Katja Ahlfors

Thematic expertise: Diplomacy, Strategic Communication, Security and development nexus, Conflict analysis

Regional/country-specific expertise: Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, the Nordics

Languages: Swedish, Finnish, English, Dutch, French

Ms Katja Ahlfors serves as Senior Advisor at the Unit for Northern and Western Africa at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Prior to her current position she was the Director of the Centre for Peace Mediation, responsible for building up Finland’s state-level engagement and capacity in mediation.

During her career Katja has engaged in particular with issues related to security policy, conflict resolution and development policy with a geographic focus on the European Union, the Middle East and Africa. At the Ministry for Foreign Affairs she has i.a. worked as the Director for the Unit for Development Policy, Team Leader for EU Development Policy and Regional Manager for Southern Africa. In 2021 she served as Senior Advisor (Horn of Africa)  to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

Katja’s foreign postings include serving as Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Finland in Addis Ababa 2005-2008 and Political Counselor at the Embassy of Finland in Stockholm 2013-2017. In 2008-2010 she served as the focal point for conflict prevention and mediation at the European Commission in Brussels. In 2017-2018 she served as Senior Advisor at the CMI Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation.   

Katja holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Helsinki University. She also studied at Uppsala University.