Dr. Mustafa Yusuf Ali is the Founder and Chairman of the HORN International Institute for Strategic Studies. He is currently serving as the Director of Arigatou International – Nairobi and the Secretary General of the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC), a global network active in 50 countries. He previously served as the Secretary General of the African Council of Religious Leaders and Africa Representative of Religions for Peace International. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations and Sociology from University of Portsmouth, Britain; Master of Arts in Diplomacy and International Studies from University of Nairobi (Kenya); and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Information Sciences from Moi University (Kenya).

Dr. Mustafa has been working to build peaceful, just and harmonious societies and promoting peaceful coexistence between faiths and communities around the world for more than two decades. Together with religious leaders and multi-lateral institutions including the African Union and the United Nations, governments and partners, Dr. Mustafa has been involved extensively in finding ways to peacefully and sustainably address some of the most intractable conflicts in the most challenging countries and locations in Africa including Nigeria, Libya, Somalia, Burundi and others.

He is a recipient of the 2012 Coexist International Peace Prize which was awarded to him in New York, USA, to honor his action-oriented work and leadership in interfaith relations and dialogue, as well as conflict transformation in Africa. A panel of judges, including former Ireland President Mary Robinson, Egypt Grand Mufti Sheikh Ali Gomaa, Rabbi David Rosen and others voted him for ‘his vision and courage in mobilizing religious and faith leaders in transforming difficult and challenging conflicts in many parts of Africa’. He is the author of Globalization of Terrorism: From Sicariis, Assassins to ISIS.

Sheikh Ibrahim Lethome Asmani is an expert in Islamic law, administrator, and community mobilizer. He holds a Master’s Degree in Law and Shari’ah specializing in Muslim Personal Law from International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan; and a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Profession from the Kenya School of Law-Nairobi. He also has a Bachelor’s Degree in Law and Shari’ah from International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan and a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from the Punjab University – Lahore Pakistan.

Sheikh Lethome, consulted for Population Council in the debate around Islam and harmful cultural practices and co-authored a tool kit for anti-FGM/C campaigners in the Horn of Africa entitled “Delinking FGM from Islam”. As a lead consultant, he guided UNFPA Kenya into developing a Shariah compliant guide on Islam and child-spacing.

He is the chairman of both the Shariah advisory Committee of KCB, and that of the County Pension Fund (CPF) on interest free banking and Shariah compliant financial transactions.

He consulted for USAID in developing a programme for youth in Nairobi and Mombasa to prevent radicalization.

Sheikh Lethome is a long-standing lawyer specializing in Muslim personal law matters. He previously worked as a Commissioner in both the People’s Commission (Ufungamano Initiative) and the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (CKRC) and was part of the team that drafted the Bill of Rights in the “Bomas draft”, the precursor to the 2010 Constitution.

He is a member of both the Jamia Mosque Committee and Supreme Council of Muslims and advices both institutions on legal and Shariah matters.

Currently Sheikh Lethome is the Secretary General of Centre for Sustainable Conflict Resolution (CSCR) whose flagship project is known as BRAVE, and one of the leading Consultants on how religion can be used to address Violent Extremism, specifically training religious leaders, community P/CVE champions, youth and other stakeholders in this regard.

His main area of interest includes how to use religion to promote peaceful co-existence, Islam and the rights of the Child, Islam and the dignity of the child in the digital world and Islam and interfaith relations.

He has severally been invited by AU and IGAD to present papers on preventing and countering violent extremism in various Countries in Africa.

Sheikh Ramadhan Aula Juma is an expert in Islamic law, Administrator, and social and political mobilizer. He holds a Master’s degree in Religious Studies from University of Nairobi and a Bachelor’s degree in Sharia from Islamic University of Madina, Saudi Arabia. He also has a diploma in Administration from UK and holds certificates in Project Management, Communication, and Leadership.

Sheikh Ramadhan who is the current Programme Manager for BRAVE, worked as lecturer of Religious Studies (Islamic Studies) at Mt. Kenya University, and previously Lecturer University of Nairobi. He also authored learning material for beginners of Arabic Studies. He has engaged on matters of de-radicalization and wrote articles which were published in section of dailies in Kenya. He also facilitated fora that brokered peace between Akamba and Maasai communities who were in conflict over the grazing land and the livestock market.

