About
Fauziya Ali is the Founder and President of Women in International Security (WIIS) Horn of Africa (HoA). She is an expert in governance, gender and human security. She is currently serving as the steering committee member for the inaugural Paris Peace forum under the leadership of President Emanuel Macron of France and an evaluating Judge for the Larsen Lam Iconiq impact awards under MacArthur Foundation. She also chairs a regional network of women peace builders in the Horn of Africa. She is currently working on a e-photo book dubbed “faces of resilience” as part of the 20th commemoration of women peace and security agenda.
Prior to establishing WIIS-HoA, Fauziya served as the coordinator of the African Peer review mechanism, NEPAD heads of state and Governance implementation committee, an instrument for monitoring performance in governance among African Union Member states. After the APRM process, she continued to lead a number of initiatives in governance and peacebuilding. She was the deputy chief of party for Somalia’s largest Stabilization programme in Somalia, managing projects assisting in the rebuilding of Somalia.
As a security expert, Fauziya has lead initiatives under UNDP Africa focusing on 18 countries in west and East Africa. She co-authored an acclaimed research “Journey to Extremism in Africa: Drivers, incentives and recruitment tipping point” which had over 4 million downloads upon its launch. She also co-authored amongst others research related to social media and violent extremism, designing the first mobile application on the subject. Due to her work in prevention efforts focusing on women, she was named a “leading woman” in 2018 by News Deeply, and VOA 2019 “woman to watch.” Fauziya has won a number of awards, including the SERAS award for Africa and a UN SDG Pioneer award.