Contributors' Corner
Contributors from all corners of the globe share their reasons for supporting the SawaSouthSudan Summit. Have your own? Film your own video and share on Twitter using the hashtag #SawaSouthSudan.
Amina J. Mohammed
Ms. Amina J. Mohammed is the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations. Before this, she was Minister of Environment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from November 2015 to December 2016, where she steered the country’s efforts on climate action, protecting the natural environment and conserving resources for sustainable development. Prior to this, she served as Special Adviser to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Post-2015 Development Planning, where she was instrumental in bringing about the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sustainable Development Goals.
Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women. From 2005 to 2008, she served as Deputy President of South Africa, overseeing programmes to combat poverty and bring the advantages of a growing economy to the poor, with a particular focus on women. Prior to this, she served as Minister of Minerals and Energy from 1999 to 2005 and Deputy Minister in the Department of Trade and Industry from 1996 to 1999. She was a Member of Parliament from 1994 to 1996 as part of South Africa’s first democratic government.
Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi
In Geraldine Joslyn Fraser-Moleketi, Africa has a strong and passionate leader working towards the continent’s social and economic transformation. She currently is the Chancellor of the Nelson Mandela University since April 2018. As the former Special Envoy on Gender/ Vice President at the African Development Bank, she led a strategy to mainstream gender in the Bank’s policies and operations, making the Bank a reference institution on gender equality and inclusion in Africa. Geraldine was previously Director of the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Democratic Governance Group (DGP), based at Head Quarters(HQ) in New York, working across six Regional Service Centres(RSCs) with more than one hundred countries; She served in the South African Government as Minister of Public Service and Administration, for two consecutive terms.
Radhya Almutawakel
Radhya al-Mutawakel is the chairperson and co-founder of Mwatana Organization For Human Rights, an independent Yemeni organisation aiming to defend and protect human rights. She has previously addressed the UN Security Council on the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
Jacqueline George
Jacqueline George is a development practitioner with 14 years experience working in development and the humanitarian sector, for various international bilateral and multilateral non-governmental agencies, including GTZ, VSO, CARE and UNDP. Jacqueline focus has been to bring about fundamental change required to address poverty eradication and promote social justice, especially in South Sudan. She is committed to the empowerment of women in particular, through promoting an enabling environment for women and girls to ensure their rights are protected, and they participate freely in shaping our society for the better.
Donnah Kamashazi
Me. Donnah Kamashazi, is a founder and Managing Partner of Ethos Attorneys and Consultants which provides legal and consultancies in legal drafting of regulations, rules, orders contracts, arbitration, negotiating business deals and management of contracts as well as representing Clients in courts of law in business, administrative and labour disputes.She has over 15 years’ experience working with United Nations, National Unity and Reconciliation and International Rescue Committee, the local government, in the field of good governance, gender, human rights, HIV and AIDS, women economic security, governance, political participation as well as Violence against women and children.
Gayle E. Smith
Gayle E. Smith is the President and CEO of the ONE Campaign. She served as a top advisor on development issues for two American presidents and is one of the world’s leading experts on global development. Smith founded the sustainable security program at the Center for American Progress, and co-founded the ENOUGH project and the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network. She also worked as a journalist and with NGOs in Africa for more than 20 years.
Julie Bishop
Julie Bishop is the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Australia's Federal Coalition Government. Minister Bishop was sworn in as Australia’s first female Foreign Minister on 18 September 2013 following four years in the role of Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. She previously served as a Cabinet Minister in the Howard Government as Minister for Education, Science and Training and as the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women’s Issues.
Navi Pillay
Navi Pillay is the former UN Human Rights High Commissioner. She was the first woman to start a law practice in her home province of Natal, South Africa and acted as a defense attorney for anti-apartheid activists. She is still working to ensure a better World as a member of International Nuremberg Principles Academy Advisory Council, International Association Against the Death Penalty, International Services for Human Rights and the UN Interim Independent Assessment Panel.
Rowaida abou eid
Since January 2016, Rowaida has worked as a TV presenter at Alaraby TV Network, hosting a daily political talk-show. Her journey in broadcast journalism has started in October 2011, when she founded the Almayadeen TV Network with a team in Beirut. Prior to that she was part of the production team of the Middle East Broadcasting Corporation (MBC TV).
Sarah snyder
Canon Sarah Snyder is the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Advisor for Reconciliation at Lambeth Palace. As a theologian and trained mediator, Sarah has worked for many years with communities and senior religious leaders to promote faith-based reconciliation. She previously directed the Cambridge International Summer Schools for faith leaders from conflict zones, and is now the founding director of the Rose Castle Foundation, an international centre of reconciliation in the north of England.
