Birgitta Holst Alani

Ambassador Birgitta Holst Alani has worked at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs mainly with disarmament and she has served in the MENA region, notably Iraq, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon.

1998-2002 she was the Deputy Director of SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Birgitta Holst Alani served as Sweden’s Ambassador to Nigeria 2002-2005 and she was Head of the Swedish Institute in Alexandria 2010-2014.

She was an advisor to UNAMI, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq 2008-2010 and she served as Senior Advisor on Inclusion and Governance to the Office of the Special Envoy to Syria 2015-2017 with specific support to Women’s Advisory Board. Birgitta Holst Alani also worked in Beirut 2018-2019 with EuroMed Feminist Initiative for the establishment of a National Gender Observatory.

Holst Alani has extensive experience in post-conflict reconciliation, reconstruction and development, and issues related to UN Security Council Resolution 12325 on women, peace and security.

Geographic expertise

The MENA region

Topical expertise

UNSC resolution 1325
Post-conflict reconciliation, reconstruction and development
Intra-Syrian peace talks in Geneva facilitated by the United Nations

Languages

Swedish
English
Arabic
basic French and German

FBA releases new research brief on mission leadership

What does research tell us about strategic civil-military leadership in UN integrated missions? The recent FBA research brief "Mission Leaders: An Evidence-based Assessment” presents seven policy recommendations.

2025-07-01 13:34

Read our publications

The Gender-Responsive Leader's Handbook

Gender equality is both a goal and a prerequisite for sustainable peace and development. FBA’s Gender-Responsive Leadership (GRL) Initiative is designed to support leaders and managers within organizations such as the EU, UN, ECOWAS, OSCE and the African Union to fulfill their central role in enabling gender equal peace, security and development work.

Documents

More Publications

On international deployment

Teresa Wiklund

Monitor at EUMM in Georgia

Kajsa Norman

Election observer

Catalina Perdomo Rodriguez

Adviser to the UN in Colombia

Karolina Riedel

Statistician in election observation missions

Björn Tedeman

Election observer

THE FBA BLOG

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Posted by Marie Blomdahl
A safe online space to share experiences to support leadership in the UN

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When I joined the Leadership and Cooperation Unit at the Folke Bernadotte Academy in August 2018, after working many years mainly in the private sector, I had a feeling that this job really would offer me an opportunity to use my skills and experiences to make a difference, and at the same time grow as a professional. FBA was at the time already working actively with leadership development support for leaders in key functions within the ... Read entire post »
2021-06-03 10:54
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Posted by Rhodri Williams
Civil Society as a Critical Partner: Rule of Law and Accountability in the Liberian COVID-19 Response, Part II

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Part One of this post highlighted the importance of the rule of law in supporting crisis response in countries struggling with the effects of conflict. One of the most important rule of law principles in such settings is accountability, particularly “downward accountability”, in which state authorities focus on serving citizens dependent on them.

Corruption and poor governance can lead to excessive upward accountability directed toward political superiors, leaving a gap between the state and ordinary citizens. Civil ... Read entire post »

The post Civil Society as a Critical Partner: Rule of Law and Accountability in the Liberian COVID-19 Response, Part II first appeared on FBA-bloggen.
2021-02-15 13:43
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Posted by Kristin Valasek
Time for a joint vision on gender-responsive leadership

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Right before the winter break, 236 women and men from 105 different organizations and 46 countries around the world joined our International Dialogue on Gender-Responsive Leadership, to discuss an absolutely critical and often missing part of the gender equality puzzle: gender-responsive leadership.

After twenty years of struggling to achieve the commitments of the global women, peace and security agenda, we at the FBA have learned that executives and managers are essential to success. Not just as supporters, ... Read entire post »

The post Time for a joint vision on gender-responsive leadership first appeared on FBA-bloggen.
2021-02-10 16:09

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Birgitta Holst Alani

Geographic expertise

Topical expertise

Languages

FBA releases new research brief on mission leadership

Latest news

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Read our publications

The Gender-Responsive Leader's Handbook