Ebrahim Fakir is a South African political and governance researcher with more than two decades of experience across the fields of democratic governance, public policy, political institutions, elections, media and communication, and civic education. His career has spanned across NGOs, academia, government, media, and business, giving him a uniquely broad perspective on South Africa’s political and institutional development.
He has held key positions at leading organisations such as the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA), the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), and the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA), where he managed programmes on political parties, parliaments, elections, and governance across several African countries.
Ebrahim has some teaching experience. He was part time lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand Schol of Governance, was an annual guest lecturer at Stellenbosch Universities Sustainability Institute, and sessional lecturer at the University of Johannesburg’s sociology department. His academic involvement extends to having served as an external examiner at WITS and the University of Cape Town, where he has assessed postgraduate work on governance, law, and political reform.
Beyond academia, he contributes to civil society and institutional development as a board member of Afesis and as a member of the Advisory Council of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC). His research, writing and consultancy work have informed public institutions, donor organisations, and think tanks, and he continues to produce policy-relevant analysis on politics, democratic government electoral processes.
Ebrahim’s writing has been published in academic journals and in mainstream media, including News24, The Sunday Times, Mail and Guardian, and Daily Maverick, where he provides analysis and commentary on South African politics, governance crises, and democratic accountability.
He read for a Bachelor of Arts in English and a BA Honours in English with Political Studies from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg where he was elected on the Students Representative Council (SRC) after the unification of the South African National Students Congress (SANSCO) and the progressive white students organisation, the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS). His professional development includes fellowships at the University of Sussex’s Institute of Development Studies (2006), Stanford University’s Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program (2011), and the Ruth First Fellowship at WITS Journalism (2014).

Silverio is a peace and security researcher at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR). His research focuses on post-conflict reconstruction and development policy in Sub-Saharan Africa. Silverio holds a master’s in public policy from the University of Erfurt’s Willy Brandt School of Public Policy and a bachelor’s in history from the University of Maryland Global Campus. His insights are informed by peace and security research, two decades of service in the armed forces, supporting diverse programs and experiences as a refugee and immigrant. Before joining IJR, Silverio held direct service delivery and capacity-building roles in local and international organisations, including Business Development and Resource Mobilization, Logistics Advisor, and Trainer. Silverio is committed to fostering greater social cohesion and community resilience.

Dr. Gwinyayi Albert Dzinesa is a scholar and independent consultant specializing in peace and security. With over 22 years of experience, he has worked extensively in research, policy analysis, and consulting on African peacebuilding, governance, security sector reform, and conflict resolution. He holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of the Witwatersrand, an MA in War and Strategic Studies, and a BA Honours in History from the University of Zimbabwe.

Dr. Dzinesa has held academic and research positions at institutions such as the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for Pan African Thought and Conversation, Rhodes University, and the Institute for Security Studies. His expertise spans disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR), transitional justice, democracy, and regional peace infrastructures, with consultancy experience for organizations like SADC, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), and GIZ. A prolific writer, he has authored books, journal articles, policy briefs, and op-eds on African security and governance. His work contributes to regional and international discussions on peace, security, and development.

Major-General (Ret.) Ntsiki Memela-Motumi is a seasoned military leader, gender activist, and social justice advocate with over four decades of experience in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). She has held several senior leadership roles, including Deputy Chief of Human Resources and Chief Director of Transformation Management. A champion for gender equality, she has led initiatives addressing sexual misconduct in the military and has been instrumental in shaping policies on women, peace, and security.

Beyond her military service, Ntsiki is dedicated to mentoring female commanders, coaching young executives, and supporting victims of sexual abuse. She holds a Master’s degree in Political Policy Studies from the University of Pretoria and is a PhD candidate at UNISA, researching gender institutionalization in the armed forces. An accomplished public speaker, she has presented at international forums, including the African Union and NATO. Her contributions to military literature include the book Spear of Hope and chapters on peacebuilding in Africa. Fluent in multiple South African languages, she continues to drive impactful change through research, advocacy, and leadership.

Dr. Wole Olaleye is an accomplished scholar and seasoned expert in democratic governance, policy research, and development with over two decades of experience across Africa and globally. He holds a PhD from the Wits School of Governance, where his research focused on performance information use and service delivery in South African municipalities. His expertise spans strategic policy advice, programme design, monitoring and evaluation, advocacy, and organisational development.

