Christina Shaheen has over 15 years of experience in the areas of gender, development, peace and security. She currently works as the Gender Advisor to the UN Special Envoy for Syria.  In this capacity, she supports the inclusion of Syrian women in the mediation process and works closely with the Syrian Women’s Advisory Board (WAB), a modality through which the Special Envoy facilitates engagement with diverse Syrian women’s rights leaders. Christina helped establish the WAB while working in the Arab States section at UN Women HQ.

Prior to this position, she worked as a Policy Specialist in the Peace and Security team at UN Women where she supported a coalition of prominent Israeli, Palestinian and international female leaders and activists working together for peace.  Before joining the UN, she worked for various US-based peace and justice organisations as well as a radio producer for NPR. Christina holds a Masters in International Peace Studies from Notre Dame University, a Masters of Science in Medical Anthropology from Oxford University and a Bachelor’s degree from Stanford University.