Udo Jude Ilo serves as the Interim Executive Director at the Centre for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC). Udo joined CIVIC in April 2022 as the Senior Director for Advocacy.

Udo Jude Ilo has close to two decades of experience working in the democracy space, driving social innovation and influencing change. Udo’s focus has been about creativity and finding new tools for democracy promotion. As the Nigerian representative for the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), Udo provided strategic leadership in opening the frontier of governance and civic space in Nigeria through grant-making, advocacy and network building. He also led OSIWA’s election work in 10 focus countries, providing advocacy support to elevate issues affecting the electoral process in these countries. Udo was involved in the design and roll-out of the West Africa Elders Platform which is a standing platform of former heads of state in West Africa committed to using their influence to promote good governance, conflict resolution and democracy in the region.

In the last 19 years, he has worked to support a framework of democratic accountability that allows for the primacy of citizens’ voices through his professional roles and writings as a social commentator. Udo has led advocacy delegations to Brussels, London, United Nations and Washington DC. He has also testified as a witness before the United State Congress. Udo has built up skills in philanthropy management, organizational strategy development and international advocacy. He has about 10 published works and more than 60 op eds. He has been published in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy and the Huffington post. Udo is an Eisenhower Fellow, Stanford, Draper Hills Fellow, and Yale World Fellow. He also the Founder of the Natasha Ilo Foundation, and has spent the last couple of years reflecting on loss, resilience and overcoming pain. His poetry collection ‘Kasie’ (2021) focuses on these themes.