Alice Nderitu named President, Isōko Centre for Humanity
- Genocide Watch
- Aug 4
- 5 min read
Alice Wairimu Nderitu (2025)
Alice Wairimu Nderitu is the Global President, Isōko Centre for Humanity.
She served previously as United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary General on the Prevention of Genocide from November 2021 to November 2024. She prioritized translation of the concept of genocide prevention as an international, regional and national norm to a practical reality implemented at the community level. This was backed by new policy documents including
Combating Holocaust and Genocide Denial: Protecting Survivors, Preserving Memory, and Promoting Prevention (first UN document to recognize the IHRI definition)
The Plan Of Action for Women in Communities to Counter Hate Speech and Prevent Incitement to Violence that Could Lead to Genocide and Related Crimes (War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity) (The Napoli, Plan of Action)
The Declaration of Sudanese Women on Implementing the Napoli Plan of Action,
The Plan of Action for Traditional Leaders and Actors to Counter Hate Speech and Prevent Incitement to Violence that lead to Genocide (Abuja/ Muscat Plan of Action)
The Plan of Action for Media Stakeholders in Preventing Hate Speech and Incitement to Violence that could lead to Genocide (The Nyamata, Plan of Action)
Other policy documents included the Policy Guidance for Dialogue and Mediation in Situations at Risk of Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity (2024)
She prioritized development of educational policy materials and curricula on the prevention of genocide with the aim of integration into national educational programs. Specific curricula include:
Course curriculum on atrocity prevention for undergraduate students for the Asia-Pacific region piloted at the University of Gadjah Mada in Indonesia and Chulalongkorn University in Thailand (2022).
Teacher’s guidebook and course curriculum on atrocity prevention for undergraduate students for South-East Asia piloted in Indonesia, Cambodia, and Thailand (2022).
Course curriculum on atrocity prevention for African scholars (2023).
Worked with Keene State College to develop a dedicated graduate certificate on applied genocide prevention, with a thematic module on hate speech within the programme (2024)
Addressing Hate Speech through Education: A Guide for Policy-Makers ((With UNESCO, in follow up to the October 2021 Global Education Ministers' Conference on education as a tool to tackle hate speech),
She operationalized the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech through:
The first United Nations online course on countering and addressing hate speech by UN staff.
Policy documents such as:
She also institutionalized many partnership arrangements aimed at amplifying the collective capacity to prevent and gave visibility to Champions of Prevention who often operate in challenging environments.
Ms. Nderitu previously headed the Human Rights Education and Capacity-Building Programme of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, was a Commonwealth Exchange Fellow on education at the South African Human Rights Commission, served as Director of Education for Social Justice at the non-profit organization Fahamu (Oxford, UK) and as Commissioner of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) in Kenya. At NCIC, she headed the education department and co-founded the Uwiano Platform for Peace in 2010, a conflict-prevention agency that pioneered mobile technology linking early warning to early response. She also supported the Myanmar government in 2015 to set up a similar platform.
She has contributed to defining the role of women mediators of armed conflict, as one of the few women mediator signatories to peace agreements. This includes; (a) as the only woman in the 16-month mediation leading to the 2012 peace agreement involving 100 elders resulting in the Nakuru County Peace Accord signed by 10 ethnic communities in Kenya (b) as lead mediator in the yearlong peace process in Kaduna State, Nigeria leading to the Kafanchan Peace Declaration, signed by 29 ethnic communities (c) as lead mediator in the one and a half year long process leading to the Southern Plateau Inter-Communal Peace Declaration, signed by 56 ethnic communities in Plateau State, Nigeria. She founded Community Voices for Peace and Pluralism, a network of African women professionals preventing and/or transforming violent, ethnic, racial, and religious conflicts worldwide. She served as a member of the African Unions Network of African Women in Conflict Prevention and Mediation (Fem-Wise), and Global Alliance of Women Mediators and the Concerned Citizens for Peace, a group of Elders facilitating peace confidentially between African leaders at the highest levels. With the Women Waging Peace Network, she worked to foster dialogue in the Bangsamoro, Mindanao, Philippines.
She has served as an Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities instructor, as Summer Course faculty member at SIT Graduate Institute, Vermont, Brattleboro, USA, and as lecturer of the Socio-Economic Rights course at Pretoria University’s Centre for Human Rights, South Africa. She has also served as facilitator of the Senior Mission Leaders Course at the International Peace Support Training Center, Kenya and the Rwanda Military Academy, Rwanda.
Ms. Nderitu is a Transitional Justice Fellow of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), South Africa (2011), Woman Peace Maker of the Year of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, University of San Diego (2012), Aspen Leadership scholar (2015), inaugural Global Pluralism Awardee for commitment to conflict prevention and an innovative approach to mediation by the Global Centre for Pluralism – awarded by His Highness the Aga Khan and the Government of Canada (2017), Jack P. Blaney Awardee for using dialogue to support conflict resolution by the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University, Canada (2018), Diversity and Inclusion Peace and Cohesion Champion (2019). She was also named 5th in the 2023 Avance Media's 100 Most Influential African Women.
She is widely published and has authored, among others, Conflict Transformation and Human Rights: A Mutual Stalemate? Berghof Conflict Research (2009), "7 myths standing in the way of women's inclusion" with Jacqueline O'Neill, Inclusive Security (2013), Beyond Ethnicism: Exploring Ethnic and Racial Diversity for Educators (2015), African Peace Building: Civil Society Roles in Conflict, with Pamela Aall and Chester A. Crocker (eds) (2016), Catherine Ndereba: The Authorised Biography of a Marathon World Record holder (2016), Kenya: Bridging Ethnic Divides, A Commissioner’s Experience on Cohesion and Integration (2018), Women Peace and Security as a political movement, with Swanee Hunt, The Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace, and Security. New York: Oxford University Press (2018), Mukami Kimathi – Mau Mau Woman Freedom Fighter (2019) and the Companion for Women Mediating Armed Conflict (2020) She has also been a columnist with The EastAfrican newspaper.
Ms. Nderitu holds an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Keene State College, USA, a master’s degree in Armed Conflict and Peace Studies and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Literature and Philosophy from the University of Nairobi.
