Mugu Zakka Bako is an active and trained peace builder whose passion for non-violence as a solution to conflict was molded out of personal violence against his family members. Mugu has a Master’s degree in Conflict Management and Peace Studies. He has also attended training on Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) USA, Healing and Rebuilding our Communities (HROC) Rwanda, Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW), Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Ghana, Dialogue and Mediation at West African Peacebuilding institute Ghana, Lux Terra Psycho-Spiritual Centre, and “Do No Harm” in Nigeria, and the Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival, Canada. Mugu engages with partners and grassroots peace builders to address sources of violence in Nigeria. He teaches Peace Studies courses at the University and seminaries and has trained many young religious leaders in Nigeria. Mugu has worked extensively in the area of interfaith dialogue amongst Christians, Muslims, farmers and herders, as well as providing trauma healing for victims of the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, Nigeria. He introduced the “Alternatives to Violence” Project and the trauma healing components at Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and also introduced peace and conflict resolution courses in LAWNA theological college and St. Augustine’s major seminary. He also initiated the establishment of the Training Centre in Jos. He currently consults with many peacebuilding organizations in Nigeria. His interest is in interreligious dialogue and trauma healing.  Mugu identifies with a motto “Uniting and healing People through Peace lens”: a motto that has informed the basic principles of his life.