Team
The Sudanese Programme is managed and overseen by:
Co-Founder and Chair of Trustees: Dr Ahmed al-Shahi
Co-Founder and Trustee: Anis Haggar
Director for Initiatives: Dr Richard Barltrop
Trustee: Makol Bona Malwal
Trustee: Dr Noon Eltijani
Trustee: Elhag Paul
Trustee: Professor Laurent Mignon
Capabilities
The Programme has diverse links in South Sudan and Sudan, with diaspora from both countries, and with the fields of policy, practice and research internationally. It combines this with expertise in dialogue facilitation, mediation and research.
Dr Ahmed al-Shahi co-founded the Sudanese Programme in 2002. He is a social anthropologist whose main research interests are in economic and social development, sectarian politics, social differentiation and oral tradition. He has taught social anthropology at the universities of Khartoum, Newcastle upon Tyne and Oxford. After retirement in 1996, he became a Research Fellow of St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, and he continues to be an Associate Member of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford.
Anis G. Haggar co-founded the Sudanese Programme in 2002. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Haggar Foundation. Established in Sudan in 1988, the Haggar Foundation is a not-for-profit company committed to supporting communities in South Sudan and Sudan in the fields of education, literacy, capacity building, healthcare and clean water, research, the arts, culture and sports. A strong supporter of efforts to advance dialogue and peace in South Sudan and Sudan, Anis has honorary doctorates from Ahfad University, Juba University and Sudan University.
Dr Richard Barltrop has worked widely for the UN since 2001 in development, peacekeeping and mediation in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East, including in South Sudan and Sudan. His publications on South Sudan and Sudan include: "Sudan's Current War: A Longer View on Peacemaking and Prospects" (LSE, 2026); and Darfur and the International Community: The Challenges of Conflict Resolution in Sudan (IB Tauris, 2010/2015). He is a visiting senior fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre.