Carne Ross

Carne Ross, center, with Polisario Front officials at their New York City offices.

Jonathan Saunders for TIME

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FACILITATOR

As Carne Ross talks about how he resigned from the British Foreign Office in 2004 after Britain's decision to go to war in Iraq proved more than he could abide in a frustrating 15-year diplomatic career, the phone rings. "That'll be Kosovo," Ross says. Probably calling to say thanks.

There aren't many people who can go to work expecting appreciative calls from countries, but Ross can, and Kosovo is the latest place to owe him a debt of gratitude. The newly independent Balkan state was one of the first clients he took on when he started Independent Diplomat (ID), a nonprofit organization that helps marginalized governments and political groups maneuver through the complex, secretive machine of international diplomacy. In a world in which rich, powerful countries make decisions for everyone else, Ross, 41, reckoned that there must be a better way to do things and built a small but determined staff of former diplomats to put that idea into practice. "Our work is based on the belief that everybody has a right to some say in the resolution of their issues," he says.

When Kosovo hired ID, it was trying to negotiate independence from Serbia, but because it was not yet a state, it wasn't allowed a seat at the table when the U.N. Security Council discussed the issue. ID tapped contacts inside the talks to keep Kosovars in the loop and made sure important points were addressed by, for example, helping draft letters to the negotiators. In February, Kosovo declared its independence and became an ID success story.

ID takes on only clients who are committed to democracy, nonviolence and human rights--and those nobody else seems willing to help. They include the Polisario Front, the government in exile of Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara, which ID is helping in its struggle for independence. Then there's Somaliland, which has been independent since 1991 and is taking advice from ID on how to gain international recognition. "You should be engaging with all groups," says Ross, "not just governments sitting in offices and embassies." After a career spent deciding the fates of people who weren't even in the room, Ross gives the voiceless a chance to have their say--before they find more drastic ways to be heard.