Kemi Ogunsanya
South Africa

Kemi Ogunsanya is Senior Conflict Resolution Training Officer with the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), a Durban-based nongovernmental conflict-management organization established in 1992 to impact the process of negotiation and conflict resolution in South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy. Its focus has broadened to include issues throughout the continent, offering innovative and effective solutions to African challenges. Ms. Ogunsanya is skilled in negotiation, mediation, facilitation, and popular decision-making and has extended her training beyond conflict management to include prevention. She has conducted conflict resolution training for women groups throughout Africa, including Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Somalia, and South Africa. Ms. Ogunsanya holds a barrister of law degree from the Council of Legal Education Nigerian Law School and a LLM from the University of Natal in Durban. >

Ms. Ogunsanya's peace-building activities include:
· providing conflict resolution and negotiation training to Congolese women participating in the Sun City peace talks, which brought together representatives from the Congolese government, political parties, rebel groups, and civil society;
· participating as an international expert at a consultative meeting on UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which calls for the inclusion of women in peace processes;
· training women members of parliament from the Intergovernmental Authority Development states in advanced negotiation and mediation skills;
· organizing training programs on peacekeeping and intervention with numerous sectors of civil society, including domestic observers and monitors in Nigeria in preparation for the 1998 National Elections; public health officials in the Province of Kwa-Zulu Natal; and military, police, and civilian peacekeepers at the South Africa Development Community Regional Peacekeeping Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe;
· coordinating a number of projects on peace-building initiatives and conflict prevention, such as the Youth Development Program, with young people from Northern Ireland and South Africa, and the Sudanese Women's Study Tour to South Africa, with women's organizations from the north and south of Sudan;
· directing workshops on conflict resolution, post-conflict reconstruction, and reconciliation at several universities in South Africa and lecturing on women, economy, and the labor market; and
· working as a human rights lawyer with the Justice Development and Peace Commission of the Catholic Diocese of Ijebu-Ode in Nigeria, offering legal aid services to indigent citizens and prisoners awaiting trial. >

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