PILOT TRAINING WORKSHOP FOR A CONSTITUTION BUILDING CURRICULUM

2-6 November 2009

Panafric Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya

Bionote of participants

Participants

Ali, Mohamed Sheikh

He was a lecturer of Public and constitutional law at the Somali National University – Law Faculty in 1975-1979. He then worked in two Italian companies in Libya during the period 1980- 1983. Coming back in Somalia in 1983, he prepared a law on Property with Archeological interest for the National Academy of Arts and was later on appointed as a legal advisor for the Somali Central Bank. He became a member of the Somali Reconciliation Conference in Kenya of "land and property wrights" in 2002-2004. In 2007, he became the Director General for the Ministry of Constitutional and Federal Affairs under the TFG Administration. He speaks Somali, Italian, Arabic and English.

Arinaitwe, Diana Faith

Diana Faith Arinaitwe is a lawyer currently working as a legal officer under the Legal Aid Division at the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative. She has previously worked as a legal assistant at Birungyi Barata, Legal and Tax Consultants, has interned at Uganda Human Rights Commission under the Directorate of Research Education and Training as well as under the Legal Advisor Services Directorate at the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional affairs, Kampala. Ms. Arinaitwe holds a Bachelors degree with honors from Uganda Christian University Mukono and has completed post graduate studies in legal practice at the Law Development Centre, Kampala.

Arinaitwe-Mugisha, Jacqueline

Jacqueline Arinaitwe-Mugisha currently works as a project officer for Economic social and cultural rights at Human Rights Network-Uganda after concluding a law reform project with a focus on laws that contravene the1995 Constitution of Uganda including the Anti terrorism Act, the NGO law, the regulation of interception of communication bill 2007, electoral laws and may others. She is developing an intervention to see CSOs in Uganda produce an ESCR alternative report to the UN committee in the next two years.

Prior to this, she worked as a regional focal point officer for economic social and cultural rights with the East Africa coalition on ESCR that was instrumental in the production of a Kenyan CSO parallel report to the UN committee on ESCR. 2002-3. She worked with CARE International in Uganda as a Human Rights Coordinator.

Asiimwe, Frank

Advocate Asiimwe Frank is in his research, Masters of Law (LLM), at Makerere University Uganda. He is a practicing lawyer in the Kigali Bar Association. Asiimwe Frank is the President of Kangurirwa Human Rights Association an organization specialized in civic participation and policy advocacy. He is also the senior legal advisor of the Forum for the Activists against HIV/AIDS Scourge (FAAS-Rwanda) a Forum of legal scholars specialized in Human Rights and HIV. He is experienced in constitutional matters as he was the head of election observer team of Kangurirwa Human Rights Association in the constitutional elections held in 2003 in Rwanda, 2005 in Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006.

Dube, Gladys Gombani

Member of the Parliament in Zimbabwe

Foley, Mohamed F.

Member of Independent Federal Constitution Commission (IFCC)

Getachew, Fitsum

Fitsum Getachew was born at Mojo, a few kilometers from Addis the capital in 1953 from parents who were engaged in the teaching profession. He graduated from Addis Ababa University in 1997/8 after he was away to Europe for a couple of decades during which he not only avoided the then military dictatorship but also read Italian Law at University of Padua, Italy. During his long stay there he was also engaged in advertising and the local entertainment business.

Later on after his LLB in Addis, he worked first as freelancer at Ethiopian Television as English News Anchor and then joined the Canadian Embassy as Public Affairs Officer where he worked for eight years. In 2007 he joined his current office at Action Professionals' Association for the People, APAP, where he works as its Public Relations Officer. He is married and has a baby boy of 14 months. Among his hobbies, he mentioned photography and football.

Hanzi, Roselyn

Currently working with Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights in the constitutional reform and policy formulation unit as the Project Manager.

Rose has LLBS from University of Zimbabwe and LLM on Human Rights and Democratization in Africa from University of Pretoria. She was a Fellow at the International Center for Transitional Justice (2007), holding a post-graduate diploma in Transitional Justice. She is a registered lawyer with the Law Society of Zimbabwe.

Kananga, Richard

Richard Kananga is a commissioner of Education and Mobilisation in a Youth Organisation for Promotion of Human Rights in Rwanda (AJPRODH). He did his studies at National University of Rwanda where he completed in political science. His area of interest is Human rights conflict management and Peace building.

Richard is now working with National Unity and Reconciliation Commission. In his area of work and interest Richard has attended different trainings and workshops both in the country; region and abroad.

