UNOY Team

Menno Ettema is the international coordinator. He was born in the Netherlands, but also lived in the UK, Israel and Palestine. He holds a Master degree in Psychology of Culture and Religion, initiated the association Con-Young-Tion, and organised several youth exchanges in the Netherlands and the Middle East.

Marloes van Houten joined UNOY in April 2008, first as a Board member and from March 2009 she works as the Projects and Network Coordinator. She is responsible for UNOY's Africa and Asia program and for the Dutch capacity building trainings, such as the International Summer School 'Education of Peace and Human Rights' and the African Student Conference. Marloes was born in the Netherlands, but lived, did research and worked in several places, i.e. Eastern Europe, Nepal, Canada, Brasil and Mexico, on development, conflict, peace building, and community art projects. Marloes completed a two-years educational program on Performing Arts and Management, finalized a Bachelor Degree in International Development Studies of the University of Utrecht, and holds a Research Master Degree in Human Geography Planning, and International Development Studies of the University of Amsterdam. Before she started as a Projects and Network Coordinator at UNOY, Marloes worked as a Junior Lecturer International Development and Conflict Studies at the University of Amsterdam.

Lillian Solheim started working as the advocacy coordinator at the UNOY Peacebuilders in October 2007. Lillian is from Norway but has been living the last 5 years in Brussels, where she completed her MA in International Relations and Peacebuilding. Her thesis focused on the role of Norway as a third party in the peace process in Sri Lanka. After her studies she volunteered for Search For Common Ground where she was involved in the gender programme. In 2005 worked at the Nordic Desk at the United Nations Regional Information Centre as an intern. She was also working as an election observer during the presidential election in Sri Lanka. Before moving to the Netherlands she worked as a community coordinator for an association management company while volunteering for a charity called Children are the Future.

Camila Ferro was born in Brazil and due to her academic and personal endeavors she has also lived in Canada, China, Spain, Belgium, and Uganda. She currently resides in the Netherlands, where she has pursued her studies. Camila holds a Bachelors degree in European Studies, with minors in Asian Studies and in Conflict Studies. Furthermore, she holds a Masters degree in Conflict Resolution and Governance, all of which, obtained at the University of Amsterdam. Currently, Camila works as an intern at the UNOY Peacebuilders in The Hague, where she is mainly responsible for the Latin American Desk Office and for organizing an event to celebrate the International Day of Peace, in September. She also supports the African Desk, due to her strong interest in the region.

Angela Cartagena is from Spain. She is graduated in Journalism from the Complutense University of Madrid where she has also studied a Bachelors degree in Political Sciences, majoring in International Relations, International Development, and Culture of Peace and Conflict Resolution and Management. Her interest on the peacebuilding and peacemaking fields brought her to The Netherlands, where she has taken part in a one year exchange program at the Centre for Conflict Studies of Utrecht University. As part of her Masters degree, she has been focusing her studies there on Conflict Analysis and International Conflict Mediation. Now she is staying in the Netherlands and joining UNOY for a six months internship as the Advocacy and Communications Officer. Throughout this time, she will also help out on the Peace Bag for EuroMed Youth Project.

Pierluigi Brillante is from Southern Italy but he also used to live for working and studying reasons in Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom and Russian Federation. He finalized a Bachelors degree in Institutional Communication at University of Perugia and he holds a two -year Masters degree in International Relations, Diplomacy and International Organizations track at the University degli Studi di Milano in 2009. In June 2010 he started a six-month internship as the UNOYs Europe Desk Officer. At the same time, parallel to the UNOY Peacebuilders internship, he is looking forward to continuing his studies with a LL.M. in Public International Law at Leiden University as of 2010/ 11 academic year.

Daniela Canepa is from Italy. She studies Political Science at the University Cagliari. From September 2008 until the end of January 2009, she was in Maastricht as an Erasmus student, where she attended the European Studies course. Currently she is joining UNOY Peacebuilders as the Asia Desk Officer and The Peace and Human Rights Education Officer as an internship for six months. She will work on the Building Peace Skills Training and on the Summer School program 2010 for Education for Peace and Human Rightsâ€. After the internship she will come back to Italy and take her bachelor degree.

Myrthe Welten is from the Netherlands and is currently finishing her Bachelors degree in European Studies at The Hague University. She completed a part of her degree at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. At UNOY Peacebuilders she will be filling the position of the African Desk Officer.

Julia Deng is from China where she earned her BS in mathematics. Later she obtained her Master degree in Finance from Free University of Amsterdam. She has also had working experience as a system engineer and VBA programmer. Currently she is utilizing her knowledge in finance and programming to work as UNOY Peacebuilders Financial Officer

UNOY Patron

H.H. Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Prize Winner

UNOY Peacebuilders Board

Wout Visser, Chair

Sajeev Chakkalakal, First Treasurer

Lilian Peters, Second Treasurer

Rana Abbawi, General board member

Dinu Abdella, General board member

Anika May, General board member

Honorary Chairs

Nikolai N. Firjubin

Rabbi A. Soetendorp

Maria Kooijman

Advisors

Prof. Dr. Alicia Cabezudo, Educating Cities, Argentina. Specialist in peace education.

Mark Cunningham, freelance professional in Public Relations working from Amsterdam.

Dr. Cecile Dolisan, Cameroon. Member of AWID and ASTRAW. Specialist on African women.

Marte Hellema, European Centre for Conflict Prevention (ECCP).

Prof. Gerd Junne, professor in International Relations at the University of Amsterdam and Director of The Network University.

Drs. Paul Meerts, Deputy Director Institute of International Relations "Clingendael", The Hague.

Dr. Robert Muller, Former Chancellor UN Peace University, San Jose, Costa Rica.

Interns and staff