Bodies
The Platform Peaceful Conflict Transformation thrives on the commitment of its members and the work in its bodies and working groups. Together, they play a crucial role in ensuring that the Platform can make an active contribution to the promotion of civil conflict transformation and peacebuilding.
Staff
Three staff members currently work in the Platform's office in Berlin. The executive director represents the Platform, provides impetus for content and coordinates the work of the bodies. The web editor and executive assistant is responsible for the platform's website and newsletter and takes on administrative tasks. The project manager is responsible for membership communication, organizing events and representing the platform in networks and working groups.
The platform's office has been based in Berlin since 2018.
Ginger Schmitz has been the Executive Director of Platform ZKB since April 2018. In this capacity, she is a member of the Advisory Board to the Federal Government for Civilian Crisis Prevention and Peacebuilding and the Steering Committee of the FriEnt Peace and Development Working Group. Before joining the Platform, she worked as a research assistant in the Bundestag and for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), among other positions. She completed her Master's degree in political science, anthropology and sociology at the Westfälische-Wilhelms University Münster.
Jana-Nita Raker has been working for the ZKB platform since October 2023. As assistant to the executive director and web editor, she is responsible for the editorial and content management of the website as well as the creation and distribution of the newsletter. In addition to her work on the platform, she is a freelance photographer. She completed her Master's degree in Geography at the University of Heidelberg.
Jennifer Menninger has been a project manager at the platform since June 2024. She is responsible for membership communications, organizing events and representing the platform in networks and working groups. Jennifer previously worked as the managing director of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Germany and completed her Master's degree in "Gender, Culture, and Social Change" at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.
Cora Bieß has been working since February 2023 as a project advisor on "Changing peace work. Thinking and acting critically of racism and power in civil conflict transformation" for the ZKB platform. Since its foundation, she has represented the working group "Reflection critical of racism" in the platform's spokesperson council. She has also been employed by the Berghof Foundation in the field of peace education since 2019 and is doing her doctorate at the Center for Peace Research and Peace Education at the Alpen Adria University.
Nina Strumpf represents the Platform ZKB and Berghof Foundation in the FriEnt team. It is her aim to bring current topics of the Platform into the network and to make a controversial exchange and the illumination of topics such as digitalisation from different perspectives possible.
The plenary of the Platform ZKB elects the speaker’s council for two years at a time. In cooperation with the staff, the speakers are responsible for the thematic work of the platform. To this end, they steer activities in the field of lobbying and develop the platform's positions. In doing so, they involve members in their work or take up initiatives and ideas from the membership. To fulfil its tasks, the speaker’s councilmeets regularly, on average every two months.
Ute Finckh-Krämer has been active in peace policy for over 50 years. She co-founded the Platform's Berlin Discussion Group in 2010 and has been Co-Chair of the speaker’s council since 2018. From 2013 to 2017, she was a member of the Bundestag in the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Subcommittee on “Zivile Krisenprävention, Konfliktbearbeitung und Vernetztes Handeln”, among others.
Christoph Bongard is Co-Chair of the speaker’s council of the Platform. He works as Head of Communication & Policy at the Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst (forumZFD).
Dr Martina Fischer has been working for Brot für die Welt (Berlin) as a peace and conflict transformation officer since 2016. Previously, she worked as a political scientist in peace and conflict research, including almost 20 years for the Berghof Foundation (Berlin).
Natascha Zupan is working for more than 20 years at the interface of peacebuilding, transitional justice and development policy as well as state and civil society, e.g. at the Working Group on Peace and Development and swisspeace. She is heading the Global Learning Hub for Transitional Justice and Reconciliation at the Berghof Foundation since 2022.
The "Verein Zivile Konfliktbearbeitung e.V." (Association for Peaceful Conflict Transformation) was founded in 2003 as the Platform's legal entity. Its members are elected every two years by the Platform's plenary and meet at least twice a year. The tasks of the e.V. include securing the Platform's finances. In addition, it devotes itself to the organisational development of the Platform together with the speakers. The association can be contacted via the following e-mail address: kontakt@pzkb.de.
Sven Reuter has been involved in the Platform's association as an individual member since 2012. He works as Head of the Southeast Asia Programme at forumZFD in Cologne.
Kees Wiebering has been an individual member of the Platform since 2005 and has been actively involved as a member of the association for many years. He works in development cooperation and peacebuilding as an independent consultant, facilitator, trainer and coach. He is also doing his doctorate at the Faculty of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University for Peace.
Andreas Muckenfuß is founder and today’s directors of CRISP. He pioneers innovative approaches in peacebuilding, viewing conflicts as opportunities for transformative change. His global projects highlight the effectiveness of gamified strategies in fostering creative problem-solving.
Anna Sperber has been an individual member of the platform since the beginning of 2024. She works as an assistant at the Center for Climate and Foreign Policy.
Irene Mukasa-Erben has been a member of the Platform since 2016 and has been involved in Civil Peace Service project work since 2013. She currently works for AGIAMONDO as a Civil Peace Service officer on the Cameroon, Great Lakes, Ukraine and Bosnia-Herzegovina programmes.
Simon M. Sichert joined the Platform as a member in 2021. He has been involved in civil conflict resolution in the Colombian peace process since 2016 and and most recently worked for a member of the German Bundestag.
Petra Titze has worked as executive director at the non-profit foundation “die schwelle - Beiträge zum Frieden” since 2008. Previously, she worked for various peace and development organisations, including the Evangelische Entwicklungsdienst (EED) in Bonn and KURVE Wustrow.
Once a year, the members of the Platform meet in a plenary session. Here the members agree on the thematic work and initiate working and project groups. Every two years, the plenary elects the speaker’s council as well as the members of the association (Verein Zivile Konfliktbearbeitung e.V.).
A pillar of the Platform's content-related work are the working groups and initiatives adopted by the plenary. The working groups are the spaces in which members and interested non-members can actively participate. Currently, the Platform has four working groups.
