Lucia Montanaro is Head of the EU Office at Saferworld. She has 30 years of experience working on peace, security and conflict issues, including peacebuilding, mediation, conflict sensitivity, early warning, security assistance, peace and security missions, SSR, armed groups and organised crime.

She has worked for the UN, EU and other organisations in numerous fragile and conflict-affected contexts across the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe. Her experience includes working as a Peace and Development Adviser for the United Nations in Mauritania; Team Leader for the UNDP on peacebuilding and stabilisation in Jonglei, South Sudan; Senior Adviser on early warning in Mali for SHAPE/ NATO; Coordinator of the National Plan for Peacebuilding and Recovery for the Central African Republic; Expert for European Resources of Mediation Support (ERMES) for the European Union; Head of office and Team Leader for International Alert, managing the ‘Initiative for Peacebuilding’ (IfP); and as a Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre.