My history…

I am a former Member of the Belgian Parliament with over 20 years of experience in South-East Europe and beyond. I served as a Parliamentary and Political Party Empowerment Expert in Kosovo, Georgia, Moldova, Indonesia, Nepal, Surinam, Guyana, Bangladesh, Turkey, Serbia, Kyrgyzstan, Montenegro, BiH and Macedonia. I developed an innovative interactive learning approach for parliamentary staff and MPs with the aim to strengthen legislative drafting, oversight and outreach capacities. Because of my expertise, I have been seconded to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in various positions: Special Envoy in the north of Kosovo to the Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Special Political Adviser to the Kosovo-Serb political parties and community, Special Adviser to the President of the Assembly of Kosovo and Senior Adviser external and parliamentary oversight on police and security/intelligence services in Serbia. From 2008 on, I worked as parliamentary empowerment expert on the implementation of security sector reform programs and security sector oversight for the Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). In 2008 – 2009, I supported in Nepal the development of a political dialogue in a post-conflict environment. In 2010 the State University of New York/Centre for International Development invited me to support a capacity building program in the National Assembly of Serbia, focusing on internal and external communication and budget oversight as well as a parliamentary capacity building program in BiH and Bangladesh. From mid 2013 till mid 2016, I worked as high level mediator in Skopje for the EU Commission to settle a serious conflict between the main political parties. Since mid 2016 I focus on coaching and mediation for Governments and Parliaments in South East Europe, Ukraine and beyond, mostly in cooperation with the Center for European Security Studies (CESS) from Groningen, the Netherlands.

And yes, there is life outside work. In my free time, I like to read and write, to deal with gardens, garden design and landscaping, history and archaeology. Because I do want to share my fascination for all of this, I created this website (vanhoutte.eu.com). As you will see, it is not only about my hobbies, but it also tries to provide you with a much needed critical insight in what is going on in the world - here in Belgium, but also abroad. I don't have all the answers, but hope at least some of it might help you to get some good ideas and insights about our world today.