Liberia

Ms. Antonetta Lovejoy Hamandishe is a Ph.D. candidate in Peace Governance and Development with UPEACE. She received an MA in International Relations from the Department of Social Science at Oxford Brookes University; an MA in Human Rights, Peace and Development from Africa University, a Certificate in Project Monitoring and Evaluation from the University of Zimbabwe and a BA (Hons) in History and Development Studies from Midlands State University. Ms Hamandishe began her work as a community development worker, eventually moving into the elections, democracy and human rights sectors. She has worked in the development and democracy sectors in many capacities – a field worker, a researcher, a programmme manager, an election observer and a technical expert. Her research and fieldwork experience overlap arenas of democracy, elections, development and the interdisciplines of globalisation, governance, peace, poverty, international conflict, global civil society, critical approaches to terrorism and global political economy. She is a feminist activist and her scholarly works focus more on women’s political participation, electoral gender quotas, electoral legal frameworks, election dispute resolution and conflict monitoring in East and Southern Africa. She has provided advisory and technical support to the electoral units and observer missions of several intergovernmental bodies and EOMs. Her current research work focuses broadly on the nexus between resources and politics, and more specifically, on the sources of political, social and economic variation among resource-rich countries. She has experience in electoral assessment methodology design for international and citizen observers, assistance to election management bodies, CSOs, advocacy, research, and training. She recently managed a complex national election conflict monitoring and women empowerment support project (Dec 2020-Aug 2022) working with civil society in Somalia and Somaliland. She publishes articles and policy briefs regularly, most recently “Why Gender Quotas Don’t Work in Somalia? The Influence of The Electoral System and Clan Politics” (2022) and “Rethinking women's political participation in Zimbabwe's elections” (2018).