For Immediate Release, October 14, 2009
Contact: Lauren Sucher/Allison Sturma

(Washington, D.C.) - The U.S. Institute of Peace announced today the formation of a new initiative on gender and peacebuilding to focus additional attention on the challenges facing women in conflict zones around the world, and to further address the broader issue of gender-related impacts of conflict and peacebuilding. Kathleen Kuehnast, who has served as associate vice president of USIP’s Grant Program, will be moving over to become the lead of the gender program.

As gender adviser, Kuehnast will work within the Institute's Centers of Innovation, where she will be developing the intellectual and operational work on gender that USIP has begun in all facets of its work. This will be a multidisciplinary effort to coordinate projects and share lessons learned. She will continue to chair the Working Group on Gender, Conflict and Peacebuilding.

"We are delighted that Kathleen is devoting her full-time energies and talents to this effort," said Tara Sonenshine, executive vice president at USIP. "Over the last several decades, the Institute has funded and worked on many projects related to women, and we believe the time has come to really expand that effort."

Kuehnast joined the Institute in 2008 after 15 years of work in international development focusing on social development. She holds a Ph.D. in socio-cultural anthropology from the University of Minnesota. Her bio is viewable online.

A compilation of USIP’s work on gender, conflict and peacebuilding is viewable online.