Carlos Lopes
Dr Carlos Lopes has led several United Nations institutions, most recently the Economic Commission for Africa from 2012 to 2016. Among others, he served as Director for Development Policy at the UN Development Program, Political Director for Secretary General Kofi Annan and Assistant Secretary General. He is affiliated with a number of academic networks and has helped establish various non-governmental organizations and centers for social research, in particular in Africa
Prof Cheryl Hendricks
Professor Cheryl Hendricks is a member of the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Johannesburg since April 2013. She was appointed as Head of Department and served from 2014 until 2017. From July 2005 to March 2013 she worked at the Institute for Security Studies first as Programme Head for the Southern Africa Human Security Programme and then as the Senior Research Fellow in the Conflict Management and Peacebuilding Division.
Ayak Deng Chol Alak
South Sudanese activist and communications expert Ayak Deng Chol Alak calls on women all over the world to watch the #SawaSouthSudan Summit on Africa Day.
Jane B. Namurye
Jane values the importance of women in the South Sudan peace process. She holds a B.A in Community Development and Business Administration from Daystar University and an M.A in Peace Studies and International Relations from the Catholic University of East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya respectively. Jane is a peace ambassador and advocates for the participation of women in grassroots reconciliation. She has experience working with women in South Sudan and in the refugee camps in Northern Uganda. She hopes to connect with women in the diaspora and in South Sudan and strengthen the peace builders with the message of reconciliation.
Jacqueline Muna Musiitwa
Jacqueline Muna Musiitwa, Esq. is the Executive Director of Financial Sector Deepening Uganda. She is the Founder and Managing Partner of Hoja Law Group, a boutique legal consultancy that represents clients in corporate governance, commercial and public law matters. She is an Archbishop Desmond Tutu fellow and a Young Global Leader.
KOITI EMMILY
Koiti Emmily is a medic at Juba Teaching Hospital, South Sudan. She holds an MBBS from the University of Juba. As a passionate youth, women’s and civic rights activist, she represents the youth in the IGAD –led High Level Revitalization Forum; a major peace process for South Sudan. Dr. Emmily represents the youth in the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) that oversees the implementation of the Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (ARCSS).
RITA M. LOPIDIA
Rita M. Lopidia is the Executive Director and Co-founder of Eve Organization for Women Development in Juba - South Sudan. EVE was established to help improve women’s participation in decision-making, reconciliation, peace building and conflict resolution in South Sudan through knowledge transfer, professional development and capacity building.
PAULINE RIAK
Dr. Pauline Riak is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Juba and the Chair of the Board of Directors at the Sudd Institute. In addition, she is the former chair of the Anti-corruption Commission in South Sudan. Dr. Riak is also a peace activist.
RIYA WILLIAMS YUYADA
Riya Williams Yuyada is the Co-Founder of Play for Peace South Sudan and the Founder of Crown The Woman-South Sudan, a women-founded and -led grassroots organization that aims to address women’s issues to foster a future with zero tolerance for inequality, inequity, injustice and any other community vices that affect women and children. Riya is passionate about peace, children, youth and women’s rights. She previously worked with Mundri Relief and Development Association as a Civic Education Officer where she encouraged people to adopt peaceful co-existence in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, and distributed food and helped people grow their own.
SARAH RIAL
Sarah Cleto Rial is women human rights and humanitarian advocate, and recipient of the 2010 Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights. She is the founder and president of Global Partnership for Peace in South Sudan, a non-profit organization founded exclusively for civic, educational, and development purposes, and in particular for the purpose of engaging the South Sudanese communities across the globe to work collectively for dialogue, lasting peace, social justice, and gender equality, as well as respect of human rights.
SARAH NYANATH ELIJAH
Sarah Nyanath Elijah is the Executive Director of the Gender Empowerment for South Sudan Organization (GESSO), a local organization in a refugee camp in Addis Ababa that fights for the rights of women and citizens affected by the war. Ms. Nyanath worked in the humanitarian sector in Kenya, Ethiopia, and South Sudan for 17 years before the formation of GESSO in 2005. She was later appointed as a member of Upper Nile State Legislative Assembly, Upper Nile State SPLM deputy chairperson and Minister of Social Development in Upper Nile.
ROSETTE SEBASONI
Rosette Sebasoni is the In-Country Project Manager of the Karuna Center for Peacebuilding in Rwanda for the USAID supported engagement Healing Our Communities: Promoting Social Cohesion in Rwanda. As a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide she has been involved in Rwanda’s reconciliation process throughout her adult life and her first professional reconciliation focused work started in 2003 when she was the manager of the Kigali Genocide Memorial as it was being planned, built, and opened.
MARTHA BATIM
Martha Nyalam Batim is an activist against the Deportation Of South Sudanese Asylum Seekers in Kenya and DRC and the Coordinator of The Criss-X-Cross Car&van.