Kumi Naidoo to 2008, he was the Secretary General and chief executive officer of Johannesburg-based Civicus: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, which is dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society throughout the world. He also served as the founding chairperson of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty. Kumi Naidoo joined Greenpeace in 2009. He had been persuaded by his daughter Naomi to take on the role. Greenpeace's commitment to direct action and civil disobedience was what attracted Naidoo to the organisation. Naidoo saw his role as the executive director of Greenpeace as that of an alliance builder and an agent
Kumi Naidoo of South Africa. Naidoo, like many South African-born Indians, identifies himself as a Black South African. He noted that the completion of his doctorate was absolutely essential given that he was told that he was "the first Indian activist" from South Africa to earn a doctorate at Oxford. After Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1990, Kumi Naidoo returned to South Africa to work on the legalisation of the African National Congress to lead the adult literacy campaigns and voter education efforts. Naidoo was the founding member and Executive Director of the South African National NGO Coalition (SANGOCO). From 1998