African Peace Partners

African Peace Partners is a US non-profit committed to supporting trauma-informed conflict transformation in Rwanda at the community and national level. From the beginning in 2011, Co-Directors Jim Mustin and Emily Gould have offered continuous technical and financial support to a peace center in the Northwest Province of Rwanda, Community Based Organization for Peace Education-Ihumure (Ihumure) and since 2017 have supported the development of trauma – informed restorative justice on the national level.

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 (right) with Pastor Augustin

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 (2nd from left) with staff.

Emily Gould A former criminal prosecutor and agency general counsel turned mediator and law professor, Emily developed an interest in trauma while working with sexual assault victims to facilitate their participation in the criminal justice system. 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. In 2017, Emily began her work as a law reform consultant to the Justice Sector in Rwanda supporting the development of ADR (alternative dispute resolution) in the country and was the international consultant for the research and drafting for Rwanda’s ADR Policy, adopted in 2022, the first national justice policy in the world that explicitly calls for a trauma informed, restorative approach to conflict and harm in civil, criminal and administrative matters.