Veronica Isala Eragu Bichetero

Veronica Isala Eragu Bichetero is a lawyer and an advocate of the Courts of Judicature of Uganda. She is a senior consultant with EDG Venture Consult and is deeply involved in women's rights, children's rights, vulnerable persons' rights, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding in Africa. Bichetero currently works with the World Bank as Gender and Conflict Advisor, focusing on a special program, Learning on Gender in Conflict Affected Areas in Africa (LOGICA) Trust Fund. Veronica also does consultancies in human rights, governance and rule of law for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Development Law Organization (IDLO).

Her project focuses on promoting women's participation in conflict resolution and peacebuilding in the Great Lakes Region. Bichetero will share her personal experiences as an observer, negotiator and mediator at the local and national level during the Ugandan conflicts, and at the regional level where she has implemented best practices in developing women's substantive participation in mediation in Africa. She will write about the challenges to women's participation in peacebuilding and practices that promote women's involvement in peacebuilding processes. She will also compile a comprehensive database of women involved, or with the potential to be involved, in peacemaking to improve the network of female mediators in the Great Lakes Region and the whole of Africa.

Bichetero previously held an international position with UNICEF and served as commissioner at the Uganda Human Rights Commission, a national human rights institution in Uganda. Her experience at the negotiation table and peacemaking forum dates back to 1985 when she contributed at the government of Sierra Leone and the Revolutionary United Front as the UNICEF representative, advocating for the early release of women and children. From 2006 to more recently she was involved in the Juba peace process between the government of Uganda and Lord's Resistance Army, first as a representative of the Human Rights Commission and later at the mediation table providing technical expertise and advice. Bichetero has worked in Juba supporting the government of Southern Sudan on post-conflict issues, especially the empowerment of women and human rights. She participated as a technical expert in the April 2010 Sudanese election and the South Sudan Referendum.