Ms. Sandra Ayoo is a gender peace and security consultant with several years of experience in development work and nearly seven years of consulting work mainly in Africa. She is also the Director of a Research Organization in Uganda called Dominion African Institute of Peace Studies whose focus is on policy research. Ms. Ayoo holds a Master of Arts degree in Rural Development from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Social Administration from Makerere University in Kampala. She is currently enrolled in the Organizational Leadership Policy Development-Evaluation Studies-PhD program beginning Fall 2014.Ms. Ayoo is also working as a Graduate Assistant in the Department of Organizational Leadership Policy Development assigned to the Institute for Community Integration at the University of Minnesota. Ms. Ayoo was a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow from Uganda at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, the University of Minnesota in 2011-2012. During her fellowship year, Ms. Ayoo focused on public policy analysis particularly policy design, implementation, and evaluation to enrich her skills in research and evaluation. Ms. Ayoo's professional affiliation included internship with the World Bank's Transitional Demobilization and Reintegration Program of the Africa Division in Washington DC, the White House Project in Minneapolis to asses best practices of their political leadership training, Go Run, and partially with Professor Katherine Fennelly of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs to conduct a longitudinal study of the effects of partisan polarization on immigration policymaking in the U.S. Congress.
Ms. Ayoo has held several relevant research, program development, and evaluation positions and consultancies in Africa. Through the research institute, Ms. Ayoo has done several policy research and evaluation consultancies on gender peace and security for governments and non-governmental organizations in Africa. Examples of her work include: leading a process of developing a National Policy for Peace Building and Conflict Prevention for the Government of Uganda's Office of the Prime Minister; developing Action Plan for implementation of the National Gender Policy for the Government of Namibia's Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare; and conducting program designs and evaluations for International Alert's West Africa program, Gender Links' Program in Southern Africa, USAID/East Africa, American Friends' Service Committee peace building programs in Somalia and the Great Lakes region in Africa, the World Bank/Multi-Country Demobilization and Reintegration Program (MDRP) in Uganda, CARE International's UN Security Resolution 1325 Programs in Uganda and Burundi, Womankind International's program in Malawi and Zambia, and Children in Crisis' program in Sierra Leone.
Welcome back, Sandra!