Christopher Louise Email & Phone Number

Great Malvern, England, United Kingdom

Leading efforts to design and resource impactful humanitarian and development programmes which address the root causes of poverty, social injustice and conflict in the most fragile countries in the world today.

Worcester, United Kingdom

Led the EU-funded project to assess the impact of the Government of Namibia's civic organisation partnership policy, and provided recommendations on optimising public policy for civil society-government cooperation for sustainable development (2022).Project manager for the Food for Peace research project in the Bandarban District of Bangladesh, supported by Catholic Relief Services and USAID (2021-2022).Developed the Joint Programme for the UN Country Team in the Philippines for preventing conflict and ensuring a peaceful transition process in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (2021).Led UNDP-supported projects assessing the state of social cohesion in Liberia (2021) and South Sudan (2020).Developed the social cohesion research portfolio in the Sahel for the Centre for Sustainable Peace and Democratic Development covering Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso (2020-2021).Evaluated civil society peacebuilding capacities in Liberia and Sierra Leone, developing Search for Common Ground’s West Africa regional transition strategy (2019).Led international research missions to Malaysia (2018), Zimbabwe (2019) and South Sudan (2019).

Un Mission In Liberia, Monrovia

Designed the Liberian government’s national strategy for strengthening local peacebuilding capacities and coordinated the joint UN–government planning process to make the transition from UN peacekeeping to peacebuilding. Responsible for designing and managing UNMIL programmes which addressed critical reform processes to advance peacebuilding, reconciliation and decentralization. Guided government counterparts in developing national plans and priorities required to implement the national reconciliation road map. Notable achievements • Negotiated and wrote the authorized text of the Liberia Peacebuilding Plan, requested by UN Security Council resolution 2333 (2016). • Developed peacebuilding policy priorities for the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and wrote the case study on UN integration in Liberia for the UN Chief Executive Board. • Designed and managed a $5 million UN programme to strengthen civil society’s role in national reconciliation and consolidate local capacities to prevent election violence. • Led the UN Good Offices team which defused political and religious tensions between Christian and Muslim communities during the 2016 constitutional review process. • Established the Social Cohesion and Reconciliation Index (SCORE) as a tool for government and UN planning in sustaining peace policy and guiding programmes at the national and sub-national levels.

Nicosia

Managed the UN peacebuilding programme in support of the Cyprus peace process. Established strategic dialogue processes to support inter-communal reconciliation and advised senior UN diplomats on peacebuilding priorities, with a special emphasis on citizens’ engagement with the political negotiations.Notable achievements • Delivered a $12 million peacebuilding and reconciliation programme, which built the capacity of civil society to design policies to support a political compromise for the Cyprus conflict. • Established the Cyprus Dialogue Forum, involving politicians, business leaders, trade union leaders and other civic actors from all communities. The dialogue process was recognised by the UN Secretary-General in his 2015 report to the Security Council (S/2015/517). • Pioneered the Social Cohesion and Reconciliation Index as an innovative peacebuilding and conflict prevention tool which gives direction to evidence-based programme and policy formulation.

Khartoum

Coordinated the full range of management oversight and programme quality assurance functions for the UNDP country programme and provided substantive guidance to the design and implementation of good governance and conflict prevention projects. Notable achievements • Developed the government’s assessment methodology for measuring community satisfaction with good governance and poverty reduction programmes in nine regions of Sudan. • Managed the multi-donor Strategic Partnership programme which funded a range of good governance projects in Darfur.• Created the standard operating procedures for the design and implementation of the regional programme frameworks for UNDP's field offices in Darfur, the Three Protocol Areas and Eastern Sudan.

Nicosia

Coordinated the strategic planning and design processes for the UN’s good governance and peacebuilding programme in Cyprus. Provided managerial oversight and quality assurance of 140 peacebuilding projects designed to improve civic engagement in the peace process. Notable achievements • Led the strategic design process for UNDP’s ten-year peacebuilding programme of $64 million.• Appointed UN Good Offices facilitator to support meetings of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot Technical Committees and Working Groups under the auspices of the UN-brokered peace negotiations.

Cairo

Led programmes on political decentralisation and built the capacity of senior local government officials and civil society leaders to implement human development projects and programmes. Notable achievements • Drafted the UN Common Country Assessment and UN Development Assistance (UNDAF) priorities for the period 2007-2011. • Established civil society-local government coalitions in Upper Egypt to design and implement priority development projects. • Managed the communication strategy for political and administrative decentralisation and the localization of human development priorities.

Sofia

Managed programmes to create accountable and accessible governance institutions which are responsive to citizens’ needs. Notable achievements • Organised a full government retreat (ministerial level) on e-governance and supported the government’s policy reforms on transparent and accountable administration. • Designed and implemented an inter-communal trust-building programme to improve relations between ethnic Bulgarians and the Roma community.

London And Overseas

• Project Officer, Light Weapons and Peacebuilding, International Alert, London, February - July 1998 • Short-term work assignments with the OSCE and travel to Central America, 1996-1997• Policy Research Officer, International Alert, London, May 1994 - December 1995• Researcher, United Nations Association, London, November 1992 - April 1994