Lejla Hasandedic-Dapo
United Religions Initiative (URI) Europe Liaison Officer, board member of European Interfaith Youth Network (EIYN), Religions for Peace
Currently with USIP as the Acting Vice-President for the Middle East and Africa Center, Manal continues to travel across the Middle East working with civil society. Previously, Manal was working as the Regional Program Manager for the Middle East for Oxfam – Great Britain. She worked to respond the emergency humanitarian crisis in Palestine and Lebanon, while supporting on going work in Yemen, Iraq, and Egypt. Previously, she worked with Women for Women International as Regional Coordinator for Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sudan. She was responsible for setting up operations in Iraq, and lived in Baghdad from 2003 to 2005.
Manal has over three years experience working with the World Bank’s development economics group. She launched her career as a journalist in the Middle East in 1996. UNESCO recruited her to work on one her first lead assignments in Iraq in 1997/98. Manal has carried out training programs on in Yemen, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Sudan, Lebanon, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Kenya, and many other countries.
Manal has been profiled in many media outlets including the Washington Times, LA Times, BBC, NPR, Glamour, Times, and Newsweek. Her articles and opinion pieces have appeared in the Guardian, Washington Post, Azizah Magazine, and Islamica magazine. Manal has been awarded the Silver Medal for the Economis/Shell 2001 Global Competition for her paper titled “Gender Mobility: The Long and Winding Road to Women and Transportation”.
United Religions Initiative (URI) Europe Liaison Officer, board member of European Interfaith Youth Network (EIYN), Religions for Peace
Member executive board, Religions for Peace Italy
Chairperson, RfP European Women of Faith Network
Community Engagement Senior Coordinator, Adyan Foundation
Deputy Coordinator, International Youth Committee
Junior Researcher, Hartford Seminary-Interreligious Relations
Member, International Youth Committee
Archbishop of Abuja, Archdiocese of Abuja
Honorary President, Religions for Peace
Youth Representative, Ghana Conference of Religions for Peace
Member, International Youth Committee
Founding Director and President, Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, Germany
President, Divine Shakti Foundation
Secretary-General, Global Interfaith WASH Alliance
Professor of Islamic Studies and Education, George-August University Göttingen
Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO)
Director for Cultural Relations Policy and Deputy Head of the Directorate-General for Culture and Communication at the Federal Foreign Office
Chief of Cabinet and Spokesperson to the High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilization (UNAOC)
Director, Argao Center for Psychological Services
Coordinator, Religions for Peace International Youth Committee
President, Kina8at Together
Elder from the Anicinape (Algonquin) tradition
Metropolitan of France, Ecumenical Patriarchate Religions for Peace
Professor of Spiritual Care at the Graduate School of Applied Religious Studies
Chairmanship of the Foundation Peace Dialogue of the World Religions and Civil Society
Inter-Religious Council of Peru – Religions for Peace, Interfaith Rainforest Initiative
Bishop Emeritus President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land
Honorary President, Religions for Peace
Professor of Religion, St. Olaf College
Co-President, Religions for Peace
UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights
Homer G. Angelo & Ann Berryhill Endowed Chair & Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis
School of Law
International Director, Department of Interreligious Affairs in the American Jewish Committee
Co-President, Religions for Peace
Representative of Thailand to the ASEAN Women of Peace Registry; Human Rights and Peace Studies, Faculty, Mahidol University; Secretary-General, Religions for Peace Interreligious Council of Thailand; Member, RfP International Women’s Coordinating Committee
Journalist, Filmmaker, War Reporter, Human Rights Activist,
Founder, Hawar Help and German Dream
Lutheran Archbishop of Uppsala Primate of the Church of Sweden
Co-Presiden, Religions for Peace
Former Chairperson, Evangelical Church of Germany
Co-President, Religions for Peace
Nun of the Daughters of Mother Mary of Mercy; Co-Chair Nigerian & African Women of Faith Network
Executive Director Cardinal Onaiyekan Foundation for Peace (COFP)
Chair, Religions for Peace International Women’s Coordinating Committee
Assistant Secretary-General, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Minister of State for International Cultural Policy at the Foreign Office, Germany
President-Designate, Rissho Kosei-Kai, Co-Moderator, Religions for Peace, Buddhist, Japan