Marie-Rose Tshite

Marie-Rose Tshite is a peacebuilding advocate and a Ph.D. student in Political Science with a concentration in Feminist Comparative and International Politics at the University of Cincinnati. She has over a decade of experience working on issues related to women, youth civic-political participation, and democracy with various local and international institutions such as NDI, Freedom House, and the United Nations Information Center in Pretoria. Marie-Rose is a Fulbrighter, a Young African Leaders Initiatives (YALI) alumnae and a member of the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN) DRC Youth Caucus. She is also the Co-founder of the Congolese Youth Peace and Security (YPS) Coalition and has served as the Country Coordinator at the National Technical Secretariat of the Youth, Peace, and Security agenda in the DRC (STN-2250) under the ministry of Youth, where she supervised the elaboration of the YPS National Action Plan in 2022, helping the DRC the second African country to adopt such a plan. Currently, she serves as the Director of Prevention and Partnership within the STN-2250. Her initiatives include creating the “Peace Stele” (2023) honoring Congolese women peacebuilders of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue and producing a film documentary on Congolese women's fight to have the parity law enshrined in the constitution: https://youtu.be/lITOms4KrfM?si=1dYJZsLFqUw9KHsr. 
 
Since June 2025, Marie-Rose has also been leading the first National Study on YPS in the DRC, covering all 26 provinces. This research documents the perspectives of Congolese youth on peace and security policies, analyzes their role in implementing the YPS Agenda, identifies their initiatives and strategies for influencing decision-making, and assesses the challenges and lessons learned. The study will culminate in the production of a policy brief on Congolese youth perception of the YPS agenda implementation in the DRC. She has also contributed extensively to YPS scholarship and global policy processes.

As an independent consultant and engaged volunteer on youth and women participation issues for different local and international organizations in the DRC, she has been involved with the NDI NEW Politics Program, a program that aims to train young women involved in politics within the 4 countries of the Mano River Region (Western Africa). She has also been involved in the training and coaching of women and young women since 2014 on subjects such as leadership, elections and civic responsibility, public speaking, and the rights of women and girls to education. She has also been organizing campaigns to stop the spate of kidnappings of women that have taken place recently in Kinshasa.

During her free time, Mrs. Tshite is a volunteer interviewer for the VOKAL ICON-NECT, a project that captures the leadership journeys of African women. She collaborates with the public speaker club "Club Paul Panda" and a network of Congolese youth for Community Service Day (CSD) to cultivate a new generation of leaders dedicated to community service. Her current research interests focus on uncovering narratives and security perspectives of the first group of women who were deeply involved in the first peace negotiations that ended the Second Congolese war in 2003. Marie-Rose holds a bachelor's degree in International Relations and Diplomacy, an Honours Degree in African Politics from the University of South Africa, and a Master's Degree in Women and Gender Studies from the University of Cincinnati.

M.A. in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies: University of Cincinnati 2023

PhD in Political Science : School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Cincinnati United States of America, 09-2023 (Concentrations: International Relations, Comparative Politics and Feminist Comparative and International Politics (Fall 2023 - Present) )

Advisory Group, Second Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security August 2025 - (Present)
United Nations Peacebuilding 

Peer Reference Group, UN Peacebuilding Fund Thematic Review on YPS 
February 2024 - May 2025 
United Nations Peacebuilding Fund, United Nations University Centre for Policy Research 

• Contributed as a member of Peer Reference Group for the Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) Thematic Review of the UN Peacebuilding Fund, commissioned by the UN Peacebuilding Support Office (PSBO) and UN Population Fund (UNFPA) 

• 2025_yps_thematic_review_final_report.pdf 

Investigators:Marie-Rose Tshite 2021 -2022 NONE Masculinity, gender, peace and security Role:PI NONE Pending Type:Fellowship Level:University

Investigators:Dr Helen Berents (Griffith), Dr Yulia Nesterova (Glasgow), Dr Ingrid Valladares (Griffith), and Katrina Leclerc (Université Saint Paul). Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) Intergenerational Engagement in the Youth, Peace and Security Agenda, A project funded by a Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) research grant (July 2024-December 2025). Role:Youth Expert Advisory Team Members

Peer Reviewed Publications

Marie-Rose Tshite (2024. ) Capturing Congolese Women’s Memories of War and Peacemaking.Close Encounters in War Journal, , (Issue. n 7 ) ,275-300

Capturing Congolese Women’s Memories of War and Peacemaking.

Other Publications

Marie-Rose Tshite (2024. ) Mareike Schomerus. 2021. The Lord’s Resistance Army: Violence and Peacemaking in Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 326 pp . African Studies Quarterly. Volume 22, Issue 3

Mareike Schomerus. 2021. The Lord’s Resistance Army: Violence and Peacemaking in Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 326 pp.

Book Chapter

MARIE-ROSE TSHITE (2025 ) Congolese Youth Navigating Peace and Security: Reducing Community-Level Violence. Youth Leading Change: Emerging sites of knowledge in Peace and Security .(pp. 83-96). Palgrave Macmillan

Electronic Journal

MARIE-ROSE TSHITE (2018. ) Going Against the tide: How youth in the Democratic Republic of Congo are demanding a more active role in shaping the country’s future. Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation,

Khushboo Shah, Search for Common Ground (2024. ) Marie-Rose Tshite: A Profile of Courage and Building Hope in the Democratic Republic of Congo .CONNEXUS, A global network driving local impact,

Marie-Rose Tshite: A Profile of Courage and Building Hope in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Fulbright Network News (2023. ) Pioneering women of peace celebrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo .

Pioneering women of peace celebrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Technical Reports

Marie-Rose Tshite & Lydie Mungala (2024. ) Young women's leadership in advancing the implementation of the Youth, Peace, and Security Agenda in the Democratic Republic of Congo. An independent thematic paper from the Democratic Republic of Congo submitted for the 3rd Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council on Youth, Peace, and Security.Cordaid International, 1-15More Information