Isabelle Clérie is a Haitian anthropologist and a peacebuilding and transitional justice expert with over a decade of experience advancing community-led solutions in Haiti and beyond. Her work is grounded in an asset-based approach, recognizing and amplifying the strengths, knowledge, and experience of local communities. In the last ten years, she has led initiatives that link collective memory, restorative justice, and survivor-centered processes with broader state and international mechanisms, ensuring that transitional justice efforts are not externally imposed but locally designed and owned. She was the UN special consultant on transitional justice in the UN’s Office of the High Commission for Human Rights and wrote the first National Strategy for Transitional Justice; wrote a national strategy for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration as well as community violence reduction (DDR-CVR) and supports the work of the national DDR commission. She has also facilitated community dialogues and designed a national dialogue strategy.

Isabelle has advised on strategies connecting truth-telling, reparations, and dialogue to peacebuilding, and has facilitated partnerships between civil society, philanthropic actors, and international institutions, including multi and bilaterals. Through her research, writing, and facilitation, including her “Repairing Development” column for Proximate Press, she consistently advocates for community-driven, peace-centered development models that can outlast international aid.

Participant in: July 2026 Fellowship: Peacebuilding and Women’s Meaningful Participation in Peacebuilding Processes