John Demeza

John Demeza has more than 28 years of experience in international development, especially in fragile, conflict-affected, and disaster-affected states. Mr. Demeza has worked extensively on DFID humanitarian support. He was directly involved in the humanitarian response to the wars in the former Yugoslavia and subsequently worked on humanitarian and reconstruction programmes funded by the UK, EU, Japan, UN, and World Bank in Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Mozambique, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iraq, the Palestinian Territories, and Lebanon.

Dominic d‘Angelo

Dominic d’Angelo has been based full-time in Afghanistan since 2012. He has over 25 years of experience working within and outside the UK with national and provincial government systems, civil society organizations, and NGOs, as well as UN, multilateral and bilateral agencies and missions. Mr. d’Angelo has significant experience of working in fragile and conflict-affected states, including roles in the UK, Iraq (including as Head of DFID Basra), India (managing large-scale multi-year rural and urban poverty reduction programmes), and Afghanistan (managing large-scale multi-year programmes in financial policy, taxation, agriculture and rural development, economic growth and humanitarian assistance). In Afghanistan, Mr. d’Angelo has worked as an adviser at the ministerial level in the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, in the Office of the Senior Minister, in the State Ministry for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs, and at the Ministry of Interior Affairs. He also has significant experience in monitoring and evaluation, conducting due diligence assessments, strategic planning for different Afghan ministries and agencies, and among Afghan justice sector institutions.

Karim Merchant

Since 1998, Karim Merchant has been involved in providing strategic input and support as a senior advisor to several Ministers, Deputy Ministers, and Directors in MAIL, MRRD and MoF in Afghanistan. His most recent assignment in this area was as an informal Presidential Advisor in the Karzai Administration. In addition, he has mobilised financial and human resources for large programmes and projects and advised institutional, programmatic, and political issues in multiple sectors. He has worked extensively outside of Kabul, living for over eight years in Bamiyan, Balkh, and Kandahar Provinces. This has allowed him to build an extensive network of political, traditional and technical friends and resource persons with whom he is constantly engaged on a series of broad topics, ranging from politics and security to economic development and technical research. Recent topics include the political economy of illegal mining and transportation, the establishment of Farmers Learning and Resource Centres, technical support to the Afghan High Peace Council and access to rural finance for SMEs and returnees.

Phillip Walker

Phillip James Walker, Esq., is an attorney, legal & political affairs consultant, and former U.S. diplomat. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from Cornell Law School in 1997, cum laude, with a specialization in international legal affairs. With over 20 years experience, his work focuses primarily on rule of law suport, economic governance, anti-corruption and dispute resolution. He is a member of the panels for arbitration and conciliation at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a member of the World Bank Group. Most relevant, Attorney Walker served as Senior International Legal Adviser to the Afghan Ministry of Finance, 2010-2014, where he had been intimately involved in that State’s most critical decisions in the area of economic and fiscal policy. These included negotiation or review of international agreements signed by Afghanistan, representation of Afghanistan in numerous disputes, and participation in drafting or revision of significant pieces of legislation including the Companies Law, State-Owned Enterprises Law, and AML-CFT Law, among others. Notably, Attorney Walker participating in the resolution and restructuring of Kabul Bank, prosecution of the Kabul bank perpetrators, retrieval of stolen funds owed to the Government of Afghanistan, and the renegotiation of Afghanistan’s IMF agreement. Attorney Walker has many direct ongoing contacts at the most senior levels of the Afghan government.

Edriss Raha

Edriss Raha is Co-Founder of successful organisations, such as Fazilat and Meta Marketing in Afghanistan. He is a certified expert Master Trainer and Consultant in the areas of marketing, development of SME’s, business process improvements, leadership and management, and capacity building and has over ten years of management experience in Afghanistan. Edriss has implemented and designed many successful programmes with USAID and is currently involved with AKS on market development for Afghan products in the UK.