boards. Already during his studies in Human Resource Management, Henry’s path became focused on adult development and leadership development, particularly within the context of global organizations, multinational teams, and international leadership. With 180+ travel days per year for 20+ years, his quest for developing global leaders for today’s complex and interconnected world continues. Since 1997, Henry has supported projects in 90+ countries across all continents with international managers and multinational teams. He has managed teams in Europe, North America, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, and in Asia/Pacific. In parallel to serving numerous for-profit multinational corporations, Henry invests almost 50% of his time to non-profit organizations like Doctors without Borders, Save the Children, the UN, Amnesty, etc., bringing his expertise to their organizations pro bono. Henry is also engaged in mobilizing other volunteers to join existing impact projects or start new impact projects around the world. Originally from Denmark, Henry has lived in the USA, in Spain, in the UK, in Hong Kong S.A.R. China, and in Dubai, U.A.E. After years abroad, his base is now again back in Copenhagen, Denmark. Henry holds a master’s degree in International Human Resource Management and Business Administration from Copenhagen Business School, Denmark; Cranfield University, UK; EM Lyon, France; ESADE, Spain; and University of Wisconsin, USA.

Dylan Mathews

Dylan Mathews is CEO of Peace Direct having joined the organisation in 2015. His commitment to supporting local organisations in the global south spans almost twenty years, during which time he has worked for a range of peacebuilding, international development and humanitarian organisations. While working for the peacebuilding think tank Oxford Research Group, he authored ‘War Prevention Works’ which profiled the role of non-state actors in conflict prevention and resolution – a publication that helped launch Peace Direct in 2004. He is the editor of ‘Working with Conflict 2’ a practical toolkit for local peacebuilders, published in 2020. Dylan is the Vice Chair of the Alliance for Peacebuilding, a global peacebuilding network based in Washington DC.

Shannon Paige

Shannon is a Scoville Fellow working at Peace Direct. She assists the US team with organizing Platform4Dialogue consultations, monitoring and developing educational materials on the Global Peacebuilding Act, and planning the ceremony of the Peace Direct Awards. She holds a B.A. in International Studies and Arabic from Kenyon College, where she wrote her senior capstone on how public perceptions of migrant domestic and sex workers impact the hostility of the legal system in their destination countries. She has interned at a number of small international non-profits, most recently at New Light, a non-profit based in Kolkata, India that works with migrant sex workers. She is eager to build upon her first-hand experiences working with conflict-impacted communities to better integrate diverse perspectives into peacebuilding efforts.