Dr. Astrid Irrgang takes over as Executive Director of ZIF

Today, Dr. Astrid Irrgang takes over ad interim the management of the Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF) in Berlin. She succeeds Dr. Almut Wieland-Karimi who had led ZIF since 2009 and developed it into a globally recognized center of excellence for civilian crisis prevention and management.

She assumes responsibility for about 80 staff members in Berlin and more than 170 seconded civilian experts around the world. ZIF’s annual budget of EUR 32.6 million is provided from Germany’s federal budget.

"ZIF has 20 years of practical experience and a top-class network of international partners. Both together enable us to think ahead and develop foreign and security policy around multilateral peace operations," said Ms. Irrgang. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary on June 23, 2022, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had praised ZIF as a "flagship of German foreign policy." ZIF's most important national partners are the Federal Foreign Office and the German Bundestag.

"With our more than 170 secondees, we support the interests and commitments of the German government in multilateral alliances worldwide," Ms. Irrgang emphasizes. The challenging geopolitical situation is also changing the conditions and opportunities for international peace operations and humanitarian missions.

ZIF’s new director outlines future challenges: "Conflicts are increasingly accompanied by multiple crises - humanitarian, economic, ecological. Therefore, peace operations are working in ever more complex environments for which we need to prepare our experts.” In order to be able to deliver in the future at a high level of quality, ZIF will need sufficient funding in the fiscal year 2023 and a medium- to long-term growth perspective. 

Dr. Astrid Irrgang has been working at ZIF since 2012, most recently as deputy director. Previously, she held professional positions at Goethe University Frankfurt, at NATO, at the German National Academic Foundation, and the Federal Agency for Civic Education. She is deputy spokeswoman for the Advisory Council on Innere Führung of the German Ministry of Defense. Ms. Irrgang will be supported in the future by Dr. Rexane Rasmussen as deputy director.