AFRICAN PEACE PARTNERS

African Peace Partners is a non-profit in the United States, committed to supporting the Ihumure Peace Association in Rwanda. We build capacity by bringing training and financial resources to Ihumure for its groundbreaking work in healing post-genocide Rwanda. We share information on their success with others so that Ihumure’s model may be a resource for other post–conflict communities.

Training: We bring international experts to Ihumure to support Rwandans develop expertise in:

• Trauma Recovery Practices
• Transformative Mediation
• Sustainable Agriculture
• Business and Organizational Development and Management

Financial Resources: We raise funds for Ihumure

• Operating expenses  for workshops, mediation and other community-based operations
• Building a Peace Center on strategically located land in the community of Rugerero in western Rwanda near the Congo.

Professional Community:

As mediators and restorative practitioners, we know the critical importance of professional community.  Our partnership with Ihumure creates a mutually enriching community of practice to us all.

See our video, Hope for Rwanda

Jim Mustin and Emily Gould, co-directors of African Peace Partners

Jim Mustin and Emily Gould, Co-directors of African Peace Partners, met through the restorative justice professional community. Jim had previously learned about Ihumure while working in Burundi, staffing a USAID grant with Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Services (THARS).  Ihumure was a sub-grantee and did well with the funds they received.  Emily discovered Ihumure through Jim, when as a team leader for Mediators Beyond Borders, she contacted Jim to find potential partners in Rwanda.  Jim and Emily began working together with Ihumure and then Jim set up African Peace Partners as a 501 (c) 3 organization. 

Jim Mustin  Before retirement, Jim had a career in counseling and nonprofit leadership.  He was the founder and executive director of Family and Corrections Network (FCN) and a restorative justice consultant with the International Institute for Restorative Practices headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Previously, Jim was a staff trainer for Virginia Department of Corrections’ Academy for Staff Development. Jim is an avid videographer and photographer, and source for the photos and film footage on this website.

Emily Gould is a mediator and conflict coach in private practice in Vermont. A former criminal prosecutor, Emily developed an interest in trauma while working with sexual assault victims to facilitate their participation in the criminal justice system. Historically, victims of traumatic events were ill-served by criminal justice systems.  Later, as a founding member of Mediators Beyond Borders International, Emily formed an interdisciplinary team of mediators and trauma recovery specialists to co-create with Ihumure a model for trauma informed mediation.  Currently, Emily works internationally as a Senior Consultant for negotiation and dispute resolution training with Mobius Executive Leadership.  As a director of African Peace Partners, she remains a professional coach and trainer for Ihumure as well as a partner and friend.