Summary: John Prendergast is an author and human rights activist who has worked for peace in Africa for over 25 years. He is the co-founder of the Enough Project. During the Clinton administration, John was involved in a number of peace processes in Africa while he was Director of African Affairs at the National Security Council and Special Advisor to Susan Rice at the Department of State. John has also worked for two members of Congress, UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, and the U.S. Institute of Peace. He has been a youth counselor, a basketball coach and a Big Brother for over 25 years. John has authored 10 books on Africa, including Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond, a New York Times bestseller and NAACP non-fiction book of the year, which he co-authored with actor Don Cheadle. John recently released The Enough Moment: Fighting to End Africa’s Worst Human Rights Crimes, also co-authored with Don Cheadle, which focuses on building a popular movement against genocide and other human rights crimes. His forthcoming book is a joint memoir with his first little brother from his many years in the Big Brother/Big Sister program. John has worked with a number of television shows to raise awareness about human rights issues in Africa. He has appeared in four episodes of 60 Minutes, for which the team won an Emmy Award, and has consulted on two episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, one focusing on the recruitment of child soldiers and the other on rape as a war strategy. He has also traveled to Africa with ABC’s Nightline, The PBS NewsHour and CNN’s Inside Africa. He has appeared in several documentaries including: Sand and Sorrow, Darfur Now, 3 Points, and War Child. He also co-produced Journey into Sunset, about Northern Uganda, and partnered with Downtown Records and Mercer Street Records to create the compilation album “Raise Hope for Congo,” which shines a spotlight on sexual violence against women and girls in Congo. With Tracy McGrady and other NBA stars, John co-founded the Darfur Dream Team Sister Schools Program to fund schools in Darfurian refugee camps and create partnerships with schools in the United States. He also helped create the Raise Hope for Congo Campaign, highlighting the issue of conflict minerals that fuel the war in Congo. John is a board member and serves as Strategic Advisor to Not On Our Watch, the organization founded by George Clooney, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and Brad Pitt. John’s op-eds have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Post, and The International Herald Tribune, and he has been profiled in Vanity Fair, Men’s Vogue, Time, Entertainment Weekly, GQ, Oprah Magazine, Capitol File, Arrive, Interview, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Kenneth Cole’s Awearness. John has been a visiting professor at the University of San Diego, Eckerd College, St. Mary’s College, the University of Maryland, Stanford University, and the American University in Cairo, and will be at Columbia University, and the University of Pittsburgh. He has been awarded six honorary doctorates. We caught up with John recently as he was darting across New York City between meetings. What new solutions can we develop to end the genocide in Darfur? Share your thoughts in the MIPtalk forums.
