Joost van der Zwan

Joost Van Der Zwan

Senior Policy Advisor, Governance, Rule of Law and Peacebuilding Hub Institutional affiliation

oost van der Zwan is a Senior Policy Advisor in UNDP’s Governance, Rule of Law and Peacebuilding Hub, on secondment from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. He has more than 20 years of experience in international affairs and development, with a specific focus on peace and conflict. Prior to joining UNDP, Joost was the Political Counsellor and Head of Peace and Stability at the British Embassy in Colombia, where he worked on the implementation of the Colombian Peace Agreement. Before that that he was a Team Leader and Conflict and Governance Advisor for the UK Department for International Development in Zimbabwe, South Africa and the Sahel. Whilst working for DFID in London, he helped negotiate SDG 16 and managed DFID’s support for the PBF and DPPA/UNDP Peace and Development Advisors. Before joining the British Government, he worked as a Senior Programme Officer at International Alert, focusing on peacebuilding and economic recovery in fragile and conflict-affected states. From 2007-2009 he was a Political Affairs Officer in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, supporting the UN missions in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He also worked for the Crisis States Research Centre, Oxfam Novib, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the World Bank’s Country Office in Burkina Faso. In addition, he worked as a consultant for Save the Children UK, Control Risks and Adam Smith International. Joost holds an MA in Advanced Development Studies from the University of Nijmegen (2005), an MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics (2004), and a BA in Politics and International Relations from the University of Lancaster (2002).