2016 U-M School of Public Health Graduation

U-M SPH 2016 Graduation Ceremony, Part 1: Welcome and Opening Remarks

U-M SPH 2016 Graduation Ceremony, Part 2: Student Speakers and Awards

U-M SPH 2016 Graduation Ceremony, Part 3: Shamsia Ramadhan, Graduation Speaker

U-M SPH 2016 Graduation Ceremony, Part 4: Presentation of Graduates

U-M SPH 2016 Graduation Ceremony, Part 5: Closing Remarks and Music

The 2016 SPH graduation speaker was Shamsia Ramadhan, a peace practitioner from Kenya. Ramadhan works with communities in conflict to promote peace and social cohesion. She is a program manager for Catholic Relief Services (CRS), currently undertaking a peacebuilding project in east, west, and north Africa. Before joining CRS, she worked with Life & Peace Institute (LPI), a Nairobi-based Swedish organization engaging in peacebuilding activities in Kenya and Somalia. She was the program advisor on policy and advocacy for Kenya and Somalia, and was editor of the Institute's Horn of Africa Bulletin, an online journal that analyzes conflict in the Horn of Africa region.

Shamsia was born in Nairobi. She attended Kimathi Primary School in Nairobi city and completed her secondary education at Materi Girls' Center in Meru. She earned her undergraduate degree in social ministry from Tangaza College at Catholic University of Eastern Africa, and her master's degree in international peace studies from University of Notre Dame in Indiana. She is also an alumna of the Australia Leadership Awards Fellowship, Queensland University of Technology, Australia.

She began her career in peacebuilding when she moved from the private sector to civil society. While working with civil society organizations, she held various positions including training new trainers in active non-violence. This opportunity was her introduction to peacebuilding and policy advocacy for inclusion of women in decision-making processes and leadership. She was also the coordinator of Citizens Assembly, a national platform that engaged citizens and legislators in policy conversations. She engaged directly in research on public and social policy.

Ramadhan joined the peacebuilding fraternity in Kenya in 2000, becoming involved in peacebuilding initiatives in inter-community and inter-religious activities and interventions. After the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya, she led a team of trainers under the Emergency Volunteer Scheme in community peacebuilding and reconciliation in regional hotspots. In an effort to prevent violence in the 2012 Kenya general elections, Ramadhan trained Kenyan journalists on conflict-sensitive reporting. She is the chairperson of the Capacity-Building Subcommittee (CBS) and is a member of the Conflict Analysis Group (CAG), both of which are under the Peacebuilding and Conflict Management Directorate within the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government in Kenya. She is a steering committee member of Building Resilience against Violent Extremism (BRAVE), a movement of Kenyans to counter violent extremism.

Currently, Ramadhan is working extensively in inter-religious peacebuilding. Under the Capacity for Inter-Religious Community Action (CIRCA) project for Catholic Relief Services, she is building the capacity of faith-based efforts toward enhanced resilience in the face of violent conflict and extremism. The project operates in six countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Egypt, Nigeria, and Niger. Ramadhan is also a Global Advisory Council member of Evaluating Inter-religious Peacebuilding with Alliance for Peacebuilding--a team that is developing a guide on how to evaluate inter-religious peacebuilding projects.

Ramadhan lives in Nairobi, Kenya and travels extensively for peacebuilding work in Africa and internationally.