Uganda: Post-Conflict Transformation

Faculty and Staff

Martha Nalubega Wandera, MA, Academic Director
Martha Nalubega Wandera has worked for SIT since 2002. She became an academic director in 2007. She holds an MA in peace and conflict studies from Makerere University in Kampala; a BA in social sciences, with concentrations in social administration and sociology, also from Makerere University; a diploma in business education from Kyambogo University; a postgraduate certificate in research methods and writing skills from the Center for Basic Research in Kampala; and a postgraduate certificate in entrepreneurship, innovation, and social change at the UPEACE Center for Executive Education in Costa Rica.

Ms. Wandera’s academic interests include business education, rural development, research methods and ethics, peace and conflict studies, gender, and cross-cultural education. She has experience in designing curricula, facilitating cross-cultural learning, providing student services, and conducting program review and evaluation.

Prior to joining SIT, she taught business education in several high schools in Uganda. As a Ugandan, Ms. Wandera brings a personal understanding of the country’s current social, political, and economic situation to her scholarly commitments. Her years of professional experience have provided her with the opportunity to develop relationships with diverse partners, including university professors, nongovernmental organizations, homestay families, and a variety of service providers. As a member of the Uganda Women’s Entrepreneurship Association Limited (UWEAL), Ms. Wandera has further strengthened her connections with the business sector in Uganda. Over the past few years, she has served as academic director of SIT’s Uganda: Microfinance and Entrepreneurship program and the Uganda: Development Studies program.

Ms. Wandera enjoys working with young people as she helps prepare them to become effective intercultural leaders and global citizens.

Bosco Aludi Komakech, Homestay Coordinator
Bosco is a Ugandan national. He holds a B.A. in philosophy from Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome and a postgraduate diploma in project planning and management from Gulu University. He also obtained a postgraduate diploma in international civil society initiatives in peacebuilding from World Learning/SIT. He is currently pursuing an M.A. in development studies and NGO management at Uganda Martyrs University (Nkozi). He has served as the executive director of Caritas Gulu Archdiocese since 2009. As executive director, his primarily roles and responsibilities have been in the areas of coordination, finance and accounting, human resources, external and internal relations, and asset management. Bosco has hosted six SIT Study Abroad students since the program was initiated in Gulu. He is well respected in the community and will help maintain excellent relations between the students and host families. Bosco is married and has three daughters.

Lecturers for the program are drawn from institutions such as:

Gulu University - Gulu, Uganda
Makerere University - Kampala, Uganda
Justice and Peace Commission - Gulu, Uganda
National University of Rwanda - Butare
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda - Kigali
National Unity and Reconciliation Commission - Kigali
Rwanda Governance Advisory Council - Kigali

Lecturers for this program include:

Dr. Vincent Ojok Adot, Lecturer on culture, politics, and religion in Uganda
Dr. Adot received both his M.A. and Ph.D. in biblical theology from Urban Pontifical University in Rome. He has been the vice rector, lecturer, and formator at Katigondo National Major Seminary and St. Paul's National Major Seminary, Kinyamasika.

Mr. Okech Augustine, Lecturer on the economic and social impact of the conflict and post-conflict in Northern Uganda
Mr. Augustine received a Master's of Business Administration (MBA), specializing in accounting and finance, as well as a bachelor's degree in business administration and management (BBAM Hons.), focusing on accounting, from Ugandan Martyrs' University, Nkozi. He currently lectures at Gulu University and has been the acting head of the university's department of finance and accounting in the Faculty of Business and Development Studies for more than three years. He teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate students including MBA students. His areas of teaching include: corporate finance, auditing, management accounting, and quantitative methods.

Denis Bikesha, Lecturer on the Gacaca Courts in Rwanda
Mr. Bikesha received a law degree (LLB) in 2004 from the Rwanda National University in Butare and since then has worked as a lawyer for the National Service of Gacaca Courts in Rwanda, which deals with cases related to the Rwandan genocide. In 2007, he became the National Service's director of training, mobilization, and sensitization. He is currently finalizing his master's degree in law (LLM) at the National University of Rwanda.
Mr. Bikesha has been very active in organizing training sessions and seminars regarding unity and reconciliation in Rwanda as well as abroad. He has attended various trainings in the field of transitional justice and peace-building. He has spent time in the US studying the American judicial system and has also traveled to five US states as an international visitor of the U.S Department of State. He has worked with SIT since 2005, both as a homestay coordinator and lecturer.

Mr. Kilama Henry Komakech, Lecturer on transitional justice in Northern Uganda and the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Mr. Komakech has been a managing partner of Komakech-Kilama & Co. Advocates in Gulu, Uganda from January 2001 until the present. He is currently pursuing a master's of peace and conflict transformation studies at Gulu University. He has previously received a post- graduate diploma in conflict management and peace studies from Gulu University, Uganda and a post-graduate diploma in legal practice from the Law Development Centre in Kampala. He also holds a bachelor's of law degree (LL.B) (Hons.) from Makerere University and an accreditation as a mediator from the Regents' College London and Cardiff Law School. He has received training from Cardiff Law School in negotiations, mediation, and other forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

Dr. Kitara David Lagoro, Lecturer on war, trauma, and recovery in Uganda
Dr. Lagoro is a lecturer at Gulu University in the Faculty of Medicine. His holds degrees in medicine and surgery from Makerere University; a certificate in planning and management of health services from the Uganda Management Institute; and a master's of medicine from Makerere University (MMED, MUK). Dr. Lagoro is a fellow of the Association of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa (FCS). Additionally he holds a certificate in administrative law from the Law Development Centre and a post-graduate diploma in project planning and management from Gulu University. For his MMED thesis, he conducted research on "Possum Scoring Systems in Patients Undergoing Laparotomy in Mulago Hospital".

