Secretariat
The ASSN Secretariat coordinates the network’s affairs from its central location in Accra, Ghana. Its functions include the day to day administration of the network, coordination of core programmes, information management and logistical facilitation. The secretariat is entirely staffed by African professionals under the leadership of the ASSN Executive Secretary.
Professor Eboe Hutchful
Executive Secretary
Eboe Hutchful is a professor of African Studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, USA, and has taught at several other universities in Africa and North America, including the University of Toronto, Trent and Waterloo Universities in Ontario, the University of Ghana and the University of Port Harcourt. He is a long-time researcher on civil-military relations, security sector reform, and international development issues. He is the author of Ghana's Adjustment Experience: The Paradox of Reform (James Currey, 2002), co-editor (with Wuyi Omitoogun) of Budgeting for the Military Sector in Africa: the Processes and Mechanisms of Control (Oxford University Press, 2006), and co-editor (with Abdoulaye Bathily) of The Military and Militarism in Africa (Codesria Books, 1998). Professor Hutchful is a member of the UN Secretary General's Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters (ABDM). He is also a member of the International Advisory Board of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF); the UN International Policing Advisory Council (IPAC); the Governing Board of the Global Consortium for Security Transformation (GCST); and the Advisory Group of the (erstwhile) Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform (GFN-SSR).
Jane Abubakar
Programmes Coordinator
Jane holds an MSc in Humanitarian and Refugee Studies from the University of Ibadan (Nigeria) and a BA in Political Science and Philosophy from the University of Ghana, Legon. Before joining the ASSN, Jane was Senior Assistant Registrar at MountCrest University College in Ghana. She has previously worked with the Refugee Law Project in Uganda as an intern, Freedom from Hunger Ghana as the Programme Officer - Monitoring and Fundraising, and as the administrative officer of the Peacebuilding Project at the University of Ghana’s Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD). Jane has also been a training and fundraising consultant for the ActionAid programme in Ghana. Among the trainings she has attended are: Advanced Swiss Level 2 Training on SSR organized by ISSAT/DCAF at SWISSINT, Switzerland, Gender Mainstreaming in Security Sector Reform by WIPSEN-AFRICA in Ghana, a Certificate Course in ‘Civilian Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding’ by the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) and ECOWAS in Abuja, Nigeria and a Certificate Course in ‘Conflict Care and Reconciliation’ at the Transcend Peace University in Romania.
Elom Khaunbiow
Programme Officer
Elom is a Togolese national with a passion for pan-Africanism. He holds an MA in International Security and Defense from the University Pierre Mendes France of Grenoble and an MA in International Human Rights Law from the University of Nantes as well as a BA in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin. Before joining ASSN, Elom worked for the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC) in his country’s capital, Lomé. He was a Programme Associate specifically assigned to UNREC’s Regulation of Small Arms and Light Weapons Brokers in Africa Project and The African Security Sector Reform Programme. Elom’s combined interest in international relations, human rights and African security sector affairs partly grew out of a series of internships he undertook at Amnesty International, the Togolese Association for the Defence and Promotion of Human Rights (TADPHR) and the Togolese ministry of foreign affairs. He speaks English and French.
Selasi Nelly Bokordedzi
Senior Programme
Assistant Selasi holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and Linguistics from the University of Ghana, Legon, and is currently studying at the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (Part Two). She has a wealth of experience in administration, accounting and finance as well as auditing, having worked with several private companies and NGOs in Ghana and beyond. Prior to joining the ASSN, she worked with MJB Consult in Ghana and functioned in both accounting and human resource capacities. She was also consistently involved in most of the organisation’s audit work in Ghana, Liberia, Burkina Faso and Benin under a United States African Development Foundation (USADF) Grantee and Partner Audit. Selasi wishes to contribute her quota to African (and global) peace and security as a member of the ASSN Secretariat.
Eric Dzivenu
Accounts Officer
Eric is the Accountants Officer at the ASSN Secretariat. He is a Chartered Accountant of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana, and has over five years’ working experience in accounting and auditing. Previously, Eric worked as an accountant in both the shipping industries and with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana. He is currently an Audit Associate at MJB & Associates, a firm of Professional Accountants and Auditors based in Accra, Ghana and on secondment at the ASSN.
Edem Annenu
Maintenance Officer
Edem holds a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Building Technology from the Accra Polytechnic in Ghana. Prior to joining the ASSN, he worked for Cassa Trassaco Limited in Ghana as a Buildings Supervisor.