Khadijah Gumah

Khadijah Gumah is a current student in the M.S. in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (NECR) program at Columbia University. She holds a dual honors degree in Political Science and Peace & Conflict Studies from the University of Waterloo in Canada.

A multilingual global citizen who has spent much of her life moving across several countries, she has developed cultural adaptability, remarkable versatility, and a strong sense of self-awareness.

Khadijah is a citizen of Ghana who has always aspired to lend her services and talents to development work with respect to sustainability and climate justice in the Global South; specifically in Africa. Her studies in the NECR program have fundamentally bolstered her attention to emotional intelligence, social justice, and the tangible skills needed to achieve mutual success during conflict resolution negotiations. For her capstone, she is focusing on the interaction between Peru’s endemic cocaine trade and its impacts on indigenous peoples and the Amazon forest. Using conflict resolution models and frameworks in researching this pervasive issue has allowed her to explore the underlying needs, causes and relationships that underpin this conflict; which she has found are ubiquitous throughout the Global South. Issues such as corruption, weak governance, and inability to properly implement the rule of law.

In her spare time, Khadijah is also an artist, freelance graphic designer, and creative entrepreneur currently building a contemporary luxury RTW brand.