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BOMARU, SIERRA LEONE
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Peacebuilding Organizing Team
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A forum to identify Human Rights challenges in Sierra Leone
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CALGARY, ALBERTA CANADA
Youth Empowerment for South Sudanese Community in Calgary, Alberta
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Janyce Konkin

President

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Co-founder of Peace Africa Alliance Consulting, Educating & Training Centre (PAACET).   Her position within PAACET is to oversee and supervise the organization, implementa­tion and management in collaboration with the Africa Regional Director, Sierra Leone.  In addition, fundraising, financial management, project design, implementation and reporting for all program areas.

Janyce is an alumnus of the University of Calgary, 2006, obtaining her BA in Communications & Culture with a Major in Development Studies and Minor in Law & Society.  In 2010 Janyce received her Master’s Degree in Peace & Conflict Studies from the European University Centre for Peace & Conflict Studies (EPU) in Austria.  Her thesis was titled “First Do No Harm: A Comparative Analysis of African and Western Methods of Conflict Transformation.”  

During her undergrad Janyce traveled to Ghana for an internship with the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) where she undertook two research jobs:  (1) reconciling the salient issues relating to human rights abuse in the government Truth & Reconciliation Report with the CDD recommendations; and (2) determining the existence and commitment to social accountability and good governance practices within civil society and government. 

From 2009 – 2015 Janyce was Regional Project Manager for Initiatives of Change Canada (IofC), an international peace network.  As Project Manager she was responsible for overseeing and facilitating numerous initiatives throughout Alberta such as: Trustbuilding, Healing & Reconciliation, and Forgiveness workshops; the local Creators of Peace Circles for Women; and the youth empowerment Compass Program.  She partnered with, and provided outreach and dialogues with various local community organizations, working intensively with various inter-faith, inter-cultural and ethnic groups.  Janyce also provided internships to senior level Development Studies and Social Work students and presented numerous presentations to classes at various universities.

From 2016-2020 Janyce was on the Board of Directors of the National Restorative Justice Consortium. She was also a member of The Consortium for Peace Studies from 2010-2015 and was a member of The 20/20 Vision for Humanity Symposium Organizing Committee. Janyce coordinated a conference called “Creating Connections: Inner Peace & Action,” in 2014 at which the keynote speaker was Rajmohan Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. She was also one of the co-founders of the Harmony Café project in Calgary. In 2015 she was nominated as a recipient of Calgary Centre for Global Communities’ Human Voice Project, and also received The 2015 Community Service Award from the South Sudanese Community Association in Calgary, Alberta.

Her main interests lie in the areas of intercultural communication, African indigenous methods of conflict transformation, healing & reconciliation, and addressing social justice issues.

Karen Huggins

DIRECTOR

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Karen Huggins sits as the Secretary and Director on PAACET’s Board.  She brings to the Board her vast experience as a peace activist, Program Director and a Board Director for numerous social justice and environmental organizations.  In 2013 she received the Humanitarian YMCA Peace Medal.

Karen holds a B.A. in English from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio; a B.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Calgary; and an M.A. in Peace Education from the United Nations-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica. Her research interests have included autonomy and transnational advocacy, sustainable development, participatory democracy, and consumerism and peace.

Karen believes that we need to foster a society based on human need, not on rampant extraction of our natural resources, consumerism, and war.  As a practitioner of peace who is firmly grounded in peace education theory and practice, she is an avid supporter of peaceful solutions to our seemingly intractable problems and believes that a culture of peace is possible.

Karen has worked as the Program Director for Project Ploughshares Calgary, as a Board Member for the Consortium for Peace Studies at Mount Royal University, and as a Board Member for the Canadian-Congolese.

Foundation for Children.  In 2013 Karen was a recipient of the YMCA’s Humanitarian Peace Medal for her work with organizing the Calgary Peace Run and Walk, envisioning not only a healthy lifestyle for participants but at the same time promoting peace at the personal, local and international levels.  Karen was also a co-founder of the Harmony Café Project in Calgary in 2014/15.

Karen is very enthusiastic about building a better world for ALL people, and believes that by working in community we can achieve great things!

Augustino Lucano

DIRECTOR

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Augustino Lucano sits as an independent Director on PAACET’s Board.  He brings to the Board his vast experience as a South Sudanese, a refugee from war, a student, Social Worker, committed Community worker and President of his own not-for-profit NGO. 

In 2015 Augustino received his Bachelor of Social Work from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.  He also has a Social Work Diploma from Mount Royal University, Calgary, Alberta.  He currently works as a Multicultural Support Worker in Calgary, connecting students and families of new immigrants with community resources.  

Augustino lives in Calgary, Alberta, but grew up in Ngatuba village in South Sudan.  In 1983 the civil war broke out between South and North Sudan and at the age of 15 he joined friends who walked barefoot to Kenya to escape the civil war, leaving parents, friends, and relatives behind. He spent four years in a Kenyan refugee camp before receiving refugee status in 1990 and came to Canada in pursuit of education, employment, peace, justice and a prosperous future.  

 

Augustino volunteers with the Calgary & District Labour Council, The Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre at the University of Calgary, The South Sudanese Community Association, Initiatives of Change Association Canada, and also co-founded The Southern Sudanese Children’s Literacy Foundation (SSCLF) to help children and families in South Sudan.

Charles Lahai

DIRECTOR

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Co-founder of Peace Africa Alliance Consulting, Educating & Training Centre (PAACET). His position within PAACET is to establish and manage the operations in Sierra Leone.  In addition, he is responsible for fundraising, financial management, project design, implementation and reporting for all program areas.

Charles acquired his higher education at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone Theological College, University of Ghana (Legon), American University in Washington and the European University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies (EPU) in Austria, and holds a Master of Arts degree in Peace and Conflict studies. Charles has taken the role as Africa Regional Director for Peace Africa Alliance Consulting, Educating and Training Center (PAACET), a Canadian based organization.

Charles Lahai is a Sierra Leonean, a Civil Society and Human Rights and development activist with several years of professional experience. He was Executive Director of Society for Learning and Yearning for Equal Opportunities (SLYEO), headquartered in Freetown, Sierra Leone. He started his youth career at school when he assumed the position of President of the Young Christian Students (YCS), while also serving as Head Boy of his school.

In 1995, Charles and other colleagues formed an organization called the Sierra Leone Youth Empowerment Organisation (SLYEO), which later re-branded in 2013 to what it is called today Society for Learning and Yearning for Equal Opportunities (SLYEO). He served as National Youth representative to the Commonwealth Youth Programme Africa Region (CYPAR) for two terms and worked as Executive Secretary for the National Forum for Human Rights (NFHR) for three years. He was Chairman of the Youth Alliance for Peace and Development (YAPAD) – a coalition of over 45 youth organizations and youth serving agencies.

He worked as Executive Coordinator for SLYEO and Village Aid United Kingdom at the time both organizations amalgamated. He was member of the Programme Board of ENCISS representing civil society. He serves on several Boards of Directors for local and international organisations. He was Thematic Lead for Organisational Development in the Civil Society Engagement on Elections and Electoral Processes in Sierra Leone (CSEEP) and was elected as Chair of the National Coordinating Committee (NCC) of CSEEP, a civil society elections coordinating body. He is a supportive member of the National Elections Watch (NEW).

He has represented young people at several august occasions in and out of Sierra Leone. He played a central role in the peace process in Sierra Leone, serving in the planning and sub planning committees of the process (The Road to Peace) that led to the signing of the Lome Peace Accord in 1999 and made a submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on behalf of youth. He has participated in several research studies on youth and adolescents and led a participatory research study on youth and adolescents where he served as chaperon to release the findings of the research and lobby the UN and other policy makers in New York and Washington DC on the findings of the research (Report titled)   “Precious Resources – Adolescents in the Reconstruction of Sierra Leone”.

He received a Commonwealth Youth Programme Award and scholarship to study for a Diploma in Youth In Development Work and has taken several courses in Human Rights, Governance, Democracy and Leadership, Project Development and Management, Management Accounting, and Participatory Planning Monitoring and Evaluation at several august institutions including British Organisation for National Development (BOND) UK, IPAM USL, Premise Africa Kenya, Yale School of Management, American Graduate School of International Management, Fahamu, Article 19 and the World Bank Institute among others.