Najla El Mangoush is the Program Officer for Peacebuilding and Traditional Law at the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution. She is a current PhD student at the School for Conflict Analysis & Resolution and a lawyer and professor of law, with a focus on war-to-peace transitions and peace processes. She is interested in political negotiations, religion and violence, conflict resolution, peace-building and promoting social justice. She is a practitioner in restorative justice and customary practices.
She was a Fulbright Scholar when she received her MA in Conflict Transformation from the Center for Justice and Peace-building (CJP) at Eastern Mennonite University (Harrisonburg, VA). She is fluent in English and a native Arabic speaker and has developed a deep understanding of conflict and context in and around the Middle East while working as a country representative for the United States Institute of Peace in Libya.
A lawyer in criminal law and previous senior staff member of Libya’s National Transitional Council, Najla is a trailblazer among multiple civil society organizations in Libya. During the Libyan Revolution, she worked as the head of the Public Engagement Unit which focused on the role of civil society. As lead organizer of first and second civil society large-scale seminars, she helped bring together civil society and decision-makers in a collaborative non-violent approaches towards peace.
She presented a webinar “New Vision: A Hybrid Approach Toward Integrating Customary Justice Practices and Restorative Justice in Libya” for the Zehr Institute of Restorative Justice. Currently she is focused on two research areas: identity narratives of uprooted Libyan women and interviewing indigenous justice leaders in their roles as local mechanisms to resolve conflict.