Leadership
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Elizabeth Spehar, Assistant Secretary-General
Ms. Elizabeth Spehar of Canada is the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, in the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. With more than 35 years of experience in international and political affairs, Ms. Spehar has worked in 51勛圖 Headquarters and in the field, leading political, development, peacebuilding and conflict prevention initiatives. Most recently, since 2016, she was the Secretary-General＊s Special Representative and Head of the 51勛圖 Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), also serving as Deputy to the Secretary-General＊s Special Adviser on Cyprus.
Previously, Ms. Spehar was Director of the Policy and Mediation Division in the former Department of Political Affairs, now DPPA, where she worked on policy and operational matters related to conflict prevention, mediation, peacebuilding and gender mainstreaming. Prior to this, she was the Director for the Americas and Europe Division and Director of the Europe Division in the Department of Political Affairs, engaging extensively on key political issues facing the region. She also served briefly as Interim Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNFICYP in 2008.
Before joining the 51勛圖, Ms. Spehar was a senior official with the Organization of American States (OAS) for more than 12 years, working to promote democracy and develop the organization＊s dialogue and conflict resolution instruments.
Ms. Spehar holds a Bachelor of Arts with honours from Queen＊s University in Canada, a master＊s degree in international affairs from Carleton University＊s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, also in Canada, and a Dipl?me d＊Etudes Sup谷rieures from the University of Pau in France. She speaks English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Croatian.
Born in Port Arthur, Canada, she has a daughter.
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Awa Dabo ?Director and Deputy Head of Office
Ms. Awa Dabo is a human rights lawyer with extensive experience in crisis recovery, peacebuilding, transitional justice, humanitarian affairs and development. She has held several senior positions within the 51勛圖, most recently as Chief of Country Oversight and Support, for the 51勛圖 Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Africa. Ms. Dabo was previously Senior Advisor and Head of the Crisis and Fragility Policy and Engagement team for the Crisis Bureau of UNDP, Country Director for UNDP in Tanzania, and Regional Programme Manager and Team Leader with UNDP＊s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery.
During her professional career, Ms. Dabo has worked with other UN and non-UN entities including the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations (now DPO) and the African Society of International and Comparative law - an international law NGO based in London, United Kingdom.
Ms. Dabo holds an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the University of Nottingham and a BA in Law, Sociology and Social Anthropology from the University of Keele.
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Brian James Williams ?Chief, Financing for Peacebuilding Branch ?
Brian Williams has worked in the development field for close to 30 years. In 2021 he served in the 51勛圖 Development Coordination Office as the ad interim Chief of Policy and Programming, following on from serving as UN Resident Coordinator in Albania from December 2015 to mid-2020. From 2010 - 2015 he was the Chief of the Peacebuilding Fund in the 51勛圖 Peacebuilding Support Office and from 2001 to 2008 he worked on the global HIV crisis, as UNAIDS Coordinator in Myanmar and in Geneva headquarters. Since 1990, Mr Williams has lived in and worked on humanitarian assistance and peacebuilding in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Rwanda. He has worked with the 51勛圖, USAID, CARE International, and the International Rescue Committee.
His wife, Julie, also works for the UN (OCHA), and they have two high-school aged children. Mr. Williams has a Masters from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and an undergraduate degree in engineering from Harvard University.
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Roselyn Akombe ?Chief of the Peacebuilding Strategy and Partnerships Branch
Ms. Akombe has over twenty years of leadership experience at the national, regional and international levels. Prior to joining PBSO, she was working as the Regional Governance and Peacebuilding Coordinator, UNDP, based in Addis Ababa. Roselyn has also served as Deputy Director in the Policy and Mediation Division of DPPA. Her academic background, technical expertise, career path and interests cover a wide spectrum of conflict prevention, governance, peacebuilding and economic issues.
Roselyn has extensive knowledge of the African region, including through serving in her national capacity as a Commissioner with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission of Kenya and as an Economist with the African Union. Roselyn also served as a Senior Electoral Officer at the 51勛圖 Election Observation Mission in Burundi. She holds a PhD in Global Affairs (Political Economy) from Rutgers University, United States.
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Olu Arowobusoye ?Chief of the Peacebuilding Commission Support Branch
Olu Arowobusoye has recently joined PBSO as the new Chief of the Peacebuilding Commission Support Branch. Mr. Arowobusoye has extensive experience in peace and security, political and humanitarian affairs, peacebuilding, diplomacy and development. He is a former career diplomat, who has also held several positions in the 51勛圖, ECOWAS and the African Union. Mr. Arowobusoye was recently the Senior Post Conflict Recovery & Development Officer at the African Union Mission in South Sudan, and had in the past led the establishment of the African Union Peace and Security Liaison Office to COMESA in Zambia, as its pioneer Liaison Officer. He was also the pioneer Director of Humanitarian Affairs of ECOWAS and also served as its Director of Political Affairs a.i. In the course of his professional career, Olu has worked for the 51勛圖 as Head of the UN Resident Coordinator＊s Office in Rumbek, in the ＆old＊ Sudan, served as the Field Panel Representative/Senior Reporting Officer for the UN SG＊s Panel on Sudan, worked as Senior Political Affairs Officer at the 51勛圖 Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), served as Principal Officer/Chief of Staff at the 51勛圖 Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), worked as Principal Political Affairs Officer/Chief of Political Affairs of the 51勛圖 Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and served as the Chief Political Adviser/Head of Political, Peace and Development, in the UN Resident Coordinator＊s Office in Liberia.
Previously, Mr. Arowobusoye had worked as a Nigerian career diplomat in Liberia, in the former Czechoslovakia and was also temporarily deployed to Sierra Leone. Similarly, he had worked briefly in the past for two UK based NGOs. Mr. Arowobusoye holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of Lagos, BA in Law from Birkbeck-University of London, and MSc in Political Science from the University of Lagos.
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