Kanchory, Dinah

Dinah is a lawyer by profession and holds a Bachelor degree (LL.B) with honors from the University of Nairobi and holds a diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law aside from a diploma from the Chartered Insurance Institute and a Certificate of Sign Language from the St. Andrew’s Church. She has an active background in Human rights as she has been a legal researcher for different organizations for the past 3 years now and has previously been a volunteer intern at FIDA-Kenya.

She has facilitated in trainings on Sexual gender based violence, Transitional justice mechanisms, Electoral system reform. On policy level, she has worked with civil society organizations on developing a National Code of conduct for the protection of children from sexual exploitation. She has written a few articles for the College of Insurance magazine on Transitional Justice and on the loop-holes of the Insurance Framework.

Matutu, Tongai

Honourable Member of the Parliament in Zimbabwe, Mr Tongai Matutu, has been in the Parliament since 2005. Masuingo Urban is his constituency and he belongs to the MDC-T political party. He holds the following positions in the Parliament: Chairman – Justice, Legal Constitution and Parliamentary Affairs; Chairman – Legal and Procedural Affairs Committee; and Member of the Standing Rules and Orders Committee (SROC), which is the supreme decision making body for the parliament. Within his political party, he is a member of the National Legal Committee that advises the party’s national executive and is the provincial secretary/administrator for Masuingo Province with 26 districts.

MP Matutu obtained a Bachelor of Laws Honour degree LLBS (Hons) in 1993 and has been a registered and practicing lawyer since 1994. He is the Chairperson of the Thematic Committee on Independent Commissions, Transitional Provisions and Elections in the current constitution making process. He has a passion for human rights issues especially as a human rights defender. He is also engage in debates that promote democracy in general.

Ngugi, Mumbi

Mumbi Ngugi is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Law (LLB) from the University of Nairobi and a Master of Laws (LLM) Degree from the London School of Economics, University of London. She serves on the Council of the Federation of Women Lawyers – Kenya (FIDA-K) and is a member of the General Assembly of Action Aid International Kenya (AAIK). Mumbi is also a long term advocate of human rights, particularly women’s and children’s rights. Mumbi is a prolific writer and researcher on human rights issues. She has over the years written for leading local newspapers and magazines including The Sunday Nation, The Standard and The Leader and was the Editor of The Lawyer Magazine. She has been the lead researcher and compiler of the Kenya Human Rights Commission Bi-annual Human Rights Report for the last three years.

Mumbi is also the Managing Trustee of the Albinism Foundation of East Africa, a charitable trust which fights for the protection of the rights of persons with albinism and ensuring social inclusion and non-discrimination against persons with albinism, particularly children.

Nyakunu, Nyasha

Nyasha Nyakunu works as a Senior Programmes Officer with the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Zimbabwe). A journalist by training, Nyasha has worked and held senior editorial positions with Zimbabwe's leading newspaper publishing companies. A founding member of the senior editorial team of the banned and trail-blazing Daily News, Nyasha left the privately owned daily where he had risen to News Editor in 2003 and worked as a media and communications consultant before joining MISA-Zimbabwe as its Research and Information Officer. He was later appointed Senior Programmes Officer with responsibilities of co-ordinating the programmatic activities of the organisation's other programme officers.

Nyasha, nevertheless still doubles as the organisation's research and information officer. MISA-Zimbabwe is part of the regional family of MISA whose regional office is based in Windhoek, Namibia. MISA is a media freedom and freedom of expression lobby and advocacy organisation. The mission and vision of MISA-Zimbabwe is to work towards the creation of an environment in which citizens enjoy freedom of expression and a media that is independent and free from political, economic and commercial interests thereby fostering pluralism and diversity of views and opinions.

Osman Jawari, Mohammed Sheikh

UNDP Somali Constitution expert

Otieno, Collins

Collins Otieno is the Programme Officer- Democracy & Governance at the Youth Agenda (YAA) where he is implementing a youth Constitutional Awareness project. His past experiences (over 3 years) and stint at the organization honed his skills and knowledge in developing, implementing and managing youth centered interventions on aspects of leadership, building youth responsive capacity, creative awareness, youth-youth and youth-adult partnerships among others all aimed raising the youth voice for effective strengthening of the youth movement. He holds an undergraduate degree background in Design from the University of Nairobi and hail from the coastal town of Mombasa and was born in the 80’s. He believes in and admires the innovativeness, creativity, resilience, passion and psyche of the youth and as a young person it is always his joy to be with and work for the youth at The Youth Agenda.

