Dr. Ayak Chol Deng Alak

Dr. Ayak Chol Deng Alak is the CEN Deputy Chairperson. She is currently the Programs Manager – Peace Process Support Team for the Horn of Africa at Inclusive Peace a comparative research think tank. Her work mainly focuses on identifying and supporting enabling environments to facilitate negotiations, mediations and dialogue processes.
Before joining inclusive Peace, Ayak was head of research at the South Sudan Strategic Defense and Security Review Board, and the Deputy Coordinator for the Civil Society Delegation to the South Sudan Peace talks. She has a background in Communication and was previously subcontracted by Foundation Herondelle for the United Nations Mission in Sudan and later on the UN Mission in South Sudan.
She has also worked as a Political Analyst for Ayin and Nuba Reports, a USAID sponsored twin organizations documenting the ongoing conflict in the Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile and the Darfur Regions of the Sudan. She is a co-founding member of the Senegal based Pan African University for Citizen Engagement, and was the Director of Neglected Tropical Diseases at the South Sudan National Ministry of Health.
Ayak is a certified Facilitator at the National Transformational Leadership Institute, and an ACCORD certified mediator, with a background in Medicine and Surgery. She fluently speaks English, Arabic, Kiswahili, and elementary French and has worked and consulted on projects in Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Guinea.