Board of Directors (2024.04.01-2026.03.31)

　Distinguished Professor of the Kyoto University of the Arts. Director of the Kyoto Peacebuilding Center, Director of ACUNS Tokyo Liaison Office, and Executive Director for Academic Exchange, UN Association of Japan, Association of Former International Civil Servants of Japan (AFICS-Japan). Former Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Timor-Leste (2004-2006). He spent 37 years with the UN and served as UN Resident Coordinator in the South Pacific (1985-86), Rwanda (1995-96), and Timor-Leste (2002-2006). Deputy Executive Coordinator of the UN Volunteers in Geneva (1987-93), Manager of the UNV Electoral Officers in Cambodia (1993), and Director of Policy and Planning, UNOSOM II (1994). Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia and the Pacific at UNDP New York (1096-99). BA from the University of Michigan, MA from the ICU in Tokyo, and Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, USA. Professor, Hosei University (2007-15), Visiting Professor, UN University (2007-15).

　Tadamichi Yamamoto is a diplomat, who served as UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) from 2016 to 2020. He served as a Japanese diplomat for 40 years from 1974. He was the Director in charge when Japan led the international efforts for peace in Cambodia, 1992-94; Director in charge of North America; Heads of political sections in the Philippines, Republic of Korea and the United States; Director-General for Public Diplomacy; Ambassador to Hungary (2012-2014) and Permanent Representative to UNESCO (2008-2010). He served as the Special Representative of Japan for Assistance to Pakistan and Afghanistan (2010-12), and was in charge of organizing the Ministerial Conference on Assistance to Afghanistan held in Tokyo (July 2012).

　He has authored a book on Afghanistan in Japanese together with Professor Masanori Naito of Doshihsa University.

　Naoko Kumagai is professor at the Department of Global Studies and Collaboration, Aoyama Gakuin University. She earned a Ph.D. in political science at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her fields of expertise include international relations theory, humanitarianism, and peace and conflict studies. She has been working on the issues of postwar compensation, reconciliation, and disarmament.
　Among her publications include Kenshō Abe Seiken-Hoshu to Realism no Seiji (Investigation of the Second Abe Administration: Politics of Realism and Conservatism) (co-authored, Tokyo: Bunshun Shinsho, 2022); Atarashii Chiseigaku (New Geopolitics) (co-authored, Tokyo: Toyo Keizai, 2020); Nichibei Domei to Tōnan Ajia: Dentōteki Anzenhoshō wo Koete (The Japan-U.S. Alliance in Southeast Asia: Beyond the Traditional Security Framework) (co-authored, Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 2017); and The Issue of Comfort Women (Tokyo: I-House Press, 2016).

　Attorney (Special Counsel) at IWATAGODO. Former Ambassador for International Judicial Cooperation (2018-20); Prosecutor, Supreme Public Prosecutors Office (2014-20); Chair of Board of Directors, Trust Fund for Victims, International Criminal Court (The Hague, 2012-18); UN International Judge, Cambodia Khmer Rouge Trials (Phnom Penh, 2006-12); Counsel, Office of General Counsel, Asian Development Bank (Manila, 2000-04). Born in 1961 in Tokyo. 1983 LLB, The University of Tokyo. Prosecutor, Ministry of Justice (1985-2020). Visiting Scholar, University of Washington Law School (1992-93); Fellow, Schell Center for International Human Rights, Yale Law School (2006-07); Visiting Professor, University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (2009-16).

　Have been working for more than 40 years in the field of international cooperation including development cooperation, humanitarian assistance and peacebuilding. Specialized in UN Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding Operations and democratic governance. At present, Representative of Institute of Personal Governance (2021-) and Member of Advisory Board of UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) on Peace Operations. Served as Senior Advisor on Democratic Governance, JICA (2015-2020), Chief Governance Advisor, UN PKO mission in Timor- Leste (2007-2012), Director, Asian Productivity Organization (2001-2006), Municipal Administrator, UN PKO mission in Kosovo (1999-2001), Programme and Trust Fund Manager, UN Volunteers (1994-1999), Regional Humanitarian Affairs Officer, UN PKO mission in Somalia (1994), Deputy Provincial Director, UN PKO mission in Cambodia (1991-1993), and Programme Office, Office of the UN-SRSG for Coordination of Cambodia Humanitarian Assistance Programme. Also worked with UNDP and World Bank. Teaching at Toyo University, Dokkyo University, Kyoto Women’s University, Oberlin University, Soka University, Japan-Vietnam University, etc.