Sheikh Ramadhan has wealth of experience in social mobilization, facilitation and training. He facilitated Intra-faith Community Dialogue Fora funded by UNDP in Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi, Tana River, Lamu, Wajir, Mandera, Garissa, Isiolo and Marsabit. Edited the BRAVE Training Manual and Resource Guide on Narratives of Violent Extremists and Counter-Narratives. He also facilitated Inter-faith Community Dialogue Fora funded by UNDP for Coast Region and North Eastern Region. He trained BRAVE ToT on Resilience, Narratives and Counter-Narratives of the violent extremist groups in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kilifi, Lamu, Wajir, Garissa, Mandera, Isiolo and West Kenya.

Trained Youth on resilience, Narratives and Counter Narratives of the Violent Extremist groups. He assisted in editing the Translated version of the Training Manual and Resource Guide into Swahili that was used for training. He worked with the Center for Study and Practice of Direct Democracy in the Youth Assembly Programme which was a platform for initiation of young people into leadership. The platforms were erected around the country (Kenya) and nurtured youth who took part in leadership positions and responsibilities where some took competitive positions and were elected in general elections. He also played an active role in the campaigns for peaceful elections where a white ribbon movement was launched symbolizing peace as a co-founder of Coalition of Youth Against Violence (COYAV). This was during Kenya’s 2002 general elections working with Ambassador Bethwel Kiplagat. He recently participated in Scoping Mission with National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) on CVE activities in Mombasa, Kwale and Kilifi. He was the secretary of the team comprising of members from NCTC, NCIC, SUPKEM and UNDP

Dr. Othman Mujahid Bwana, is professionally an educator who acquired his PhD in Early childhood Education from McGraw University, US and studied Master’s degree in Educational Administration and Planning and Bachelor degree in Education and Islamic studies in Usman Danfodio University, Nigeria. Dr. Mujahid is also a graduated with another PhD in Educational Management, planning option from Kampala International University, Uganda. He also has post graduate diplomas in Psychology, Project management, Peace and Conflict resolution.

Dr. Mujahid has been very active in areas of conflict resolution and peace building both in Kenya and abroad. He has worked as a consultant trainer in PVE and CVE with a number of organizations including KTI, Public affairs office, US Embassy, SUPKEM, Kenya Community Support Centre, Kenya Muslim Youth Alliance, MUHURI, RUSI, UNDP, The National Centre for Security Studies among others. He is a researcher, author, a trainer and a motivational speaker.

Among his contributions in the field Violent extremism Mujahid has carried out research on the drivers of VE, developed Training manuals for teachers, youth  and women and has trained over  500 Imams and Madrassah Teachers on PVE and CVE particularly in the area of Countering Violent Extremism. He has been involved greatly in mentoring youth and developing different programs on helping in-school and out of school youth on issues of radicalization. The latest work carried out by Dr. Mujahid is the survey of women and girls participation in violent extremism titled; “Mapping Perceptions on Violent Extremism: A study of Women and Girls’ Attitude Towards Extremist Groups and Violent Extremism”.

Dr. Mujahid has recently developed a pocket book on Countering Violent extremism that is soon going to be published for use by police officers, Sermon guide for Imams and youth Empowerment Guide on Countering violence Extremism. The documents are to be printed by KECOSCE and RUSI. He has also developed a handbook on Countering violent extremism for madrassah teachers that was Published by the Public affairs Section US Embassy. Youth curriculum for de radicalization and Entrepreneurship.

