Esther Marthaler's Page

What motivated you to become involved in peace and conflict resolution?

I am an anthropologist by training and I got involved in questions of minority rights, coexistence, public participation and the role of civil society in seeking social justice in the early nineties when I was doing fieldwork in eastern Indonesia. This is my field of work and my passion until today.

Please feel free to provide a short bio about yourself (no more than 3 paragraphs)

Since the beginning of 2003 Esther is a senior Project Officer the Center for Peacebuilding (KOFF) at swisspeace in Bern, Switzerland.
Prior to joining swisspeace she was managing and developing a program to strengthen civil society organization in Hanoi, Vietnam for German Development Service (DED) and specializing in issues of governance, participation, institution building and gender (1998-2002).
1996 till 1998 she produced a TV feature on religious conflict in Sumba, eastern Indonesia, lectured at the University of Zurich and worked for INFOE-Schweiz (Institute for Oekologie und Aktions-Ethnologie) producing a publication on indigenous people and oil exploitation.
Esther received an MA/Lic Phil I in Social Anthropology, Mass Communication and Film Studies from the University of Zurich in 1996. During completing the MA she conducted anthropological field studies in eastern Indonesia in 1992-1993 and also worked as a consultant in Indonesia and Switzerland.

Please list the countries and/or regions in which you have direct and significant expertise

Vietnam
Indonesia
Central Asia
Kurdistan

What is your current country of residence?

Switzerland

What is your current job (and organization) and/or where and what field are you studying?

Program Officer, Centre for Peacebuilding - KOFF/swisspeace, Switzerland

What is one of your favorite websites in the field? (please provide one answer per box)

http://www.swisspeace.ch

Which are your primary sectoral areas of expertise?

Alternative Dispute Resolution, Peacebuilding, Conflict Mainstreaming, Democratization, Development, Civil Society, Organizational Development

Which are your primary skills areas?

Training, Evaluation, Program Design, Intervention, Research

What are some of your current areas of research (if any)?

Conflict-sensitivity, the role of non-state actors in peace processes, track II roles in peace processes