Meet Kathryn

Dr. Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou is a senior expert on peacebuilding, security, and responsible business in Africa. She holds a PhD in politics from the University of Oxford (Nuffield College, 2005) and has written extensively on oil, politics, and conflict in Africa; the subject of numerous publications, teaching, post-doctoral research projects, and awards, including the 2012 Ruth First Prize for Best African Academic Article.

Kathryn has built up over twenty years’ experience in different roles in International Development in Africa (Nigeria, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Rwanda in particular), Europe (UK and France) and North America (US) working with governments, multilateral institutions, NGOs, and the private sector. Currently, she is the Director of Programme – Politics and Governance at ODI. Before this role, she completed a five year posting at the OECD as head of Secretariat of the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding, a multistakeholder partnership between the world’s largest donors (OECD- DAC member countries), governments, and civil society in conflict-affected and fragile countries. In this role she spearheaded collaborations with institutional investors and asset managers to promote responsible private investment for peacebuilding in fragile environments. This work built on an earlier NGO career with Oxfam in West Africa (1997-2000) where, based in Senegal, she worked as a researcher, trainer, and policy advisor on corporate social responsibility in the extractives sector and prior to that, with ACORD, as a researcher and project coordinator working on conflict-sensitive development in the Great Lakes region.

Dr. Nwajiaku-Dahou, a British-Nigerian, is fluent in French and a moderate speaker of Nigerian pidjin, Igbo, Wolof (Senegal) and Spanish. She works as an independent consultant, based in France.