The South Sudan Center for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS) is a think-tank institution that aspires to be a leading research institution in the region and internationally in the fields of strategic and policy studies. The members of the international advisory board are renowned international scholars, policy makers and opinion leaders in Africa and international fora. They advise the Board of Directors on all aspects related to policy and strategic direction of the Center. Below are the members of the International Advisory Board
Dr Jacobus Kamfer (Jakkie) Cilliers, a member of CSPS International Advisory Board, the Chairman, ISS Board of Trustees and Head of African Futures & Innovation. He has a B. Mil (B.A.) from the University of Stellenbosch and a Hons. B.A., M.A. (cum laude) and DLitt et Phil from the University of South Africa (UNISA). Awards include the Bronze Medal from the South African Society for the Advancement of Science and the H Bradlow Research Bursary. Dr. Cilliers co-founded the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in 1990 and played an important role in the transformation of the South African armed forces and the institution of civilian control over the military in the period 1990 to 1996. At present most of Dr. Cilliers’ interests relate to the emerging security architecture in Africa as reflected in the developments under the banner of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union as well as issues around African long-term future. Dr. Cilliers has presented numerous papers at conferences and seminars and published a number of books on various matters relating to peace and security in Africa and serves on the editorial boards of the African Security Review and the South African Journal of International Affairs.
Dr. Abdalla Hamdok, a member of CSPS International Advisory Board, Former Prime Minister of the Republic of Sudan, former Special Advisor at Trade and Development Bank (TDB), and was the Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) since November 2011. He has over 30 years of experience as a senior policy analyst and economist on addressing diverse development challenges of the African policy landscape, primarily in the fields of governance, institutional analysis, public sector reforms, regional integration and resource management. From 2001 onwards, Dr. Hamdok has headed successively ECA’s portfolios of activities on development policy management, NEPAD and regional integration, and governance and public administration. By way of an interlude from 2003-2008, he served the International IDEA as Regional Director for Africa and the Middle East.
Earlier, he held the positions of Chief Technical Advisor (1995-1997) at the International Labour Organization, Zimbabwe; Principal Policy Economist (1997-2001) at the African Development Bank, Cote d’Ivoire; Head of the Public Sector Group and Member of the Management Committee (1993-1995) at Deloitte &Touche Management Consultants, Zimbabwe; and senior official (1981-1987) at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning of Sudan. Abdalla Hamdok holds a PhD and MA in Economics from the School of Economic Studies, University of Manchester, UK and a BSc. (honours) from the University of Khartoum, Sudan.
Paula Cristina Rogue PhD is a Senior External Relations Advisor at CSPS. Dr. Rogue is an author, researcher, and security sector analyst with extensive expertise in human rights, security, and surveillance in Africa. She is currently the Executive Director of Intelwatch, an organization based in South Africa dedicated to research, policy work and advocacy to strengthen public oversight of state and private intelligence agencies in Southern Africa and around the world. She has served as an advisor for the Crisis Management Initiative as well as a Senior Analyst for Southern Africa with the International Crisis Group. Previously, she worked with the Institute for Security Studies, the South African Institute for International Affairs, and as a journalist in West Africa and the UK. Paula holds a PhD in Development Studies from the University of Oxford, a Msc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics, and a BA in Social Anthropology from the Instituto Superior de Ciencias do Trabalho e da Empresa.
Prof. Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o was born in Ratta, Kisumu, Kenya in 1945. He completed his undergraduate studies at Uganda’s Makerere University, where he was awarded a 1st class honours degree in Political Science. He served as Guild president of Makerere in 1969/70. He thereafter proceeded to his graduate and postgraduate studies at the University of Chicago, where he obtained his Master’s and PhD in Political Science in 1977.Nyong’o took teaching positions at the University of Nairobi, where he was a Professor of Political Science and a visiting Professor in universities in Mexico and Addis Ababa, where he served until 1987, before taking up the position of head of programs at the African Academy of Sciences.
He is a former Secretary-General of Orange Democratic Movement. From 2003 to 2005, Nyong’o served as the Minister for Planning and National Development, and from 2008 to 2013 he was the Minister for Medical Services. He is currently serving as the Governor for Kisumu County after serving as the Senator from 2013 to 2017.
He was a member of the Kenyan Senate representing Kisumu County from March 4, 2013 to August 8, 2017 having been elected on an ODM (Orange Democratic Movement) Party ticket. He is a former Member of Parliament for Kisumu Rural constituency, having been elected on a NARC ticket in the December 2002. His political career dates back to 1992, when he was first elected to parliament. He served as a nominated MP from 1998 to 2002.
