Empowering Frontline Negotiation Professionals
with AI-Assisted Collaborative Negotiation
Established in 2023, Frontline Associates is dedicated to transforming how negotiation professionals address the world’s most pressing challenges. By combining the power of AI with collaborative negotiation practices, we empower mediators, facilitators, and negotiators to navigate complex environments and foster innovative and impactful solutions.
Our mission is to equip frontline professionals with practical tools, actionable insights, and a supportive community to tackle issues like social divides, climate change, and humanitarian crises. Through the integration of cutting-edge AI technologies, we help practitioners analyze complexities, build trust, and develop strategies that drive impactful outcomes.
Frontline Associates plans to excel in using digital technologies to connect people, facilitate exchanges and share knowledge on negotiation practices, while meeting the increasing demand for effective AI-assisted planning tools and simulation platforms. It maintains a flexible and efficient structure, with dedicated associate partners, managers, and fellow practitioners. Several advanced courses have already been developed for academic institutions recognizing the role of the platform and its members as a valuable source of knowledge on complex negotiation.
Our Team
Claude Bruderlein
Claude Bruderlein has been teaching frontline humanitarian negotiation and crisis management for over 20 years at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Lately, he advised the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and led extended field research on ICRC negotiation practices. In October 2016, he founded the Centre of Competence on Humanitarian Negotiation (CCHN) with the support of the United Nations, MSF and the ICRC which fostered the creation of the first community of practice of frontline humanitarian negotiators. Over the last three decades, he conducted and contributed to frontline negotiations in over 15 countries, including North Korea, Afghanistan, Israel and Occupied Territories, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, South Sudan and Niger.
Founder & Lead Instructor
Dariha Erketaeva
Negotiation Specialist
Dariha Erketaeva is a negotiation specialist at the Frontline Associates Training Center (FATC), with expertise in applied AI models for crisis negotiation and learning design. Before transitioning into negotiation work in 2019, she spent a decade leading humanitarian operations with MSF and DanChurchAid across conflict-affected regions in the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia. She later joined the Centre of Competence on Humanitarian Negotiation (CCHN) in Geneva, where she contributed to advancing frontline negotiation as a professional domain. With a background in psychology and neurosciences, she brings a multidisciplinary approach to negotiation and capacity building.
Suzi Jazmati
Suzi Jazmati is a humanitarian and public health professional with over 10 years of experience, during which she has worked with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the International Committee of the Red Cross. She holds a Master’s in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Suzi has co-led establishing and developing health programs in conflict-affected areas, focusing on improving access to essential quality health services for vulnerable populations, building local capacity, and collaborating with diverse stakeholders to ensure a holistic approach to healthcare. She is also an experienced facilitator with the Centre of Competence on Humanitarian Negotiation, where she supports workshops and capacity-building efforts in humanitarian negotiation.
Community Manager
Senior Advisor
Charles McJilton
Charles McJilton has lived in Japan for over 30 years, utilizing his extensive expertise in mediation and conflict resolution to tackle complex social issues. He pioneered food banking in Japan, founding the country’s first food bank, Second Harvest Japan (2002), along with three other organizations focused on food security in the region. His experience includes responding to natural disasters in Japan and the Philippines, where he has effectively navigated complex situations to drive systemic change. Charles holds a BA from the University of Minnesota (1994), an MA from Sophia University, Tokyo (2004), and an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School (2024). He is certified in mediation by the University of California, Riverside (1999) and the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation (2024).
Negotiation Specialist
Mohammad Mustafa Hatam is a risk management, cyber politics, and negotiations specialist. He has more than a decade of experience in negotiation with various actors. He has worked with several national, international NGOs, and higher education institutions. He has an undergraduate degree in computer science, a diploma in risk management and fellowship in conflict resolution. Mustafa has developed risk management and access strategies for several organizations and has trained a significant number of professionals and practitioners on implementation of those strategies. Moreover, Mustafa has facilitated numerous negotiation workshops and trainings. He has experience of working in south Asia, middle east, and Africa. He is multilingual and can fluently speak English, Farsi, Pashto, and Urdu languages.
Mustafa Hatam
