Who's Who in CPR

Lawrence Lachmansingh
Programme Manager, Social Cohesion Programme, UNDP Guyana

As Programme Manager of the Social Cohesion Programme, Lawrence supports national efforts to address sensitive issues in Guyana, where political and social tensions, economic frustration, and crime are at worrisome levels. Since May 2003, Lawrence has managed activities to build local capacities for the peaceful resolution of disputes and promote the rule of law and democratic governance. Working with national partners, he leads a six-member unit in developing and executing programmatic strategies and activities that seek to reduce the risk of Guyana falling into violent conflict. Between 2000 and 2002, Lawrence was the Deputy Director of Asia Programmes at the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Washington DC, where he managed programmes to promote democracy through the monitoring of elections and the development of political parties, legislatures, civil society organizations and local authorities. These programmes were located in more than 12 countries including Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor Leste. As Deputy Mission Director at the NDI Office in Indonesia (1998-2000), Lawrence worked with local groups to recruit, train and deploy more than 600,000 local observers for national elections. Earlier (1991-1998), he volunteered with and eventually headed the local election observer group—the Electoral Assistance Bureau—in his native Guyana. Lawrence has an MBA from Dalhousie University in Halifax (Canada) and a BA in Theology from the University of the West Indies (Jamaica).

Hodan Addou
Regional Peace and Security Advisor, UNDP/UNIFEM Kenya

As the Regional Peace and Security Advisor for East and Southern Africa since 2002, Hodan provides substantive policy and operational guidance to ensure women, peace and security issues are effectively tackled under UNIFEM’s Africa Peace and Security Programme. Bringing together female ex-combatants in Rwanda to discuss gender specific challenges in reintegration, or strengthening capacity to engender the Somali National Reconciliation Conference are just few examples of how Hodan has worked to mainstream women’s perspectives on peace and security into programmes. Enhancing women’s access to post-conflict justice reforms and engendering early warning and response are also initiatives Hodan has supported at the national and regional levels. Hodan has more than 10 years of field experience in Africa, working directly on crisis and post-crisis situations.  Since joining UNIFEM in Nairobi, Kenya as a Project Manager in 1993, Hodan has worked as a Programme Officer on women and emergency situations (1994-1995), as a Regional Programme Officer on building capacity of women’s peace movements in Eastern and Central Africa (1996-1999), and as a Regional Peace Programme Coordinator (2000-2002) on engendering the mainstream peacebuilding and mediation processes in East and Central Africa. Hodan has a BA in History from American University, Washington, DC, an MA from Teacher’s College and a Master’s of International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs from Columbia University, and she is pursuing a joint PhD in Economics and Education.

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