Dr. Frank Nabwiso, Lecturer on post-conflict transformation and government initiatives towards peace in Uganda (a critique)
Dr. Nabwiso is an expert on adult education and rural development. He received his Ph.D. in adult education and rural development from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1976); an M.A. in African Studies from the University of Sussex, England (1968); and a B.A. (Hons) in history and political science from the University of East Africa, then Makerere University College (1967). His teaching experience includes the following: part-time lecturer at Kyambogo University (2004-2005); teaching associate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1975-76); head of the Correspondence and Mass Media Department at Makerere University (1971-72); and resident tutor at Makerere University (1969-70).

Rt. Rev. MacBaker Ochola II, Lecturer on the Acholi of Uganda
Reverend Ochola is the retired bishop of Kitgum Diocese (Anglican) Kitgum in northern Uganda. In 1997, his wife Winifred was tragically killed by a landmine allegedly planted by the Lord's Resistance Army Rebels. Following her death, he decided to dedicate his life working toward peace. He holds a bachelor of theology from Emmanuel and St. Chad College, University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada. He served as an active participant in the Juba Peace Talks as peace observer and consultant on behalf of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative. He was appointed chairman of the mediation between the Pajong and Pobec clans of Mucwini, Chua County, by the Local Government of Kitgum District in January 2008. He has been involved in the mediation process between various groups including the Jie tribe of Karamoja and Acholi; the people of Teso and Bokora and Pian tribes of Karamoja in 2002/2004; and the Lango and Acholi, following the massacres at Barlonyo in Lira District in 2004/2005.

Mr. Alfred Omony Ogaba, Lecturer on government policy pertaining to decentralization in Uganda
Mr. Ogaba has been a district commissioner from December 2003 to the present (by presidential appointment). Presently, as a resident district commissioner of Kitgum, his responsibilities include: serving as chairman of the District Security Committee to maintain law and order in the district; monitoring the implementation of government programs; monitoring NGOs, community-based organizations, and civil society organizations; advising the district chairman on matters of national importance; addressing the District Council; and carrying out other responsibilities that may be assigned by the President. He holds an Ordinary Diploma in animal husbandry; a bachelor degree in development studies and a post-graduate diploma in conflict management studies and peacebuilding from Gulu University. He is currently pursuing a master of arts in conflict transformation studies from Gulu University.

Dr. Jacinto Deusdedit Ogwal, Lecturer on the socio-political history of conflict in Uganda
Dr. Ogwal received his B.A. in theology from Urban University in Rome and M.A and Ph.D., with a specialization in church history, from Gregorian University in Rome. He has been a senior lecturer at the Faculties of Theology and Education at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) in Nairobi. He is currently a part-time lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Gulu University, while fully engaged in practical post-conflict management endeavors, particularly in the areas of education, training, formation, and the resettlement of child soldiers and orphans in the Lira district in Uganda, where he runs a children's home, health center, and school for indigent children. His areas of research include: the impact of globalization on peace; intercultural communication; inter-religious dialogue; and the impact of religions on politics and peace.

Fr. John Felix Opio, Lecturer on the peoples and cultures of Uganda, particularly on the history and evolution of national and ethnic identity
Fr. Opio received a master of arts and bachelor's degree in philosophy from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa- Nairobi. He also holds a bachelor of arts in theology from Urban University in Rome and a post-graduate diploma in teacher education (PGDE-TE) from Makerere University. He is a registered graduate teacher in Uganda's Ministry of Education and Sports. From 2004 to 2008, Mr. Opio participated in peace and reconciliation activities in northern Uganda. He was an active participant in the Juba Peace Talk between the Lord's Resistance Army Rebels (LRA) and the Government of the Republic of Uganda through the mediation of the Government of Southern Sudan and the United Nations. He served as executive director of CARITAS Gulu Archdiocese and worked with a team of trained social workers with experience in service delivery during emergency and conflict situations. He is a prospective Ph.D. student at Gulu University.

Professor Paul Rutayisire, Lecturer on the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) war, the Arusha Peace Agreement, and the 1994 Rwandan Genocide
A Rwandan national, Professor Rutayisire holds a Ph.D. in history from Fribourg University in Switzerland. He lectures at the National University of Rwanda and is director of the university's Center for Conflict Management. His fields of specialization are religion and society as well as conflict transformation and genocide studies. He has published extensively on Rwandan history and has participated in many crucial research projects on topics related to the post-genocide reconstruction of Rwanda.

Bernard Noel Rutikanga, Lecturer for identity politics and political developments pre-genocide
Bernard Noel Rutikanga obtained a bachelor of arts degree and a master's degree from the University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania between 1976 and 1980. At the undergraduate level he was trained to teach African history and African literature. His master's degree focused on contemporary African history. He taught for ten years at Dar-es-salaam Teachers College before directing a Namibian and South African refugee scholarship program in Tanzania for five years - this was in collaboration with the defunct World University Service, Geneva. Mr. Rutikanga has been teaching contemporary Rwandan history at the National University of Rwanda since 1995. He has published on reconciliation and ethnicity in Rwanda. He has also served as a gacaca judge (the traditional jurisdiction system that has been trying genocide related crimes committed in Rwanda between 1990 and 1994). In 2000 he was a Fulbright scholar at Boston College in Massachusetts.

Credits: 16

Duration: 15 weeks

Program Base: Uganda, Gulu

Language Study: Acholi

Prerequisites: Coursework in conflict theories recommended. Read more...