Gwen Young

Gwen Young is the Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson Center. The GWLI and its flagship program the Women in Public Service Project focus on empowering women across the globe and sectors into leadership positions. Ms. Young recently left Africare where she was the Country Director in Senegal launching women’s economic empowerment programming. Ms. Young has worked as a legal consultant for various universities and NGOs and a Policy and Advocacy officer for global development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. An alumna of Smith College, Harvard and the University of California Davis, Martin Luther King Jr School of Law, Ms. Young has pursued a career in humanitarian relief, international development, and human rights. Her career has encompassed a comprehensive array of international organizations including MSF, International Rescue Committee, ACCION International, CARE and the Harvard Institute for International Development. Ms. Young spent over ten years living in strife-filled countries throughout Africa. As an attorney, Ms. Young has worked as a professional advocate for refugee and human rights in both corporate law settings and with the ICTY and the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego. She also worked as a Humanitarian Affairs Advisor for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) providing humanitarian law, human rights, and advocacy training in conflict ridden zones. Ms. Young has published in the field of international human rights and international criminal law. She is member of a long list of international legal organizations and associations, including Term Membership at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Executive Board of the American Society of International Law and a several legal bars in California and Europe. Additionally, Ms. Young has spoken before the UN Commission on Human Rights on issues close to her heart.