From October to December of 2013, Nyong’o was a Brundtland Senior Leadership Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and he also participated as a speaker on Voices in Leadership, a Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health webcast series, in a session titled, “Linking Poverty Reduction to Improved Access to Health Care: Experiences from Kenya.
Vasu Gounden is the Founder and Executive Director of the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD www.accord.org.za) which he founded in 1992. It is today a globally recognised conflict management institute and it has been rated by Pennsylvania University's Annual Think Tank Ranking in the top 100 Think Tanks globally for eleven consecutive years. In 2018 Vasu founded Global Peace (www.globalpeace.me), to mobilize a global constituency to strengthen multilateralism and to build a better world. Vasu was a Fulbright Scholar at Georgetown University where he graduated with an LLM and is admitted to the High Court of South Africa as an Advocate. Over the last 33 years Vasu has been involved in preparing conflicting parties across Africa for political negotiations, including rebel leaders and government negotiators in, among other countries, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Madagascar, and the Central African Republic (CAR). He has provided mediation support to the facilitators of the Burundi Peace Process, which included former Presidents Nelson Mandela and Jacob Zuma, and has served as an advisor on mediation strategy to the late former President Ketumile Masire in the InterCongolese Dialogue. Vasu was also appointed as mediation advisor to the then Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa, Mr Marius Fransman, on the Madagascar peace process. Vasu is currently providing support to the Government of South Sudan’s Mediation Team on the Sudan Peace Process. Vasu has served on several Commissions in South Africa and serves on the Boards of several Institutions across the world. He has addressed the United Nations Security Council on several occasions on matters relating to conflict management, and has been elected by the World Economic Forum as one of their Global Leaders for Tomorrow (GLT).
Prof. Dawit W Giorgis is a member of CSPS International Advisory Board. Originally from Ethiopia, US citizen, permanent resident of Namibia; served as P.S of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Governor of Eritrea (prior to independence) and Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner during one of the most publicised famine relief operations. He later served as UN consultant in 11 African conflict and post conflict countries; was a visiting fellow at Princeton University, University of Cape Town and Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Wash, D.C. at different times.
He has published four books (his most recent titled “What a Life“, a 640 page on his personal African experience), several articles, and several research works more recently on The Iran Saudi Rivalry and the Scramble for the Horn; Ethiopia: The Realignment and Buildup of Forces in the Horn of Africa; War Ravaged Africa and the Myth of Africa Rising; Ethiopia and the United States: Can the Crisis be Prevented?; Organ Trafficking and the African Migrants; Border Walls and the Rise of the Right; and more which can be found on the website of AFRICAISSS. www.africaisss.org. He has made presentations in many international conferences on Terrorism and Transnational Crimes in Africa.
Mr. Biluny Puot Lampuar is International development practitioner with over Twelve years of in-depth experience with programs, research and policy whilst establishing partnerships with governmental and non-governmental stakeholders and international agencies. Extensive expertise working in challenging and complex contexts. Possesses a comprehensive understanding of global politics, international frameworks and economics. Graduate of Girne American University in Cyprus with MBA in Financial Management and Certificate of Project Management from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada.
Cyrilla Bwakira is a member of CSPS International Advisory Board. She is a multi-lingual political scientist (French, English, Portuguese, Kirundi, with more than 40 years of experience with international organizations, NGOs, State-owned enterprises, and the Private Sector. Professional responsibilities have included leading large teams, planning, implementing/ managing, grant-making, capacity building, mobilizing resources, inter-agency coordination, as well as intensive diplomacy and high-level negotiations. Self-Starter, people leader, she has worked very successfully with all sectors in cross cultural large teams. Cyrilla is passionate, versatile, and resilient up to the finishing line.
Cyrilla has accumulated experience and achievements in many areas, including:
Cyrilla's career has spanned continents, with senior positions in prestigious organizations such as WHO Geneva, UNICEF Nigeria, and OAU Addis Ababa. Her influence has extended beyond these roles, as she has also served as the Executive Director at Connemara Consulting in Johannesburg. Her expertise has been sought after by the World Bank, the UN, National Governments, and the private sector, leading to consulting assignments across the globe. Born in Burundi, she has lived and worked in 27 African countries, as well as in Europe, the USA, and Canada, leaving a lasting impact wherever she goes.
As Human Rights violations became the new normal of most countries, exacerbated by poor governance and subsequent crises, Cyrilla has embraced civil society's work, bringing all her accumulated experience, networks and passion to bear. Cyrilla Bwakira assumed the position of Executive Director for the Better Life Programme for the African Rural Woman – BLPARW for one year from November 2018.
Her quest to contribute to the increasingly tough journey toward a world where humans can “live a human life” remains a morning alarm.