Who's Who in CPR

Judith Suminwa
Programme Advisor, Post-Conflict Unit, UNDP
Democratic Republic of the Congo

As the Programme Advisor for the Post-Conflict Unit since 2002, Judith ensures the quality and effective implementation of strategies and programmes related to post-conflict recovery in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). She oversees projects, ensuring that they are results-based, gender sensitive, and coherent with UNDP’s work in other areas. Bringing together different partners to launch the national disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme and supporting the government to achieve its objectives for post-conflict recovery and peace are just some examples of how Judith contributes towards effective post-conflict programmes. Another area of expertise is her ability to build community capacity to recover from conflict. This was reflected in her work as a Programme Manager to implement community strategies in eastern DRC (2001-2002) and as an Expert to support a UNDP/UNOPS project on community capacity building (1999-2000). She has also contributed to helping Congolese women participate in the inter-Congolese dialogue and supported their role in the peace process. One of her achievements in this area was developing a document on the National Programme for the Promotion of Congolese Women. Before joining UNDP, Judith worked for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-1998) and Citibank in Kinshasa (1996). She has a Master’s degree in human resource management and administration from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles and a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Economics from the Facultés universitaires catholiques de Mons in Belgium.

Awa Dabo
Human Rights and Protection Specialist, UNDP Liberia

Awa will soon be joining UNDP's Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery as Transitional Governance Specialist. Since 2002, Awa has been working to establish a nationally lead transitional justice and reconciliation process in Liberia. She has been involved in Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission since its conception by providing technical and financial support under UNDP’s Human Rights and Protection Programme. Awa is an advocate for integrating human rights and women's issues into Liberia's post-conflict recovery process, including working with partners and ministries to develop Liberia’s National Women’s Action Plan, pass the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act, and create the Independent National Human Rights Commission. She also served as a human rights advisor during the peace negotiations in Accra to ensure that human rights elements are reflected in Liberia’s final peace agreement. Before joining UNDP, Awa was in charge of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Sierra Leone's Mapping the Conflict Project, which mapped out human rights and international law violations in preparation for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2002). She also served as a Human Rights Officer for the UN Mission in Sierra Leone, monitoring internally displaced persons and the refugee situation (2000-2002). Before joining the UN system, Awa worked for the African Society for International and Competitive Law England (1997-2000) where she helped African women lawyers implement human rights norms in their countries. Awa is a Gambian national, and has an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the University of Nottingham and a BA in Law, Sociology and Social Anthropology from the University of Keele.

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