In this interview, Sabine Böltken, the Area Director of GOPA's Peace and Security Department, shares her passion for this work and highlights the flexibility, neutrality, and a deep connection to local realities that GOPA offers to its partners.  

Q: Sabine, can you start by telling us about your background and how you came to work with GOPA? 

Sabine Böltken: I grew up in Western Africa, specifically in Ivory Coast, and from an early age, I was driven to work in international development. Before joining GOPA, I spent around 10 years working in various African countries with organizations like the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the German Development Cooperation (now GIZ). Through these experiences, I witnessed the fragility of conflict-affected communities firsthand, both from a grassroots perspective and as a manager in the field. This fueled my passion to pursue further opportunities, which eventually led me to GOPA.

Q: What keeps you passionate about your work at GOPA? 

Sabine Böltken: The variety at GOPA is what keeps me engaged and passionate. GOPA is a global player with a diverse range of projects, colleagues, and stakeholders across different sectors. Over the years, I've worked in three different GOPA units. This dynamic environment allows us to adapt to each situation and need with flexibility and dynamism. It’s something I really enjoy. 

Q: What is unique to how GOPA works on peace and security issues, in terms of GOPA’s partnerships with clients? 

Sabine Böltken: While we are indeed a partner to our donors, this relationship goes beyond just providing services. We take our role as advisors very seriously. Through our presence in the field and our day-to-day interaction with our project partners, we offer realistic advice on what we think is feasible to accomplish. We operate with openness, transparency, and political neutrality, which is particularly important for projects related to justice and legal systems because we handle a lot of confidential information. For example, in Libya, we work closely with the European Union, not only advising them on what is feasible but also implementing the solutions we propose. This dual role of advising and implementing has really solidified their trust in us.  

Q: How does GOPA work with local communities to address the root causes of conflict and ensure long-term sustainability of justice and rule of law initiatives? 

Sabine Böltken: Addressing the root causes of conflict is essential, as our work involves political agendas, frameworks, agreements, and resolutions, which are very theoretical. The challenge is putting them into practice within local governments, organizations, NGOs, and communities, where the public is often disconnected from legal and justice systems. What is crucial to our approach is proximity—being present on the ground, understanding the local needs, and acting as a bridge between the local level and the broader frameworks. What also makes GOPA unique is the variety of expertise among our global team. Some of us, like myself, have been based in the field for a long time. Others have worked in political advisory roles on national or international frameworks, or in the private sector, allowing us to adapt to any project challenge. 

Q: Can you give an example of a project where you’re acting as this bridge between local on-the-ground reality and broader frameworks?  

Sabine Böltken: Sure. In the Great Lakes region of Africa, for example, we’re implementing the Women, Peace, and Security agenda. If you mention this agenda at the grassroots level in Northern Kivu, many won’t know what you’re talking about. However, when you bring together women-focused organizations from different countries on a common platform, that’s when peacebuilding and conflict resolution really become tangible. Our role is to translate these local efforts into a language that resonates with political entities like the African Union, demonstrating that these activities contribute to the frameworks they want to establish. 

Q: Given the complex and overlapping challenges in fragile states, how does GOPA ensure the right balance between development, diplomacy, and defense? 

Sabine Böltken: This is indeed a complex task because these sectors are complementary but also very different in the challenges they present. We always underline that we are not the ones taking the decisions, negotiating peace agreements or debating on the political level. Rather, we accompany our partners in achieving the results they seek. We always stay closely connected to the realities on the ground and work in tandem with our partners to ensure that our interventions are both effective and sustainable. 

Q: Can you give an example of a project to illustrate this? 

Sabine Böltken: To give you an example, we have a local office in Libya, where we are working to equip and safeguard the country’s coastal road, the only road that links the eastern to the western part of the country, which had been unusable for many years. We are working with the joint police force to equip and safeguard this coastal road. This is peacebuilding in real life, because safe and secure transportation routes are key to peace and security. Our credibility in all our projects – but this one in particular – comes from our neutrality as an external partner.