Dr. Olaleye has led numerous high-impact initiatives in collaboration with the African Union, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and global intergovernmental organisations. He has contributed significantly to areas such as socio-economic and environmental justice, women’s rights, governance of natural resources, and HIV/AIDS advocacy. His strategic leadership includes managing multidisciplinary teams and delivering transformative projects in over 22 Sub-Saharan African countries. As the Director of Secure Africa Consulting, Dr. Olaleye provides strategic direction for projects addressing issues like extractives governance, democratic reform, and human rights. He has also held leadership positions at ActionAid International, Mandela Institute for Development Studies (MINDS), and the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results (CLEAR-AA), among others. A prolific researcher and author, Dr. Olaleye has published extensively on governance, elections, and socio-economic justice. His work reflects a deep commitment to sustainable development and empowering African institutions to drive meaningful change.

Ms. Lazarus mediates and facilitates people in organizations to achieve achieves a creative competence in the way they approach issues, conflicts, and change. She is an independent consultant, senior trainer, mediator, and organisational development facilitator with experience working with groups in government, the United Nations, non- governmental and civil society organisations.

Her areas of expertise include multi-stakeholder dialogue facilitation, human rights-based approach to programming, gender and conflict analysis, gender mainstreaming, diversity sensitisation, strategic planning facilitation, programming and project management, leadership awareness raising, organisational culture development, communication skills training and team building facilitation. Her current focus is a creative integration of her experience in the development sector, the arts and capacity building. Her approach to work is that it needs to be “inspirited” and that means putting her imagination, intuition, and spiritual intelligence to work!

Piers Pigou is an accomplished political and security analyst with extensive experience in Southern Africa, specialising in human rights, governance, transitional justice, and conflict resolution. Over the past two decades, he has worked with leading institutions such as the Institute for Security Studies and the International Crisis Group, where he served in various senior roles including Southern Africa Programme Head and Senior Consultant. His work has involved managing multi-disciplinary teams, developing strategic programmes, conducting in-depth research, and engaging in high-level policy advocacy across the region. Piers has also contributed to a range of regional and international initiatives, offering expert analysis on political violence, police oversight, and democratic accountability.

In addition to his policy and research work, Piers has held advisory and consultancy roles with organisations including the African Development Bank, the International Truth & Justice Project, and The Elders. He has a rich background in leading access to justice initiatives, supporting civil society, and promoting constitutional rights. With a Master’s degree in Southern African Studies from the University of York and fluency in English and French, Piers brings a thoughtful, interdisciplinary approach to addressing complex political and human security challenges.

Yaliwe Clarke is an independent feminist consultant, life coach, and the former director of the African Gender Institute at the University of Cape Town. With over two decades of experience, she has worked with civil society organizations, feminist movements, diplomats, and peacebuilders across 11 African countries. Yaliwe specializes in conflict resolution, feminist activism, and gender justice, offering her expertise as a trainer and facilitator for various institutions, including Akina Mama Wa Afrika and the Centre for Conflict Resolution.

She holds a Ph.D. in Social Development from the University of Cape Town, a Master’s in Peace and Conflict Transformation from the University of Tromsø, and a Bachelor’s in Development Studies from the University of Zambia. Her research and teaching have focused on African feminism, peacebuilding, and post-conflict reconstruction. Yaliwe has co-authored research on participatory theater and equality among marginalized groups, and her work extends to co-founding Maliya Tours & Transfers, showcasing distinct African herstories. She is also a published author, having contributed to leading journals and books on African feminism, gender, and peacebuilding. A board member for numerous organizations, Yaliwe continues to advocate for gender justice and transformative leadership across the continent.

Madumezulu Girlie Silinda is a seasoned Enterprise & Turnaround Specialist and Executive Director of Arche Advisory Practice Pty Ltd, with extensive expertise in strategic enterprise analysis, research, and venture capital for turnaround initiatives. She has provided consulting services to high-profile organizations, including The Presidency of South Africa, the Melinda Gates Foundation, and WDB Investment Holdings.

With a strong background in rural enterprise revitalization, social impact analysis, and economic justice advocacy, she has led expert roundtables, policy reviews, and feasibility studies on carbon sequestration and sustainable value chains. She has held key leadership positions, including Director of the Business Clinic at the University of Pretoria and CEO of Marula Natural Products. Academically, she holds an MPhil in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development and has completed a PhD research proposal on SME turnaround strategies. She is also an author, with her book Power of the Cooperative Economy published in 2021 and Dynamic Enterprises Blueprint set for release in 2025. Her work spans governance, economic justice, and enterprise development, making her a key figure in shaping sustainable business strategies in Africa.

