Janel B. Galvanek

Janel B. Galvanek is Head of the Regional Peace Support Department at the Berghof Foundation, where she has been for 15 years working on various topics in different teams. Most recently, this includes her position as Head of the Sub-Saharan Africa Unit for several years. Ms Galvanek has led engagements in Somalia, supporting mediation and dialogue initiatives among local communities in Hirshabelle and Galmudug States, and has furthered and supported the Berghof Foundation's work in places such as Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and India.

Her professional focus includes the concepts of insider mediation and infrastructures for peace, engaging local actors in conflict transformation processes, the interaction between formal conflict resolution mechanisms and traditional conflict resolution mechanisms, and the global phenomenon of child soldiers. On a volunteer basis, Ms Galvanek is the Director of Growing Tree Liberia, an NGO based in Germany that supports programs for disadvantaged children in Liberia. She holds a Master’s degree in Peace Research and Security Policy from Hamburg University and an MA from Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

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