Program Officer for the Middle East & North Africa

Alonna Despain is based in New York City, where she completed her master’s degree at the NYU College of Global Affairs in human rights and international law, with an emphasis on women and gender and a specialization in the United Nations. While at NYU, she served as a graduate researcher for GNWP, where her research focused on youth, peace and security in Tunisia and the intersection of YPS, WPS and climate change. For her masters thesis research she conducted a women- and refugee-centered analysis of the Women, Peace and Security National Action Plan in Lebanon.

Professionally, Alonna has worked all around the world and across the local, governmental and international levels of engagement, including at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the U.S. and Canadian governments, the International Center for Transitional Justice, the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations and a plethora of other civil society institutions. As an individual activist, Alonna assists in the coordination of the United States Coalition on Youth, Peace and Security.

Alonna is a native of Oklahoma and holds an undergraduate degree in International Affairs with a focus on Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Oklahoma with the highest honors.

 alonna@gnwp.org