President and Chief Executive Officer, International Institute for Justice and Development, Inc.

Benjamin Ngachoko has spent most of his career in the non-profit sector developing and managing organizations and building the capacity of civil society in the area of democratic governance, justice system reform and development. 

Mr. Ngachoko has been involved in the movement toward democracy, rule of law and pluralism in Africa for the past two decades.  Persecuted under the dictatorial regime of Mr. Paul Biya in Cameroon and forced to exile, Mr. Ngachoko left his native Cameroon in May 1993.  He lived in Burkina Faso (West Africa) for four years. During that time, he assisted government’s officers and various NGOs in the design of policies and programs, the creation of a regulatory framework for building citizen’s groups and the appropriate role of NGOs in increasing the capability of citizens to shape their government. He also extensively traveled through the West Africa region, contributing to building the capacity of civil society organizations in Mali, Ivory Cost, Senegal, Niger, and Burkina Faso, before immigrating in the United State in May of 1997.

In 2001, Mr. Ngachoko founded the International Institute for Justice and Development (IIJD) in order to continue his passion for seeing poor nations around the world experience renewed stability and prosperity. Mr. Ngachoko believes that poverty and underdevelopment must be addressed through a comprehensive approach combining institutional reforms, infrastructure development, and capacity building by working with local experts and community based organizations.  With the IIJD, Mr. Ngachoko actively advocates tackling the root causes of poverty in Africa by addressing systemic weaknesses, reforming the institutions of governance, establishing independent and well functioning justice systems, building capacity and empowering communities.  In 2002, in order to confront the underlying causes of poverty, development crisis and insecurity, Mr. Ngachoko developed a Justice System Reform Process for Africa and other developing Countries. In 2005, he created the Justice System Reform Toolkit being used now to assess the institutions of Justice System and to complete the IIJD’s Justice Index.  In 2006, Mr. Ngachoko successfully organized the first International Conference on the State of Affairs of Africa in order to achieve a consensus on the roots causes of development crisis and persistent poverty, and how to effectively tackle these problems.  For the past decades, Mr. Ngachoko has travelled around the world and meets with world public and elected officials to advocate for institutions and justice system reforms in Africa as way to systematically address the issues facing the continent.

In the past, Mr. Ngachoko has worked with the Group of Research and Education for Democracy and Social Progress (GERDES) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) to provide technical support for elections and to train election monitors.  Furthermore, he has provided technical support, strategic advice, and assistance to the government in Guinea during the transition to democracy, to the government of Burkina Faso and NGO’s operating in Mali, Senegal, Niger, Togo, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Benin, and Ethiopia.  Before establishing the IIJD, Mr. Ngachoko worked as a policy and financial analyst for Prudential Insurance and Boston Financial Data Service.  Mr. Ngachoko has also provided assistance to many asylum seekers and refugees who have made their homes in the United States.

Mr. Ngachoko graduated from Boston University Law School, and Ouagadougou University law and Political Science faculty.  His management background was reinforced by the MS in Organization Management program of the School of International Training (SIT) in Vermont, USA.

Mr. Ngachoko is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the IIJD.  He is married with three children and currently resides in Chestnut Hill, MA with his family.