Khabele Matlosa is a citizen of Lesotho. He is a political economist and an independent policy analyst with speciality in democracy, elections, governance, conflict, peace and security, rule of law, constitutionalism, human rights, transitional justice, regional integration, migration, development, socio-economic and political impact of COVID-19. He has taught at tertiary level in Lesotho, Zimbabwe and South Africa. He possesses enormous experience working in multi-cultural settings with the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU). Through the AU, he has worked closely with Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms for conflict resolution in Africa. He has expansive networks of innovation, knowledge, practice, lobby and advocacy cutting across various sectors in Africa including, inter alia, governments, civil society, private sector, political parties, media, faith-based organisations, academia and think tanks, women’s groups, youth groups, traditional governance institutions.

Derrick Cyril Marco is a seasoned facilitator, mediator, and project management expert with over four decades of experience in democracy support, conflict resolution, and electoral management across Africa and beyond. He holds a Master’s Degree in Theology from the University of the Western Cape (UWC), where his activism and intellectual rigor were shaped. Derrick has served in pivotal roles, including Provincial Manager of the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) and Director at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa).

As the founder of the Academy for Research (ATHR) and co-founder of WatchElect (WE), Derrick continues to champion bottom-up, community-driven initiatives to promote sustainable democratic transformation. He is a Pan-Africanist, ordained minister, and dedicated human rights activist, with professional memberships in organizations like the Election Support Network of Southern Africa (ESN-SA). Derrick’s expertise spans conflict mitigation, project management, and election observation in regions such as the Great Lakes, West Africa, and Southern Africa. A prolific contributor to written works on theology, democracy, and mediation, he remains a passionate advocate for justice, reconciliation, and human dignity.

Dr. Gomes Porto is currently Advisor (Mediation Process Design/Regional Dynamics) to the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation, Finland), Peacebuilding Advisor (UNDP, Experts Roster for Rapid Response, New York) and Expert/Practitioner, Dialogue, Mediation and Peace Processes to the Folke Bernardotte Academy (FBA, Sweden). He is visiting professor at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy. Between 2011 and 2022 he was visiting professor at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) at Addis Ababa University.

Throughout his career, Dr. Gomes Porto has devoted a considerable time designing and delivering tailor made advanced and executive trainings on peace and security issues(particularly conflict analysis, negotiation, mediation and dialogue) to professionals from a wide variety of organisations, including the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities (particularly EAC and ECOWAS), UNOWA and UNOCA, KAIPTC, African foreign affairs and defence departments, among others. In this regard, Gomes Porto was part of the team that designed the Executive Masters on Peace and Security in Africa (MPSA), a programme endorsed by the African Union and held twice a year at the University of Addis Ababa Institute for Peace and Security Studies. For the last twenty years, Dr. Gomes Porto has worked extensively in the policy research, training and capacity building fields, particularly with African regional and sub-regional organisations, with a continuous advisory consultant role to the African Union Peace and Security Departments (2005-2019) working directly on the Continental Early Warning System, the Panel of the Wise/PanWise and FemWise. With ECOWAS, Gomes Porto acted as technical expert in the mediation support team created to support the efforts of H.E. President Obasanjo in Guinea Bissau, was co-facilitator of ECOWAS’ initiative to enhance the capacity of the Guinea Bissau Parliament to manage Inter-Party Disputes, and was the lead consultant in the development of the ECOWAS Mediation Guidelines. Dr Gomes Porto holds a PhD in International Conflict Analysis and Resolution from the University of Kent at Canterbury (2003).

Experienced political science scholar with a solid academic background. Actively involved in research projects and publications for esteemed journals. Skilled in teaching political science, international relations, African politics, elections, democracy, and governance. Possesses strong analytical skills and is adept at communicating intricate concepts clearly and concisely. Enjoys mentoring students, junior faculty, presenting seminars in related fields, and participating in departmental academic activities.

Accomplishments include:
• Successfully supervised two doctoral students and a few Master of Arts (MA) students in the past eight years.
• Was appointed Visiting Scholar at the University of Botswana, Department of Political and Administrative Studies, January – March 2023.
• Successfully served as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at the Department of Political Science, Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, USA (Aug. 2024-May 2025)
• Collaborated with a team of more than 20 UNISA (University of South Africa) and other academics in the development of the Management of Democratic Elections in Africa (MDEA) program to train more than 100 elections officials across Africa (2014-2018)

Creative and dedicated professional with degrees in Peacebuilding, Journalism, Education and International Relations. Experienced in designing, evaluating and documenting programs that promote gender inclusivity, communication and peacebuilding including early warning, dialogue and mediation and negotiation. Proven knowledge in utilizing relevant legal and normative frameworks, to achieve policy change with a keen ability to analyse conflicts and identify opportunities for building sustainable peace. She has core competence in leadership development, mentoring and coaching of young minds and have led in conducting needs assessment, in-depth assessments and in the production of quality research reports and various publications. As an experienced facilitator, moderator and panellist, she has contributed to a wide range of developmental issues across the region.