Qadi, Omar Mohamed

Mr Qadi is currently working as UNDP Liaison Officer for the Somali Constitution and is responsible for supporting mainly the Somali Independent Federal Constitutional Commission (IFCC) as well as other state bodies involved in the Somali constitution process to come up with a participatory draft of a federal constitution based on wide-ranging consultations of people from all walks of life and from different regions of the country besides advising the commission on the civic education component which is an integral part of this Federal Constitutional Project, among others. In the past, he was UNDP Media Consultant, Mogadishu (2007); UNDP Liaison Officer, Mogadishu (2006 – 2007); Director, HornAfrik Media Centre (2003 – 2006); Director, Policy Planning, Prime Minister’s Office (2000 – 2003); Editor, ‘Warsan’ Bi-monthly Magazine issued in London (1996 – 2000); Official Interpreter/Translator, Britain (1995 – 2000); Editor, ‘Xorriyo” Newspaper issued in Hargeisa (1993 – 1995); Education Liaison Officer, London Borough of Tower Hamlets (1990 – 1992); Lecturer/associate Dean, Lafole College of Journalism (1983 – 1988). Mr Qadi has Translated six bilingual books for Somali Children in London and was Co-author: ‘The Green War’, a book on Environment sponsored by the leading tink tank, ‘Panos’ International Institute for Development.

Thiga, William

Representative of Laikipia Legal Forum

Curriculum Developer

Christie S. Warren is Professor of the Practice of International and Comparative Law and Director of the Comparative Legal Studies and Post-Conflict Justice Program at William and Mary Law School. Her courses include Comparative Law, Comparative Constitutional Systems, Post-Conflict Justice and the Rule of Law, International Human Rights Law, Litigation in Civil Code Systems, Islamic Law, and Introduction to Common Law Methodologies.

Professor Warren has designed, implemented, monitored and assessed constitutional, judicial and legal development and training projects in 34 countries throughout Africa, Central and East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Russia and the Newly Independent States, the Balkans and East Timor. She was named the 1998 – 1999 Supreme Court Fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States and received the Supreme Court Fellows Alumni Association’s Administration of Justice Award for “significant contributions to the international administration of justice.”

Professor Warren serves as the Curriculum Development Advisor for the Constitution-Building Processes program at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance in Stockholm, Sweden and was an advisor to the Constitutional Drafting Committee during the constitution-drafting process in Kosovo.

Training Facilitators

Miruka, Okumba

Okumba Miruka is an international consultant with expertise on gender mainstreaming, strategic planning, participatory training, research and documentation. He has consulted for various national and international non-governmental organizations as well as United Nations agencies in Africa and beyond. Miruka is a well known scholar on Oral Literature with various books in use in secondary schools and universities. He has also written various training manuals on gender mainstreaming, gender based violence and facilitation skills. Miruka has also worked as a special correspondent on culture, gender and literary issues for leading Kenyan newspapers and radio stations. He is a founder member of Men for Gender Equality Now, the premier movement of men combating gender based violence in Kenya.

Sonko, John Paul

Mr. Sonko holds an Honors Degree in Law - LLB hons from Makerere University Kampala Uganda, a Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Centre Kampala Uganda, a Diploma in Education from Makerere University Kampala Uganda, a Diploma in Civil – Military Relations for international development from the International University of Florida USA, an Advanced Certificate in Training the Military on Child Rights and Child Protection from the Peace Support Training Centre in Karen – Nairobi Kenya.

He has facilitated training the Military on Child Rights and Child Protection in Kenya at the PSTC, in Uganda, in Ethiopia, and recently he has been part of the UN Inter-Agency training team for the Capacity Building of the African Union Forces in Darfur. He is a Lawyer and Trainer by Profession. He is an Advocate of the High Court of Uganda and all Courts subordinate there to. His main interest over the years has been to train on Human Rights, Constitutionalism, and good governance.

Mlidi, Salma

Trained in Law (LLM from Georgetown) with a focus on Human rights and Women’s Law, and with over 18 years experience in the development sector, Salma Maoulidi is the Executive Director of Sahiba Sisters Foundation, a women’s development and advocacy network with members in 13 region of Tanzania concerned with the impact of cultural and religious discourses on women. Salma has published widely on legal and development related issues from an African woman’s feminist activist perspective. Salma’s current research interest is documenting the history of women in Zanzibar, with a focus on women’s legal, education and political status over time.

International IDEA

Allen, Melanie

Melanie Allen is an Assistant Programme Officer in the Constitution Building Processes Programme of International IDEA. Her work focuses on policy development for international partnerships and constitution building. Prior to joining the CBP programme, she worked in the Political Parties programme on issues related to the internal functioning of political parties and on the South Asia region component. She later joined the Electoral Processes programme. She has held internships with IFES and the International Labour Organization.

Ms. Allen holds an A.B. in Government from Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts and completed coursework at the University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland.

