Lothar Witte Email & Phone Number

Berlin Area, Germany

Bogotá Dc, Colombia

 Strengthening the peace process:o organized regional seminars with civil society representatives and victims, in coop-eration with the High Commissioner for Peace and UNDP; this contributed to the selection of victims´ representatives in the Havana peace talkso prepared and accompanied high-level delegations of Colombian politicians and other stakeholders to Brussels, Berlin and Barcelona, for policy dialogue with rep-resentatives of the respective Governments, Parliaments, civil society, and media; Raising awareness for security risks:o published a series of working papers on the imminent security risks of the peace treaty;o organized workshops including representatives of the police forces and civil socie-ty, in order to prepare the police for their role in the peace process; published a book that is now required reading for the newly recruited police forces; Promoting Democracyo in order to give the general public the opportunity for a more informed vote, we organized debates including a wide range of political options before the elections at the national (President, Parliament), regional (Governor) and local level (Mayor), in cooperation with the leading newspaper El Espectador

Madrid

 organized policy dialogue between German and Spanish politicians on economic and social policy issues strengthened cooperation among European trade unions during the Euro-crisis, in close cooperation with DGB, UGT, CCOO; developed the annual report "The State of the European Union", in cooperation with Fundación Alternativas Euro-mediterranean dialogue on the new challenges of the region (Arab Spring, Syrian crisis), with Casa Arabe, Cidob, Fundación Alternativas, Fundació Campalans wrote several policy papers, essays and op-eds on Spanish politics (see publications)

Tunis

 Support of civil society, leading to the birth of the Tunisian Social Forum and the Ma-ghreb Social Forum; a few years later, two of the key organizations we worked with, the human rights league LDTH and the trade union confederation UGTT, won the Nobel Price for Peace strengthened the UGTT, organizing courses for mid-level leaders (financed by the European Union) high-level Euro-Mediterranean dialogue, involving Government representatives from several countries (North and South), with journal Realités

Bonn

 Coordinated a permanent working group on European Integration, made up of German key stakeholders from the European Commission, European Parliament, German Parliament, public administration, think tanks. Launched a series of working papers on European Politics. Member of the Editors team for the journal International Politics and Society Coordinated debate processes among European experts on "Cohesive Growth" and "Work and Welfare" (with Michael Dauderstädt) Represented the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in the Commission on European Politics of the Social Democratic Party Wrote a widely quoted working paper on the European Social Model

 advised German technical and financial cooperation on project and program strategies for, on topics such as microenterprise promotion (GIZ; Chile), integrated concepts of lo-cal development (GTZ, headquarters), social investment funds (BMZ, KfW; Nicaragua, Guatemala), health care financing (GTZ, headquarters), modernization of social service delivery (GTZ, headquarters), strategic social planning and social security reform (GIZ, Venezuela), pension reform (GIZ, Paraguay) cooperated with a wide range of organizations, including local NGOs (Peru), national Governments (Paraguay, Secretaría Técnica de Planificación de la Presidencia; Venezuela, Health Ministry; Nicaragua and Guatemala, Social Investment Funds) and regional organizations (CEPAL).

Bogotá D.C. Area, Colombia

 Legal representative of the Colombian NGO Sedecom, “Servicio de Desarrollo y Consultoría para el Sector Cooperativo y de Microempresas”  Coordination of an integrated program of microenterprise promotion in 18 cities, implemented under contract with the Colombian Ministry of the Economy and the Presidential Council for Social Policy (Consejería Presidencial para la Política Social) Coordination of a pilot project on "Autonomous measures of social protection designed and implemented by the population of Bogota's urban informal sector" (Formas de seguridad social generadas por la propia población del sector informal urbano de Bogotá") (cooperation with the ILO) Active membership in various Boards of Directors (marketing organizations, credit guarantee fund)

Diplom, Soziologie

Certificate, Postgraduate Training, Development Policy

M.A., Economics