Senior Women, Peace, and Security Advisor, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Senior Women, Peace, and Security Advisor, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Dr. Jennifer Hawkins is a global strategist and leading public policy expert on marginalized persons and vulnerable populations around the world. She is an academically and professionally trained social scientist who has partnered with governments, multilateral organizations, social service and health agencies, non- profit organizations, and notable human rights and civil society leaders.
Dr. Hawkins currently serves as the Senior Women, Peace, and Security Advisor for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). As the agency’s lead on Women, Peace, and Security, she is responsible for implementing the WPS Act and U.S. Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security. During her tenure at USAID, she has managed the agency’s only dedicated funding to advance key WPS objectives in countries such as Somalia, Pakistan, Kenya, Niger, Morocco, Iraq, and Nepal.
Prior to joining USAID, Hawkins served as a Gender and Policy Advisor at the Department of State, where she led the implementation of the Bureau’s Gender Policy and the National Plan on Women, Peace, and Security. In 2013, she served as the first U.S. secondee to Justice Rapid Response, an intergovernmental organization in Geneva, where she worked to increase multilateral diplomacy on atrocity prevention through a global “rapid response” roster for Sexual Gender-Based Violence experts. Hawkins holds a B.S. from Syracuse University and a Master’s in Social Work, with a concentration in children and policy, from Howard University, and a Doctorate from the University of Southern California.