Sahana Dharmapuri is an independent gender advisor with
over a decade of experience providing policy research, writing, and training services on gender,
peace, and security issues to USAID, NATO, UNIFEM/Inclusive Security, international development
consulting firms and NGOs. Ms. Dharmapuri is leading the Gender and Security Seminar Series at
the Carr Center. She has lectured on gender and security issues at a wide variety of institutions
including, USAID, Harvard University, the State Department's Foreign Service Institute, and at
three of the major U.S. combat and command centers. Her field experience includes Liberia, Sierra
Leone, Rwanda, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, India, Uzbekistan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Ms. Dharmapuri served as the gender advisor on conflict and complex emergency situations for the
Office of Women in Development at USAID from 2003 to 2006. She was an Investing in Women in
Development Fellow at USAID from 2003-2005. Prior to her work at USAID, she worked in Washington,
DC at The Ashoka Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, The Fair Labor Association, and the Center
for Middle East Peace. Ms. Dharmapuri was selected to be a member of the American Council of Young
Political Leaders in 1999. She received both of her Masters Degrees (a Masters in Middle East
Studies and a Masters in Public Policy) from the University of Chicago in 1997. She is currently
a board member of The Emancipation Network, an anti-trafficking organization dedicated to caring
for survivors of trafficking.
