Nathalie Al-Zyoud

Nathalie is the founder of Communities in Transition (CIT) and currently works as CIT's Managing Partner and Senior Mediator. She has close to 20 years of experience in the field of conflict management, both domestically and internationally, and has mediated conflicts ranging from workplace, commercial, family and community disputes as well as inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts, agro-pastoral conflicts and post-war mediations around economic, land, displacement and security issues. Nathalie also designs and facilitates restorative justice circles.

Nathalie is on the rosters as a Mediation and Dialogue Facilitation Expert for the OSCE Secretariat and the UN Department of Political Affairs.

She graduated from Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) with a Master in Public Policy (2013) and holds two Bachelor’s degrees, one in Economics of Poverty and the other in Psychology, from Boston University (1995). She's taught at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and currently teaches at the George Washington University (GW).

Prior to this, Nathalie created Caring for Kaela (CFK), an International NGO seeking to build the foundation for peaceful and productive communities in Chad. Through her track-II diplomatic efforts she worked to bring conflict parties to the negotiation table and resolve Chad’s internal conflict (2005-2009). A seasoned mobilizer, she built a global advocacy network for sustainable peace in Chad drawing on a variety of high-level stakeholders to pressure the Government of Chad to open the lines of communication with armed opposition groups. As a regional expert, she provided in-depth political analysis and policy recommendations on security sector reforms, elections and good governance. She negotiated Chad policy changes with UN, USG and EU representatives. She provided a conduit for Chadian civic leaders to meet with several Heads of States and participate in the official peace processes led by the late-Presidents of Gabon and Libya.

Between 1995 and 2004, Nathalie worked in various supervisory capacities in the field of psycho-social rehabilitation teaching violent offenders conflict resolution skills.

Originally from Belgium, Nathalie is fluent in English and in French.