Timor Sharan is originally from Afghanistan and has been in exile since the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in 2021. In Afghanistan, he founded and led the Afghanistan Policy Lab, the first policy hub focused on experimental research, policy modelling, and behavioural insights. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Director-General for Policy and Programmes at the Independent Directorate of Local Governance under the previous government. Earlier in his career, Timor was Senior Policy Analyst for Afghanistan at the International Crisis Group and an Adjunct Professor at the American University of Afghanistan. He has also advised governments and international organisations, including USAID, Open Society Foundations, and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.

Lucia Withers has worked as a human rights researcher, advocate and policy advisor specialising in transitional justice, children and armed conflict and other conflict-related human rights issues. She has worked for INGOs including as a researcher for Amnesty International, head of the International Centre for Transitional Justice’s Nepal Office, policy/advocacy advisor for Save the Children UK and as a consultant for War Child UK, as well as for UN missions in Afghanistan and Nepal where she advised on transitional justice strategies. She has also supported strategic planning and organisational development processes for various INGOs.

Bahishta Zahir Hellali has worked for over a decade in international development, human rights, and the rule of law. In Afghanistan, she was a Research Fellow with the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law, contributing to legal reform and justice sector initiatives and worked as a consultant to the United Nations on environmental issues. She holds an LL.M. in International and European Law from Aix-Marseille University in France and is pursuing a Ph.D. at Goethe University, in Frankfurt, Germany.

Sawsan Abou Zainedin is the Chief Executive Officer of Madaniya, a Syrian-led, Syrian-funded initiative focused on enhancing the political agency of Syria’s civic space. Previously, Sawsan consulted for leading international organisations including the UN Economic and Social Commission (UNESCWA), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), the European Institute of Peace, Arab Reform Initiative, and PAX. Sawsan has published and lectured extensively on topics relating to the Syrian conflict. She is also a member of GIZ’s Experts Network on Housing, Land, and Property Rights in Syria and the Institute for Integrated Transitions’ (IFIT) Syria Resource Group. 

Dianna Melrose is a former British High Commissioner to Tanzania and Ambassador to Cuba, with wide experience in international development. As Oxfam GB’s first Policy Director, she was instrumental in building Oxfam’s international advocacy work. In 1993 she visited Afghanistan to interview Afghan women displaced by conflict, for an Oxfam fundraising campaign. At the UK’s Department for International Development, she led the International Trade team and developed the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, fostering greater transparency in natural resource management. Dianna was head of the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s Policy Planning department. She served as a trustee of the global affairs think tank ODI (2016-23) and Save the Children UK (2017-25).

Aunohita Mojumdar is a writer, journalist, and editor. She has been a correspondent for prominent Indian media outlets such as the Times of India and the Statesman. She lived and worked in Kabul from late 2003 to early 2012 reporting on different aspects of the transition through a critical lens, contributing to a wide variety of regional and international media. She is the former editor of Himal Southasian. Currently based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, Aunohita has extensive experience of reporting on human rights and other critical issues. She has worked in many countries, including Afghanistan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, with daily news organisations, magazines, and as a book editor. 

Sussan Tahmasebi is the Executive Director and co-founder of Femena, an organisation that promotes women’s rights and supports women human rights defenders, their organisations and feminist movements in the Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) region. From 1999-2011, Sussan was based in Iran, promoting women’s rights and building the capacity of civil society. She regularly speaks in leading news outlets about developments in Iran and the region and has authored or co-authored numerous articles on women’s rights and women’s movements. She is a member of the Advisory Committee for Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division, a non-resident fellow at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), and a board member of the Doria Feminist Fund.

Sandra ‘Sandy’ Feinzig is a lawyer with over thirty years of domestic legal experience and more than eighteen years of experience in international law and development. Her international work spans Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, India, Jordan, Tunisia, Lebanon, China (PRC), and Sudan.

Sandy has worked with national legal aid organizations and UNICEF in Cambodia, and with UNDP on rule of law initiatives in transitional regions of Sudan. She has completed over ten assignments in Afghanistan, including serving as a legal advisor on criminal justice reform projects (JSSP), as a consultant with UNIFEM (2009), and as a gender justice advisor—later becoming Chief of Party—on Dutch and French-funded projects with the International Development Law Organization (IDLO). Prior to rejoining The Asia Foundation in May 2019 as a Senior Advisor, Sandy served for approximately one year as the Foundation’s Deputy Country Representative.

Sandy earned her Juris Doctor from Florida State University College of Law in 1983, followed by a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Public International Law from Cambridge University in 1986. She also holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Florida State University.