Vasu Gounden founded the African Center for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) in 1992.
It is today a globally recognized conflict management institute and the largest in Africa. ACCORD has been rated by Pennsylvania University’s Annual Think Tank Ranking in the top 100 Think Tanks globally for eight consecutive years, coming in at number one in Africa and at number thirty-four globally.
In 2018 Vasu established Global Peace to mobilize a global constituency to create a better world. Global Peace is currently conducting 100 Intergenerational Dialogue in 100 cities across the world, and is working closely with the United Nations to convene a Global Peace Forum in 2020.
Vasu holds a LLB degree from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa and a LLM from Georgetown University in Washington DC, which he obtained under a Fulbright scholarship. He is admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of South Africa. In 2000 he was elected by the World Economic Forum as one of its Global Leaders of Tomorrow. In 2016 he was awarded with an honorary doctorate in social sciences by the University of KwaZulu-Natal for his contribution to the field of peace and security.