Hazel Dixon has been the Regional Desk Officer of CIDO’s Civil Division since 2016. In this role, she coordinates engagement of civil society organizations with the African Union Commission, African Union Organs, and African Union member states. She is responsible for the planning, preparation and management of programme activities related to the mainstreaming of civil society in the affairs of the African Union.

She provides expert advice and guidance on planning and formulation of strategic options for inclusion of civil society organizations and non-state actors in the affairs of the African Union.

She is deeply convinced of the need to implement the AU vision and the Constitutive Act to have a people-centred, people-driven Union. To this end, she has supported the development of platforms to ease the interaction between AU and non-state actors, including trade unions, youth, women, Faith Based Organizations and facilitated CSOs' engagement in various Africa-Partnerships

Her work with interfaith mechanisms focuses on exploring and utilising the rich and diverse faiths on the continent as a tool for building resilience and supporting the AU’s vision of integration and development.

She has successfully organised two African Union – Interfaith Dialogue Forum (AU-IFDF), which brings together Interreligious Councils (IRC) or leading interfaith organisations in places where Member States do not have an IRC.

She was also actively involved in the formulation of the CIDO initiative Interfaith Dialogue on Violent Extremism (iDove), which was founded in 2017 with the aim of introducing a soft power approach that uses religion and dialogue to prevent violent extremism. iDove is a youth-led initiative that is cross-continental and engages young experts from various backgrounds and religious beliefs, including community workers, academicians, policy makers and creative artists from Africa, Europe, Middle East and now South East Asia.

The AU has been an active member, particularly because of their involvement in the AU- IFDF and the iDove Project. Ms. Hazel currently represents the AU in PaRD leadership as a Steering Board Member. She also represents the AU as a member with the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers.