Acho Gerald Anji is a peace, security, and development practitioner with 10 years of practical implementation, oversight, and management of peacebuilding, social cohesion, countering violent extremism (CVE), community security, and governance programs. His expertise lies in integrating conflict sensitivity into programs, particularly within the challenging landscape of the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus.
His track record includes working with and leading peace, security, and development programming with several international organizations while also providing extensive support to numerous local partners in different countries. Acho is passionate about localization and local ownership of peace, security, and development initiatives within communities. He believes that local people and communities better understand their problems and are best placed to come up with solutions to these problems. Acho has worked extensively in countries across the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes Region. He has made significant impacts in communities affected by conflict in countries such as Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mali.. Throughout his career, Acho has spearheaded successful initiatives that have made tangible impacts on communities affected by conflict. For example, in Somalia, he led a CVE program that effectively engaged local youth in peacebuilding activities, resulting greater awareness of the pull and push factors of CVE within communities. In South Sudan, his efforts in community security programming led to the establishment of inclusive dialogue platform for young people, fostering greater trust and cooperation among young people and their communities. Acho’s commitment to fostering localization and community ownership is exemplified by his work in Northen Uganda, where he facilitated the establishment of community-led peace committees that effectively resolved conflicts between Teso and Karamojong youths at the grassroots level. Additionally, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he played a critical role in supporting local NGOs to address SGBV and healing programs, creating awareness of SGBV within communities and supporting male champions to end SGBV in Eastern DRC. Acho currently work for Concordis International as Darfur Peacebuilding Programme Manager. He is a Ph.D Researcher at Leiden University, the Hague - Netherlands. He holds a Master’s degree in Peace Studies and International Relations from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, and a B.A. in Philosophy from the Pontifical Urbaniana University, Rome.