Academic Qualification

• Masters of Education (completing) Educational Policy and Leadership, Moi University
• Bachelor of Education (B.ED Arts) History and Religion, University of Nairobi

Area of Specialization

• Basic counseling skills
• International leadership ( community service and volunteerism)
• Mentoring
• Policing and human rights

Achievements and Affiliations

• Helped in the establishment of a fully-fledged Educational Institute.
• Represented Muslim women in the National Constitutional Conference.
• Nominated in the participation of the International visitor leadership programme in the United States.
• Mentored girls at school and through the UNICEF/G.O.K programme.
• Assisted girls to access education through different scholarship programmes from primary to tertiary levels.
• Represented Muslim women and pastoralists in international and national forums.
• Providing civic education to parents, teachers, staff and students and the general public.
• Providing guidance and spiritual Counselling to girls and women.
• Helped in founding various women’s organizations
• Inspired and empowered young women at different levels
• Taught and mentored students who are now successful members of the society.

Shamsia Ramadhan works for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) based in Kenya and heads a multi-country interreligious peacebuilding project as the Program Manager. In her current position, she works closely with faith-based actors to build their capacity in a project that integrates development and peacebuilding to address inter-ethnic and religiously motivated violence to promote peace and social cohesion in communities in countries in sub-Saharan Africa. She has been involved in peacebuilding since 2002 and has worked extensively in the region on peace and security issues as a peace practitioner involved in research-based peace advocacy at the community, national and regional levels. An expert on peacebuilding, conflict transformation and conflict sensitivity, Shamsia conducts workshops on these topics including interreligious approaches to peacebuilding and conflict transformation, faith-based justice and peace, conflict sensitive interreligious community action and conflict sensitive development. She holds a Master’s Degree in International Peace Studies from the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame in the USA. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Social Transformation, specializing in Security and Sustainable Peace at Tangaza University College – Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Kenya.

Said Abdalla holds a Master’s degree in Education- specializing in Peace Education in post conflict societies from the University of South Africa (UNISA) and a bachelor’s degree in Sociology. Said Abdalla has over 10 years work experience with youth, civil society, research and public sectors. He has taught social change and community development at Nugaal University (NU) in Laascanood –Somaliland at the faculty of social science. He was also the coordinator of the Nugaal University Research Unit (NURU) where he helped the university in strengthening its curriculums in the Sociology and Teacher Education Departments. He was also the lead consultant when NU was developing its 5 year strategic plan. Said Abdalla was part of the team that developed the strategic plan for Sanabil Foundation and the Muslim Human Rights Forum MHRF.

In 2005 he provided and reported on civic education during the Kenyan 2005 referendum while working for the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (CKRC).In September 2010 he was the lead consultant in a study which analyzed and mapped out civil society organization’s (CSO) engagement with Agenda-4 constitutional processes in Kenya following the National Accord signed after the post-election violence of 2007/8. The study was commissioned by the Consortium for the Empowerment and Development of Marginalized Communities.

In May of 2009 he was the African Youth Researcher in a UNESCO funded research which mapped out best practices in inter religious and inter cultural dialogue identifying good practices, methodologies and the tools being used in these practices. In June 2008 he participated in research with the London School of Economics’ Centre for Civil Society. The fellowship looked at role of civil society in Kenya and the UK in light of the continuing global “war on terror”. He has also consulted for UNIFEM, UNESCO, Arigatou Foundation, and the Chief Kadhi’s Office.

Said is currently a member of the Nairobi County Education Board and Chairs the sub-committee on Displine, Gender, Dispute Resolution and Human Rights. He is also presently the Administrator of Jamia Mosque Administration where he has worked since 2014.

Hon. Dr. Abdullahi Wako holds a Bachelor degree in Pharmacy from the University of Nairobi. He was a Member of Parliament Isiolo South, Assistant Minister for Health, and Member of D.D.C (District Development Committee) Isiolo District. He has taken part in several international workshops including; 1st retreat of African union panel of wise in Burkina Faso, 2nd retreat of African union panel of wise in Cairo. 3rd retreat of African union panel of wise Addis Ababa, Commonwealth meeting of Heads of states KAMPALA, Commonwealth Head of States  Meeting CANADA, among others.

Hon. Dr. Abdullahi Wako is currently the Chairman of Pastoralist Elders Council Horn of Africa, Chairman of EwasoNyiro North Development Authority (ENNDA), and Chairman CEMIRIDE (Centre for Minority Right Int.)