Dr Abdullah (Awil) Mohamoud is the founding director of SAHAN research & advice bureau that aims at building bridges in research for development with the objectives to foster research which responds to the societal needs in the areas of development cooperation, conflict and post-conflict- development, migration and Diaspora, empowering civil society and capacity building regarding Africa. SAHAN conducts policy oriented research and fact finding missions abroad, mainly in Africa, undertakes evaluation and monitoring activities, provides training and offers advisory services on integration and multi-cultural issues. Dr Mohamoud holds an MA degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, and earned his PhD with a thesis on “State Collapse and Post-Conflict Development in Africa: The Case of Somalia”. He has a rich experience in peacebuilding and post conflict recovery as he served regularly as an election observer in UN, EU, Council of Europe and OSCE missions to conflict and war-torn societies and countries such as East-Timor, Kosovo, Nigeria, Serbia, and Zimbabwe among others. He has been, among others, a consultant to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs on institutional capacity building in Africa, the lead project advisor for ICCO in a project on “Diaspora and the peace process in the Sudan”, the lead researcher for the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a project on “Mobilising African Diaspora for the promotion for peace in Africa” and the lead researcher for the Netherlands Organisation for International Cooperation in Higher Education (NUFFIC) in a project on “Reversing the brain drain in Africa”. He has also organised a series of public debates in Amsterdam in 2003 and 2006 under the title “Shaping a New Africa” in collaboration with NCDO and NiZA.