Kenneth Lukuko

Kenneth Lukuko is the Senior Project Leader for the Building an Inclusive Society Programme’s Community Healing Project. His interest in the South African reconciliation process was kick-started in 1984 when as one of the first group of boys from township schools, he won a scholarship to study in a multi-racial school. This was at a time when apartheid was still in force, presented numerous challenges of social adjustment across culture, language, history as well as perspectives for socio-political change for the country’s future. Since, then, his academic interest has been in the social sciences and straddling the divide between the lived experiences of both the historically disadvantaged groups, as well as the historically advantaged South Africans. He became one of the key participants in the community of Langa in the Institute’s Community Healing Project in 2004. He became the Project’s coordinator in 2006 and thus also developed interests and collaborations in the rest of the Institute’s work, in terms of social analysis on reconciliation and joining community peace-building work on the rest of the African continent. In the Community Healing project, he particularly emphasises the need for authentic relationships with communities and elevating these to influence change through collaboration with civil society and policy formulation or changes with the government.