Education

• JD, Harvard Law School
• MALD, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
• BA, Yale University

Professional Activities

• Co-Director, Reflecting on Peace Practice Project (RPP), CDA-Collaborative Learning Projects, Cambridge, MA (2003-present)
• Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School
• Alliance for Peacebuilding
• Berghof Peace Support (Berlin, Germany)
• RPP is an experience-based collaborative learning process involving non-governmental, governmental and inter-governmental agencies working on peacebuilding.
• The purpose of the project is to assist practitioners, policy makers and donors to improve the effectiveness of peace programming and the impact of development and humanitarian assistance on peace and conflict.
• Prior to RPP, provided facilitation, training and advice in negotiation, dialogue and conflict resolution processes at Conflict Management Group (1993-2000), a non-governmental organization founded by Harvard Law School Professor Roger Fisher.
• Director of Research and Evaluation (2000-2002)
• Regional Director, Europe and former Soviet Union (1993-2000)
• Work included development of strategies, training and advice on preventive diplomacy in the OSCE, facilitation of inter-ethnic dialogue in Cyprus, and “track two” discussions in El Salvador, South Africa, Ecuador, Peru, and Georgia/South Ossetia.

Affiliations

• Institute for Human Security
• International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution

Research Interests

• Effectiveness of peacebuilding practice
• monitoring and evaluation of peacebuilding
• “scaling up” of small coexistence interventions and reducing vulnerability of community-based projects to political polarization
• challenges, ethical dilemmas and possible approaches to promoting coexistence in humanitarian assistance, development and human rights activities
• roles of non-governmental third parties in multi-track peacebuilding, and the relation of these efforts to official efforts

ARTICLES
• Chigas, Diana. "Unofficial Interventions with Official Actors: Parallel Negotiation Training in Violent Intrastate Conflicts." International Negotiation 2, no. 3 (1997): 409-436.
• "Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice: The CSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities," Helsinki Monitor, vol. 5, no. 3 (1994).

BOOK CHAPTERS
• "Envisioning and Pursuing Peace Writ Large" (co-author, with P. Woodrow). Peacebuilding at a Crossroads? Dilemmas and Paths for Another Generation. (Schmelzle & Fischer, Eds.) (2009).
• Chigas, Diana. "Capacities and Limits of NGOs as Conflict Managers." In Leashing the Dogs of War: Conflict Management in a Divided World, eds. Pamela Aall, Chester A. Crocker and Fen Osler Hampson, United States Institute of Peace Press, 2006.
• Chigas, Diana. "Negotiating Intractable Conflicts: the Contribution of Unofficial Intermediaries." In Grasping the Nettle: Analyzing Cases of Intractable Conflict, eds. Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson and Pamela Aall, United States Institute of Peace Press, 2005.
• Chigas, Diana. "Grand Visions and Small Projects: Coexistence Efforts in Southeastern Europe." In Imagine Coexistence: Restoring Humanity After Violent Ethnic Conflict, eds. Antonia Chayes and Martha L. Minow, 2003.
• Chigas, Diana. "La Diplomacia Preventiva y la OSCE." In Negociacion 2000: La Coleccion de Conflict Management, ed. Danny Ertel, McGraw Hill, 1996.
• Chigas, Diana. "Preventive Diplomacy and the OSCE: Creating Incentives for Dialogue and Cooperation." In Preventing Conflict in the Post-Communist World: Mobilizing International and Regional Organizations, eds. Abram Chayes and Antonia Handler Chayes, Brookings Institute, 1996.

Courses

GMAP COURSES