Thania Paffenholz

Thania Paffenholz, is an academic and policy advisor working on peace processes. She is currently Director of Inclusive Peace (previously Inclusive Peace and Transition Initiative at the Graduate Institute Geneva). Thania Paffenholz has led comparative research of peace processes has contributed to peace processes in Mozambique, Angola, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Mali, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Yemen, Egypt, El Salvador, Syria and Colombia. She received the Wihuri International Prize in 2015 for her work as a peace researcher.

Dr Thania Paffenholz
Born	Cologne
Nationality	German Tanzanian Swiss
Title	Director of Inclusive Peace
Awards	2015 Wihuri International Prize
Academic background
Education	University of Frankfurt
Academic work
Discipline	Intervention strategies in peace processes Civil society in peace and transition processes Research-policy transfer in peace research Evaluation in Peacebuilding
Institutions	Inclusive Peace and Transition Initiative, Graduate Institute Geneva, United Nations, European Union, Swisspeace

Biography

Dr. Thania Paffenholz is the Director and Founder of Inclusive Peace, a Geneva-based think and do tank operating globally in providing evidenced-based support to peace and political change processes. Dr. Paffenholz has advised international organizations, governments, and NGOs to adapt their way of working in conflict contexts. She is a Senior Fellow at the Graduate Institute, Geneva. She is also Chief Field Editor of the journal ‘Frontiers in Political Science’, holds a PhD in International Relations with focus on mediation. Dr. Paffenholz has roots in Europe and Africa, lives in Kenya and Switzerland and is the mother of two grown up children.

Research projects

Broadening participation in political negotiations

Since 2011, Thania Paffenholz has led a comparative analysis of over forty peace and political transition processes, looking at the role, modalities, and impact of various actors involved in negotiations, including civil society, women’s groups, minorities, political parties and armed groups. This work has informed United Nations policy initiatives, the United Nations Global Study on Women, Peace and Security and the work of the United Nations High Level independent panel on United Nations Peace Operations.

Civil society and peacebuilding

From 2005 to 2010, she led a research project on inclusion and peace processes, which resulted in the publication of the book Civil Society & Peacebuilding: A Critical Assessment (2010).

Media Appearances

TedX - Make Women Count - Don't just count women

Friedensforscherin zur Ukraine: «Es wurde nie wirklich nach Lösungen gesucht, Watson

How Do We End Wars? A Peace Researcher Puts Forward Some Innovative Approaches, Scientific American

Wie ein Frieden zwischen der Ukraine und Russland möglich ist, The Pioneer

Wer stoppt Putin? Friedensforscherin ist sich sicher: Frauen könnten der Schlüssel sein – weil sie Männern eines voraus haben, Aargauer Zeitung

Die Idee, mit einem Vertrag ewig Frieden zu haben, ist falsch, Spektrum.De

Prizes

• Wihuri International Prize, 2015, Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation
• International Studies Association (ISA) Honour, 2010, International Studies Association

Peace Process Support

Thania Paffenholz has been actively involved in providing peace process advice, facilitation, mediation, capacity-building, and convening for various organizations including the UN (DPPA, UNWOMEN, UNDP), OSCE, World Bank, governments, development agencies, EEAS, HD Centre, WILPF, civil society, religious actors, NGOs, and conflict parties. Her work spans numerous countries such as Afghanistan, Belarus, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Colombia, Ethiopia, Honduras, Iraq, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Namibia, Mali, Myanmar, Philippines, South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Thailand, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen.

Main Support to Development and Conflict-Sensitivity

Thania Paffenholz, provided advice on inclusive governance and peacebuilding to the Swedish Development Agency (SIDA) and on a joint UN prevention strategy in fragile and conflict-affected countries for the World Bank. She was part of the OECD/DAC advisory group for conflict-sensitive development and evaluation in fragile contexts, and served as a key advisor for the Swiss Development Cooperation on conflict-sensitive adaptation of their portfolio in fragile contexts.

For the ILO, Paffenholz assessed selected country portfolios for conflict-sensitive employment creation. At GIZ, she was the lead advisor on organizational development for conflict sensitivity, including country portfolio strategy support. She advised the German Development Ministry (BMZ) on strategy in fragile contexts and conducted major evaluations of BMZ’s peace portfolio. Additionally, she contributed to the European Union’s advisory group on the nexus between peace, conflict, and development.

Teaching

Thania Paffenholz has been a lecturer at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva, Switzerland, a visiting lecturer at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), and a guest professor at Sabanci University in Istanbul, Turkey. Moreover, a lecturer at the University of Bern in Switzerland, and at the University of Leuven in Belgium, she led seminars on conflict transformation, peacebuilding, and international cooperation. She has also been a visiting lecturer at the United Nations University in Tokyo, Japan, and the University of Frankfurt in Germany, teaching courses on conflict analysis and peacebuilding strategies. Lastly, a lecturer and trainer at the International Peace-Keeping and Peace Building Training Programme in Schlaining, Austria.

Membership in Journals, Boards, Associations, and Policy Advisory Groups

Thania Paffenholz, has a background in editorial and advisory roles. She serves as the Field Chief Editor for Frontiers in Political Science and the Editor in Chief for its Peace & Democracy section. She has been a Steering Committee Member of the Peacebuilding Evaluation Consortium in the USA and a member of the International Advisory Council of the Life and Peace Institute in Uppsala, Sweden, where she also served on the Executive Committee. Additionally, she has been an Editorial Board Member for Peacebuilding and Zeitschrift für Konflikt- und Friedensforschung, as well as the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development.

Moreover, she was part of the “Religion and Social Cohesion in Conflict-Affected Countries” Programme at the University of Denver's Kobel School. She has participated in the OECD/DAC Expert Panel on Peacebuilding Evaluations and has been active in the International Studies Association’s Section on Peace Studies, where she chaired the Peace Studies program for the ISA Convention and served on its Executive Committee. She has also contributed to the Swiss Foreign Ministries’ Peacebuilding Strategy and Law, served as a reviewer for various academic journals and foundations, and was a Board Member of the Lessons Learned Unit at the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

Reviewed Journal Articles

• Perpetual Peacebuilding: A New Paradigm to Move Beyond the Linearity of Liberal Peacebuilding (2021), Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 17 May 2021: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17502977.2021.1925423
• The Grand Challenge in Peace and Democracy (with Anastassia Obydenkova) (2021), Frontiers in Political Science: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2021.691999/full
• Transfer 2.0: Applying the Concept of Transfer from Track-Two Workshops to Inclusive Peace Negotiations, with Esra Cuhada. 2019, International Studies Review, 24 June 2019
• Unpacking the Local Turn in Peacebuilding: An Agenda for future research? In: Third World Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 5, 857–874, 2015
• Inclusive Politics: Lessons for and from the New Deal, in: Journal of Peacebuilding and Development, Vol.10, No.1, p. 84-89, 2015
• Civil Society and Peace Negotiations: Beyond the Inclusion-Exclusion Dichotomy, in: Negotiation Journal, Vol.30, No.1, p. 69-91, 2014
• International Peacebuilding Goes Local: Analysing Lederach’s Conflict Transformation Theory and its Ambivalent Encounter with 20 years of Practice (2013), in: Peacebuilding, Taylor and Francis, Vol.2, No.1,11-27, 2014
• Nicht-Regierungsorganisationen als Friedensbringer? Möglichkeiten und Grenzen (2010), in: Die Friedens-Warte (German Review Journal), Vol 85, 4, p. 11-27
• Peacebuilding: A Task for Development Cooperation (2006), in: Journal für Entwicklungspolitik (JEP), Vol. XXII, No.3, p. 6-34
• Towards Better Working in Conflict Zones: Introducing the Aid for Peace Approach (2005), in: Journal of Peacebuilding and Development, Vol.2, No.2, with Luc Reychler, p. 4-22
• Peace and Conflict Sensitivity in International Cooperation: An Introductory Overview (2005), in: International Politics and Society/Zeitschrift für Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft, No.4 2005, p. 63-82