Wednesday 25 June 2025
London
This session brought together senior policy experts to discuss conflict and crisis response in the context of shifting international aid priorities and global power realignments. Panellists shared insights on how policymakers and practitioners were navigating a more fragmented and security-focused world, and reflected on the implications for international engagement in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.
Listen to the full panel session
Panellists:
Frances Brown – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Dr. Frances Z. Brown is a vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Brown served on the White House National Security Council (NSC) staff over the past three presidential administrations. Before re-joining Carnegie in February 2025, she served as special assistant to the president and senior director for Africa on the Biden NSC. Previously, from 2016-17, she served as director for democracy and fragile states on the NSC under the Obama and first Trump administrations. Prior to the NSC, Brown worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Transition Initiatives, managing conflict and transition programs in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Other experience includes roles in the private sector, in non-profits, and at the Defense Department. She holds a DPhil from Oxford, and MA from Johns Hopkins, and a BA from Yale.
Hanna Tetteh – Special Representative for Libya and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL)
Ms. Tetteh is a Ghanian barrister, diplomat and politician. She currently serves as UN Special Representative for Libya and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya. She brings to this position decades of experience at national, regional and international levels, including most recently as the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa from 2022 until 2024. Prior to this, she was the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU) from 2018 to 2020, having earlier served as Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi. Before joining the United Nations, Ms. Tetteh was a senior member of the cabinet of the Government of Ghana as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2017, and member of the National Security Council and the Armed Forces Council. She also served as Minister for Trade and Industry from 2009 to 2013.
Jonathan Marley – Lead Coordinator, 2025 States of Fragility report, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Jonathan Marley is a Policy Analyst on crisis, conflict and fragility at the OECD where he leads the OECD’s States of Fragility series and overseas associated research and analysis on development, peace and security. Prior to publishing the most recent States of Fragility report, in 2023, Jonathan led the OECD’s Building Economic Resilience programme in support to the Internationally Recognised Government of Yemen. Before joining the OECD, he served as the head of office for The Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) in The Gambia, providing direct support to the National Security Authority and Ministries of Defence, Justice and Finance. Indeed, most of his career has been in defence, with over 20 years of service as an officer in the Irish Defence Forces where his many appointments included operational tours with NATO, the UN and EU and in his final role as Director at the Military College, leading research and programming on higher education, peacekeeping and military strategy. More recently his research has broadly focused on the utility of peace instruments in fragile contexts with an emphasis on peacekeeping, security sector governance and the security-development nexus. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics & Political Science (PhD), Cambridge University (MPhil) and the University of Galway (BA).
Moderator:
Ruth Citrin – Executive Director, XCEPT
Dr Ruth Citrin directs research and evidence with the UK Division of Chemonics International. Ruth brings a rare, proven ability to translate research and analysis into actionable policy and previously served as director for Syria at the White House National Security Council, policy planner on then Secretary John Kerry’s staff, and senior Levant analyst with the US Department of State. She is the former director of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) Middle East and North Africa programme.