Esther Marthaler's Page

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Esther Marthaler is member #1516 of Peace and Collaborative Development Network. Jan 11

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 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