Jan Rinzema

Senior policy officer at the Migration and Development Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

He has a law degree and joined the Ministry since 1998. After having worked for the Legal Affairs Department, he was posted in Rabat (Morocco), and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). He returned to The Hague in 2010, where he worked for the Department for Quality and Effectiveness and the Europe Department before taking up his current function. He works in the field of migration management, including on the narrative on root causes for irregular migration, awareness raising in countries of origin on irregular migration, data collection and analysis and knowledge management.

Lothar Smith

Assistant professor, Nijmegen Centre for Border Research, Radboud University, Nijmegen

Lothar Smith takes a special interest in research on the migration - development nexus, with particular expertise in the socio-spatial dimensions of transnational flows connecting migrants to their counterparts in countries of origin. At present he is co-editing a book on agency in African migration, which touches on societal transformations, gender issues, security, shifting notions of belonging and associated concepts of development.

Agnes Dinkelman
Founder of Stillare

Agnes chooses to address complex societal issues. She is a social engineer with a background in social sciences and mediation/negotiation. Her work for the Dutch National Police, the Dutch National Army and the Dutch Refugee Council provided her with a basis for security sensitivity. Within Stillare she combined her knowledge and experience in analysis, mediation, large scale psychology and change management. She works on approaches and methodology to improve societal resilience by human factor.
Key competence and main asset is her ability to operate in diffuse and complex circumstances and conflict situations while using mentality and worldview of the people involved. As a social engineer, she comes up with fresh interpretations and solutions. “My interventions have impact because they fit the mentality of the groups and individuals I work with. We make the interventions fit by a deep understanding of the communities we work in. We explore the political, historical, societal and large scale psychological DNA of the situation. Navigating through life circumstances and the current day to day situation we discover a mentality fitting approach.”

She was involved with the work of civil society and issues of community security in Afghanistan, Kurdistan, Liberia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Yemen. 

David Momanyi

Executive Director of the Africa Youth Trust

David has previously served AYT in different capacities. David has also served as the Nairobi City County Youth Advisor and he was involved in developing the legal framework and permanent structures within the county government to manage and promote youth friendly policies and programs. 

David holds a Bachelor of Arts in Community Development Degree from St Paul’s University and has been certified by Cornel University and the University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada for his distinguished services in community work in the role he played in UNESCO Growing Up in Cities action research Program in Kenya, a project currently hosted at the Colorado States University.