Lindsay McClain Opiyo's Page

Name

Lindsay

How did You find out about this Network/Resource?

Youth and Peacebuilding Working Group

Please share a short bio for yourself. This should be no more than 3-4 short paragraphs.

Lindsay McClain Opiyo is the Development and Partnerships Specialist at Generations For Peace. Originally from Nashville in the United States, Lindsay has lived and worked in northern Uganda for much of the last ten years, working closely with victims and survivors of conflict to advocate for sustainable peace through justice, reconciliation and redress. Prior to joining Generations For Peace, she held a number of programming, research and communications positions with reputable peace and justice organisations, like the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town, South Africa, and the Justice and Reconciliation Project in Gulu, Uganda.

Lindsay’s main interests are the role of the arts in peacebuilding, and victim-centered transitional justice, and she is always looking for ways to better connect the two. In 2010, she and two northern Ugandan musicians founded Music for Peace, a community-based organisation that promotes the power of music for positive social change. In 2014, she implemented a project with Music for Peace and the Women’s Advocacy Network, a forum of more than 500 female survivors of conflict sexual violence for which Lindsay sits on the board, to professionally record a song by the women and produce its music video. It’s available on YouTube under the title, “Lubanga Ber (God Is Good).”

Lindsay holds a BA from the University of Tennessee and a MA in Peace Studies from the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. She has authored a number of publications on peacebuilding and dealing with legacies of violent conflict. Most recently, she led researches on the reparative justice needs of children born of conflict sexual violence and engaging men in gender justice.

Please list the countries and/or regions in which you have direct and significant expertise

South Africa, Jordan, United States

What is your current job (and organization) and/or where and what field are you studying?

Development and Partnerships Specialist, Generations For Peace

What are your main skills/expertise?

With more than ten years of research and programmatic experience with universities, non-governmental organizations and conflict-affected communities in Uganda, Jordan, South Africa and the United States, Opiyo has skills in fundraising and donor relations, project development and implementation, participatory research and advocacy, communications, monitoring and evaluation, strategic planning, organizational leadership and event and staff management, among others.

What are Your expertise areas/sectors when it comes to youth

Peacebuilding, Gender, IDPs, Leadership, Art

What are Your primary Skills, to compliment Your areas/sectors

Advocacy, Budgeting, Capacity Building, Evaluation, Fundraising, Grant Writing, Program Management, Program Administration, Program Design, Public Relations, Research