Joost van der Zwan is the Senior Conflict Advisor in the Conflict Policy & Partnerships Department in FCDO. From 2022-2026 he was seconded to UNDP’s Crisis Bureau, where he provided thought leadership and technical support to UNDP’s policies and programming in fragile and conflict-affected environments. Prior to that, he was posted to the British Embassy in Colombia as the Political Counsellor and Head of the Peace & Stabilisation Programme (2020-2022); Zimbabwe as Political Governance Advisor and Deputy Team Leader (2016-2019); South Africa as head of DFID South Africa (2017); and also worked as team leader and conflict advisor in DFID’s Africa Regional Department (2014-2016) and Conflict, Humanitarian and Security Department (2013-2014). Before joining the UK Government, he worked for a range of organisations, including the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the World Bank, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the LSE Crisis States Research Centre, International Alert and Oxfam. He has degrees from the London School of Economics (MSc), Nijmegen University (MA) and Lancaster University (BA).