Du Toit is currently overseeing a process to build community capacity for insider mediation in Myanmar’s Rakhine State as a step towards reintegration following the 2017 violence which caused 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh. Previously (2016-2018) he was Chief Technical Advisor for UNDP Iraq, facilitating inter-sectarian dialogue in communities fragmented during and after ISIS rule. During the preceding 16 years, he was a programme manager and then executive director of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) in South Africa, focusing on issues related to post-TRC reconciliation and transitional justice, and worked with colleagues from other African states on similar processes.

His latest book, Political Transitions that work—Reconciliation as Interdependence, by Oxford University Press in collaboration with Notre Dame University, appeared in July 2018. As Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, he completed a D.Phil in the Philosophy of Religion in 1995, and in 2005 he received a further Masters’ degree in Justice and Transformation from the University of Cape Town (UCT). In 2007 he received UNESCO’s International Prize for Peace Education on behalf of the IJR. He is also an Honorary Associate Professor at UCT’s Department of Political Studies and a member of the Advisory Board of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution.

Peter Knoope is an IJR Senior Research Fellow and he is a Brussels-based independent expert with around 30 years of experience in diplomacy and international cooperation. He currently holds fellowships in four institutions in the areas of human security, conflict and terrorism prevention, peace building and justice (The Hague and Cape Town, South Africa). Through the fellowships he has for example carried out analyses on drivers of radicalisation and designed and delivered training programmes on preventing radicalisation and conflicts in Sudan, Yemen, Iraq and Nigeria and Cameroun. He has also provided advisory services on conflict resolution in Central African Republic targeting to politicians, national and local authorities and practitioners.

Peter Knoope has experience across the humanitarian-security-development cooperation nexus from high-level bilateral and multilateral cooperation to designing of national and country-specific cooperation strategies, research, public relations and diplomacy in the areas of justice, security and human development. In 2005-2009 he served as the Deputy Director (Policy and Strategy) in the National Coordinator for Security and Counter Terrorism in the Ministry of Justice, The Hague. He is the founder of the International Centre for Counterterrorism (ICCT) in the Hague and served as the Director of ICCT from 2009-2014.

Andries Odendaal has, for the past three decades, worked in the field of local peacebuilding under the auspices of, i.a., the South African National Peace Secretariat, the Centre for Conflict Resolution at the University of Cape Town, the Centre for Mediation in Africa at the University of Pretoria, and the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation. He served on the Expert Panel of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery of UNDP, was a regular resource person for the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), and a Jennings Randall Senior Fellow at the US Institute of Peace in 1909-2010. He has written several journal articles and book chapters, and is the author of A Crucial Link: Local Peace Committees and National Peacebuilding (USIP: 2013).

Kate Lefko-Everett is an independent researcher and evaluator with more than fifteen years of experience working in Southern Africa. She specialises in research design, qualitative and quantitative methods, data analysis and monitoring and evaluation (M&E). Kate’s background is in civil society research. She managed the IJR’s South African Reconciliation Barometer Survey from 2009 to 2013, and previously worked as a researcher at Idasa in both the Political Information and Monitoring Services (PIMS) and Southern African Migration Project (SAMP). She has conducted social and policy research in the areas of social cohesion, public participation and good governance, and migration and xenophobia. She has published widely, including as commissioning editor of Rethinking Reconciliation: Evidence from South Africa (Human Sciences Research Council Press, 2017) as well as in academic journals, international research reports and the popular press.

Dr. Ingrid Roestenburg-Morgan is a Senior Research Fellow with the IJR. Ingrid is South African but is currently based in the Netherlands. Her area of expertise covers International Criminal Law and Human Rights part of which has focused on transitional justice. Prior to undertaking her Ph.D she was employed as a Legal Officer at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (UN-ICTY). In her spare time Ingrid serves as Chair of the Board for an international NGO ActionAid in The Netherlands. Ingrid’s deep passion and commitment to Africa, has motivated her in using her research and talents for the benefit of those most disadvantaged, without a voice and agency. Her wish is to see an Africa and a world free of poverty and discrimination where each person can realize his or her full potential.