　Aid Coordination Adviser to Timor-Leste since September 2023. For more than 30 years, he works in the fields of development and peacebuilding at Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Previous posts include Chief Representative of JICA Sudan Office (2021-2023), Senior Director of Peacebuilding Office (2017-2021), Deputy Chief Secretary at President Office (2014-2017). Worked at Sudan, Indonesia and Cambodia, and served at Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations. Regular author of International Information Network Analysis (IINA)at Sasakawa Peace Foundation. Member of Japan Society of International Development. Obtained Master degree on Conflict Resolution at Bradford University, and Bachelor degree on Political Science at Waseda University.

　Recent papers: “The Hamas-Israel Conflict: How to Resolve a ”Battle without Winners”?” (IINA, Dec 2023), “What will the military clash in Sudan bring about? – Intervention by the international community is required” (IINA Aug 2023), “How will climate change affect conflict dynamism in Africa?” (IINA, Feb 2023).

　Mr. Nakayama obtained the degree of Master of Arts in International Relations at Australian National University(ANU). He started his international civil service at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in 1996. He was first assigned to the IOM country office in the Philippines as JPO. His assignments in IOM included humanitarian assistance and peace-building activities in former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and most recently in Myanmar. In particular, he led initiatives to adress crisis-driven human mobility, including human trafficking, in conflict-affected areas in Myanmar. He also served as IOM’s Country Director in Japan from 2005 to 2010. During this assignment, he assisted response to migration challenges Japan faced including the preparation of a pilot refugee resettlement project for Myanmar refugees. He was assigned to IOM Geneva as Senior Regional Adviser for Asia in 2010, and IOM Myanmar as Country Director in 2017. He retired from IOM in 2021.

　Elizabeth Gamarra has a double masters in the field of mental health (U.S) and peace studies (Japan) and a postgraduate certificate in human rights diplomacy from the University of New South Wales  (Australia). In the past, she has worked for the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency in France, Amnesty International and was a grantee for the Citizenship Diplomacy Action Fund in Kenya.  She is a former two-time TEDx speaker, Fulbrighter at IE University, Rotary Peace Fellow, MEXT Scholar, and 2023 USA Peacebuilding & Reconciliation Delegate to the G20 Youth Summit. She is currently a CWAJ/Japan Foundation PhD Candidate at International Christian University specializing in discourse analysis and securitization theory within the UN context. Concurrently, she is a junior researcher at the Peace Research Institute, and research lecturer at Obirin University.  Currently, she is the co-founder of the podcast, RadioNatura discussing the intersections of human rights and the environment.

　Daiki Inoue earned a master’s degree in international affairs from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva in September 2023, specializing in global security and power and conflict. He received a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Hosei University in Tokyo in 2021. Beginning in April 2024, he works with the Division for Evaluation of International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Initially joined as an intern, he has been a member of the Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan since July 2020 and served as the Director in Charge of the Office of the Secretary since March 2022.

　Maciej Witek is a Rotary Peace Fellow at International Christian University. He holds a B.A. in Cultural Studies from the Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology in Warsaw, Poland, and an M.A. in International Relations from Tokyo International University, Tokyo, Japan. Prior to starting the fellowship, Maciej had already spent 4 years in Japan. Through his different roles as a teaching assistant at universities, high school teacher, and global education project leader, he promoted intercultural exchange, respect for diversity, and human rights. Maciej is also a writer for Mediators Beyond Borders International, and a former diplomatic trainee from the Embassy of Poland, and a Delegation of the European Union to Japan. He is passionate about promoting cross-cultural dialogue and supporting young people in pursuing their dreams and overcoming obstacles they might encounter.

　Setsuko Yamazaki has over three decades of development and management experience in the UN. Her prior career has included finance and budget, strategic planning and risk management, policy advice and program management, and transformation strategy, ensuring results-based management, transparency, and accountability. She held leadership and management positions in UNDP Offices in Cambodia, Vietnam, Lao PDR and China. At the UN Volunteers Programme HQ in Bonn, she promoted volunteer programmes as Chief, Asia/Pacific/Europe/CIS Region. She started her career at the Bureau for Finance & Administration, UNDP HQ in New York, following an assignment in the Philippines. She joined the UN with prior experience in international banking. Until 2020, she worked as a specially-appointed professor at the Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University. Currently she is a member of the Audit and Oversight Committee, World Meteorological Organization (WMO).