Annelies Claessens
Senior Consultant
Annelies is a conflict management expert, mediator and was Director at various civil society organisations. Over the past 20 years, she has worked in conflict areas and her home country the Netherlands, on finding creative and sustainable solutions to social challenges. As Senior Consultant and Mediation Lead, she is involved in change processes, partnerships and disputes between government, citizens and the business community. In recent years, Annelies has trained and worked in NL and abroad with various groups of people, including entrepreneurs, civil servants, diplomats and non-profit executives.
She previously worked at her own consultancy and mediation agency Dialogue in Action and was previously Programme Director at War Child Holland. As Chair of the largest Dutch humanitarian aid partnership, the Dutch Relief Alliance, she coordinated the humanitarian activities of 15 participating relief organizations in cooperation with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During her work in conflict areas, Annelies was involved in various roles (as a director, but also as a trainer-consultant) and assignments. She has also spent three years at the European negotiating tables in Brussels and at the United Nations in New York as an assistant attaché.
Annelies' greatest motivation is to get to the core (root cause) of issues (conflicts) in order to arrive at a sustainable solution through constructive dialogue. Her years as an aid worker in conflict areas have given her knowledge of conflict dynamics as well as a stable compass. The years in administrative capitals have further sharpened her personal characteristics - proactive, calm, pragmatic yet strategic. In her spare time, in addition to being a wife and mother of two teenage daughters, she is a community mediator (in her hometown of The Hague) and Chair and Board member at various foundations in the Netherlands and abroad.
Annelies has been working as a senior advisor at WesselinkVanZijst since January 2024 and, as an (internationally) certified mediator, leads our mediation work. She studied at the University of Utrecht & Melbourne (Social Sciences, Anthropology) and did her Master’s research in Nigeria.
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Annelies is a conflict management expert, mediator and was Director at various civil society organisations. Over the past 20 years, she has worked in conflict areas and her home country the Netherlands, on finding creative and sustainable solutions to social challenges. As Senior Consultant and Mediation Lead, she is involved in change processes, partnerships and disputes between government, citizens and the business community. In recent years, Annelies has trained and worked in NL and abroad with various groups of people, including entrepreneurs, civil servants, diplomats and non-profit executives.
She previously worked at her own consultancy and mediation agency Dialogue in Action and was previously Programme Director at War Child Holland. As Chair of the largest Dutch humanitarian aid partnership, the Dutch Relief Alliance, she coordinated the humanitarian activities of 15 participating relief organizations in cooperation with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During her work in conflict areas, Annelies was involved in various roles (as a director, but also as a trainer-consultant) and assignments. She has also spent three years at the European negotiating tables in Brussels and at the United Nations in New York as an assistant attaché.
Annelies' greatest motivation is to get to the core (root cause) of issues (conflicts) in order to arrive at a sustainable solution through constructive dialogue. Her years as an aid worker in conflict areas have given her knowledge of conflict dynamics as well as a stable compass. The years in administrative capitals have further sharpened her personal characteristics - proactive, calm, pragmatic yet strategic. In her spare time, in addition to being a wife and mother of two teenage daughters, she is a community mediator (in her hometown of The Hague) and Chair and Board member at various foundations in the Netherlands and abroad.
Annelies has been working as a senior advisor at WesselinkVanZijst since January 2024 and, as an (internationally) certified mediator, leads our mediation work. She studied at the University of Utrecht & Melbourne (Social Sciences, Anthropology) and did her Master’s research in Nigeria.
Annelies Claessens
Senior Consultant
Annelies is a conflict management expert, mediator and was Director at various civil society organisations. Over the past 20 years, she has worked in conflict areas and her home country the Netherlands, on finding creative and sustainable solutions to social challenges. As Senior Consultant and Mediation Lead, she is involved in change processes, partnerships and disputes between government, citizens and the business community. In recent years, Annelies has trained and worked in NL and abroad with various groups of people, including entrepreneurs, civil servants, diplomats and non-profit executives.
She previously worked at her own consultancy and mediation agency Dialogue in Action and was previously Programme Director at War Child Holland. As Chair of the largest Dutch humanitarian aid partnership, the Dutch Relief Alliance, she coordinated the humanitarian activities of 15 participating relief organizations in cooperation with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During her work in conflict areas, Annelies was involved in various roles (as a director, but also as a trainer-consultant) and assignments. She has also spent three years at the European negotiating tables in Brussels and at the United Nations in New York as an assistant attaché.
Annelies' greatest motivation is to get to the core (root cause) of issues (conflicts) in order to arrive at a sustainable solution through constructive dialogue. Her years as an aid worker in conflict areas have given her knowledge of conflict dynamics as well as a stable compass. The years in administrative capitals have further sharpened her personal characteristics - proactive, calm, pragmatic yet strategic. In her spare time, in addition to being a wife and mother of two teenage daughters, she is a community mediator (in her hometown of The Hague) and Chair and Board member at various foundations in the Netherlands and abroad.
Annelies has been working as a senior advisor at WesselinkVanZijst since January 2024 and, as an (internationally) certified mediator, leads our mediation work. She studied at the University of Utrecht & Melbourne (Social Sciences, Anthropology) and did her Master’s research in Nigeria.
Mail
LinkedIn
Annelies is a conflict management expert, mediator and was Director at various civil society organisations. Over the past 20 years, she has worked in conflict areas and her home country the Netherlands, on finding creative and sustainable solutions to social challenges. As Senior Consultant and Mediation Lead, she is involved in change processes, partnerships and disputes between government, citizens and the business community. In recent years, Annelies has trained and worked in NL and abroad with various groups of people, including entrepreneurs, civil servants, diplomats and non-profit executives.
She previously worked at her own consultancy and mediation agency Dialogue in Action and was previously Programme Director at War Child Holland. As Chair of the largest Dutch humanitarian aid partnership, the Dutch Relief Alliance, she coordinated the humanitarian activities of 15 participating relief organizations in cooperation with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During her work in conflict areas, Annelies was involved in various roles (as a director, but also as a trainer-consultant) and assignments. She has also spent three years at the European negotiating tables in Brussels and at the United Nations in New York as an assistant attaché.
Annelies' greatest motivation is to get to the core (root cause) of issues (conflicts) in order to arrive at a sustainable solution through constructive dialogue. Her years as an aid worker in conflict areas have given her knowledge of conflict dynamics as well as a stable compass. The years in administrative capitals have further sharpened her personal characteristics - proactive, calm, pragmatic yet strategic. In her spare time, in addition to being a wife and mother of two teenage daughters, she is a community mediator (in her hometown of The Hague) and Chair and Board member at various foundations in the Netherlands and abroad.
Annelies has been working as a senior advisor at WesselinkVanZijst since January 2024 and, as an (internationally) certified mediator, leads our mediation work. She studied at the University of Utrecht & Melbourne (Social Sciences, Anthropology) and did her Master’s research in Nigeria.