Isberg, Jenny

Jenny Isberg is Administrative Assistant in the Constitution Building Processes Programme at International IDEA. Prior to joining IDEA, she was a translator in the Embassy of Tanzania in Stockholm for nearly six years. Ms. Isberg’s experiences in the Philippines include Market Research Supervisor in Duty Free Philippines (1994-1997); Community Development Officer in an NGO which was providing livelihood projects to the victims of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1993; PR representative and newsletter contributor (later editor) in the Canadian-Filipino owned Marcopper Mining Company in 1991-1993; and Development Management Officer for a UNDPfunded project on poverty alleviation at the National Economic and Development Agency (NEDA). Ms Isberg holds a Masters degree in Swedish Social Studies under the International Graduate Program of Stockholm University, 2000 and a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of the Philippines. She also attended the MBA Program at Ateneo de Manila University and has a Diploma in Journalism and Professional Writing.

Saati, Abrak

Abrak Saati is a research assistant in the Constitution Building Processes Programme of International IDEA. Her work focuses on the specific project component within the programme that is concerned with developing a training curriculum for constitution builders. Prior to joining the CBP programme, in August of 2009, she held an internship within the same programme during spring of 2009.

Ms. Saati holds a master’s degree in Peace and Conflict studies and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science – both from Umeå University, Sweden. She has conducted a field study in Kosovo that set out to capture how members of parliament perceived their representative roles and how they viewed the previous constitutional framework. She has continued studying while working with the CBP programme and will by June of 2010 have a master’s degree in Peace Building and Crisis Management.

Wahiu, Winluck

Winluck Wahiu is a lawyer who joined International IDEA in September 2006 and became the Project Manager for the Constitutional Building Processes Programme in October 2008. Previously (2001 -2005), he worked as the Programme Officer of the African Human Rights and Access to Justice Programme, a regional initiative of the Kenyan and Swedish Sections in collaboration with the Geneva Secretariat of the International Commission of Jurists. He managed the Programme’s work in 16 Africa countries to support the national implementation of international human rights standards through funding litigation and framing legal opinions on comparative constitutional law and practice for national litigation teams. He was involved in technical legal team advising the Kenyan bipartisan parliamentary consensus committee on the constitution making process leading to a referendum on the draft constitution in 2005. He was also involved in constitutional amendment process in Uganda and the legal drafting process in Swaziland after being invited in both cases by umbrella civil society organizations.

Mr. Wahiu holds an LL.B (Hons) degree from the University of Nairobi and a Diploma from Kenya School of Law.

ICJ Kenya

Kegoro, George

George Kegoro is the Executive Director Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists. He is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with over ten years experience in Non Profit Organization sector. He has led International Commission of Jurists-Kenya Chapter for two years and has extensive experience in programme implementation and management.

He participated in the Commission on Inquiry of Post Election Violence (Waki Commission) in the capacity of secretary. He has lent support to various legislative advocacy campaigns as the campaign for the Freedom of Information Bill , Anti Torture Bill and is currently involved in the clamor for reform within the judiciary and for efficient transitional justice mechanisms to be adopted in Kenya to deal with historical injustices.

Magare, Matthew

He is a Graduate from the University of Nairobi with a Bachelors of Laws Degree (Hons) and has a post graduate diploma from the Kenya School of Law. He has a degree in International Relations from the United States International University- Kenya. He is currently employed at the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists in the Human Rights Education Program.

Ndirangu, Stella

Stella Ndirangu has LLB from the University of Nairobi and a Diploma in Legal Studies from the Kenya School of Law. She is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and currently studying for her LLM at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

She has conducted extensive research in Gender and Human Rights in post-conflict situations and presented several papers on the Implications of the US led war on terror to human rights. She is currently a legal officer under the International Cooperation Program.

Watila, Diana

An Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, She graduated from the University of Nairobi, faculty of Law with a bachelor of laws degree (LLB) Hons and also acquired a post graduate diploma from the Kenya School of Law. She has a background in gender and children’s rights and has had the opportunity of working with Federation of Women Lawyers –Kenya chapter and CRADLEthe Children's Foundation.

Among the activities she has undertaken at a grass root level is the training of paralegals and provincial administration on human rights with an emphasis on women and children rights, training of medical on guidelines on post rape care management and establishing Safe horizon clubs which are girl child rights clubs within the Nairobi and Suba districts where girls were trained on their rights and life skills. On a policy level she has worked with the Ministry of Education on developing guidelines on the implementation of the Gender in Education policy in schools. She currently works with the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists in the Judicial Reforms Program which deals with Judicial Reforms, Electoral Justice and the prevention of torture.