Niemat Ahmadi

A native of North Darfur, Sudan, Niemat Ahmadi is Founder and President of Darfur Women Action Group and the former Director of Global Partnerships for United to End Genocide. Ms. Ahmadi previously worked for the Save Darfur Coalition as a member of the coalition’s policy and government relation team. She is a founding member of the Darfuri Leaders Network, a coalition of over twenty U.S.-based Darfuri organizations working to promote peace and security in Darfur. She served as advisor at the seventh round of inter-Sudanese Darfur peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria in 2006.

A veteran human rights advocate, Ms. Ahmadi worked with international NGOs in various fields of emergency and development with a focus on women’s empowerment and capacity-building while in Sudan, including Oxfam Great Britain, Intermediate Technology Development Group (currently Practical Action), and the UN’s World Food Program. She also served as an executive member of the Darfur Assessment Mission, a consortium of six Sudanese NGOs in Khartoum, Sudan working on documenting human rights violations in Darfur at the time of the crises. Ms. Ahmadi led the Darfur Diaspora Association of East Africa in Kenya. She also participated in many regional forums, including but not limited to, African women conference for peace and security, and Sudanese women forum for peace.

While in college, Niemat established Darfur call for private education that seeks scholarships and raises funds to support the education of poor Darfurian students. She was also a founding member of the Darfur Student Association at Ahfad University, which seeks to secure scholarships and help students from Darfur receive tuition waivers. She was forced to leave her country after two attempts on her life because of her role in helping victims and being vocal about massive human rights abuses and the genocide in Darfur.

In 2007, Niemat received a fellowship from Ford Motor Company for leadership. She has been recognized by former President George W. Bush as one of the eight global human rights fighters for freedom of their people of the year in 2008.

While in the U.S., Niemat has traveled to over 24 states to tell her personal story and the stories of many other victims of the Darfur genocide to educate the American people about the current genocide in Darfur. Niemat has also testified about the Darfur genocide and the use of rape as a weapon of war before the UN Security Council, the UN Human Rights Council, the U.S. Senate foreign relations committee and many international conferences.

Ms. Ahmadi earned an M.S. In Sustainable Development and a B.A. in Psychology and Pre-school Education from Ahfad University for Women in Khartoum.

Mukesh Kapila

Professor Kapila is an Indian born and British national. He was a whistle blower during the early stages of the Darfur Genocide. While stationed in Sudan, he was outspoken in his condemnation of the human rights abuses being committed in the western region of Darfur. His activism began after a Darfuri woman came to his office to tell him how she, her daughter and 200 other women in the village of Tawilla had been gang-raped and mostly murdered by government soldiers and paramilitaries.

Professor Kapila has extensive experience in the policy and practice of international development, humanitarian affairs, human rights and diplomacy, with particular expertise in tackling crimes against humanity, disaster and conflict management, and in global public health. His memoir “Against a Tide of Evil”, published in 2013, was nominated for the Best Nonfiction Book of that year. He is also Professor of Global Health and Humanitarian Affairs at the University of Manchester.

Professor Kaplia is also a Special Representative of the Aegis Trust for the prevention of crimes against humanity, and Chair of the Minority Rights Group International. While he was Under Secretary General at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, he served the United Nations in different roles as Special Adviser to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva and then Special Adviser at the UN Mission in Afghanistan.

Bridget Moix

Ms. Moix served as serves as as an Atrocities Prevention Fellow with USAID’s Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation. As part of USAID’s atrocities prevention team, she has helped to develop new tools and resources, advance learning, support country engagements, and improve the agency’s capacities to prevent and respond to mass atrocities.

Moix brings experience at the national and international levels working to advance a range of peacebuilding and violent conflict prevention issues to the DWAG community. She has worked with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the American Friends Service Committee, the Quaker United Nations Office, Oxfam America, and the Quaker Peace Centre in South Africa.

Moix received her Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University and is currently pursuing her PhD at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, where she also serves as Cumbie Fellow with the Genocide Prevention Program.

Emmanuel Itier

An experienced feature film Producer, Emmanuel Itier directed the thriller “Tell me no Lies” (2000) and the horror film “Scarecrow” (2002). He just completed the Peace documentary “The Invocation” narrated by Sharon Stone and with Desmond Tutu, HH The Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra and many other worldwide peace activists. Emmanuel also produced the films “Wildflower” (1999) and “Scarecrow Slayers” (2003) among other pictures. He also acted as a co-producer and financing consultant: “Johnny Mnemonic”, “Another 9 1/2 weeks”, “Shattered Image” (1998), “The Dentist” (1996), and “Progeny” (1999).
Emmanuel Itier has also been a successful Music and Film journalist for both Rock Magazines, French TV networks and the internet for the last twenty years. Finally Itier has been a buyer for various French Film distribution companies for the last fifteen years. He was on the board of directors of the Santa Barbara Film Festival for a decade and writes poetry. He is also very involved with charities and the political world. He grew up in France and moved in the US twenty five years ago. He resides in Santa Barbara, California with his wife and two sons.

Emmanuel Itier is currently completing another inspiring documentary celebrating women around the planet: “FEMME-Women Healing the World”. He will then produce and direct three other documentaries in order to keep making Peace, one movie at a time.

Elizabeth Blackney

Elizabeth Blackney is the Media and Communications Director for the Panzi Foundation, a partner organization to the Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Blackney has led creative teams on numerous advocacy campaigns, developed reputation management strategies for thought leaders, corporate clients, and advocacy organizations. Her expertise in blending media, advocacy, good governance, and diplomatic accountability, informs every campaign.

Elizabeth has written for numerous NGO and advocacy organizations, and speaks to schools, universities, and conferences on building awareness strategies. She frequently writes for the Huntington Post. She develops training for core constituencies in the human rights, political, and philanthropic environments. She recently completed a 40-Day Hunger Strike in order to draw attention to the unprecedented sexual and gender based violence ongoing in Congo.