AFSA Panel Discussion on Women in Security and Development

AFSA is pleased to announce a special panel discussion in collaboration with the Foreign Service Journal. The discussion will focus on the role of women in security and development, which is the April cover focus of the Journal. This is the third in a new series offering companion events to FSJ cover topics.

This program takes place at AFSA HQ, 2101 E Street NW, on April 18 at 3 pm. We are honored by the respected and truly knowledgeable individuals who have agreed to participate as panelists:

-Donald Steinberg, the Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Mr. Steinberg previously served as Deputy President for Policy at the International Crisis Group (lCG). During three decades with the U.S. Foreign Service, he served as Ambassador to Angola, Director of the State Department's Joint Policy Council, Special Representative of the President for Humanitarian Demining, Special Haiti Coordinator, Deputy White House Press Secretary and NSC Senior Director for Africa. Other diplomatic postings include South Africa, Mauritius, Malaysia, Brazil and Central African Republic. His awards include the Presidential Meritorious Honor Award and the Frasure Award for International Peace. He holds master's degrees in journalism from Columbia University and political economy from University of Toronto, and a bachelor's degree from Reed College.

-Kathleen Kuehnast, Director, Gender and Peacebuilding Center of Innovation at the U.S. Institute of Peace. She joined USIP in January 2008 as Associate Vice President of the Grant Program following a 15-year career in international development, where she worked extensively with the World Bank managing international research projects and advising policymakers on social development concerns, with a focus on gender related concerns. Her ongoing work is focused on the increasing socio-economic disparities in Central Asia and the impact on local level conflicts. As a recipient of the Mellon Foreign Fellowship at the Library of Congress and the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies Fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, she has studied and written extensively on the impact of post-Soviet transition on Muslim women of Central Asia. Kuehnast holds a Ph.D. in socio-cultural anthropology, focused on gender and transition in Central Asia from the University of
Minnesota. She also wrote one of the cover focus articles on this subject for the April Foreign Service Journal.

-Jacqueline O'Neill, Lead Advocacy Coordinator at the Institute for Inclusive Security. In that role, she oversees Inclusive Security's regional and thematic advocacy. She co-leads Inclusive Security's work in Africa, with a focus on Sudan. Seeking to increase the number and influence of women in peace and security operations around the world, Ms. O'Neill also designs and delivers training for police, military, and civilian professionals. Since joining Inclusive Security in 2006, Ms. O'Neill has worked with women peace builders from countries including Afghanistan, Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Nepal, Sudan, and Uganda. Previously, Ms. O'Neill worked at the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and at Sudan's Ahfad University for Women. She was a policy adviser to Canada's Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific and, along with retired Lieutenant General Roméo Dallaire, helped found an effort to bring together military, humanitarian, and human rights communities to address the issue of child
soldiers.

The moderator of the panel is Julie Gianelloni Connor, director of the Office of Global Systems in the Bureau for International Organization Affairs at the Department of State. She also serves on the Foreign Service Journal editorial board and had primary board oversight over the content of the April issue focusing on the subject of the panel.

Like all of our discussion programs and other public events, this panel is made possible by donations to the Fund for American Diplomacy, AFSA's charitable 501(c)(3) organization. You may learn more about the FAD and make a contribution at www.afsa.org/fad.

Please send your RSVPs for this event to events@afsa.org.

Other upcoming FAD-sponsored programs:

-May 16: Former Ambassador Edmund Hull will be at AFSA at 11 am for a discussion of his brand-new book, “High-Value Target: Countering al Qaeda in Yemen.” Ambassador Hull is the former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen, and speaks with great knowledge and from personal experience about this emerging Middle East hot spot where terrorism seems to be on an
alarming rise.
-May 26: A Foreign Service Journal panel discussion on work-life balance in the Foreign Service; panelists include FSOs Margot Carrington (studying work-life issues on a Cox Foundation Fellowship) and Steve Morrison (parent of a special-needs child) as well as Kathleen Lingle of the Alliance for Work-Life Progress.
-June 23: The annual AFSA Awards Ceremony takes place in the Benjamin Franklin Diplomatic Reception Room at the Department of State at 4 pm.
-June 24: Noted author, academic, and commentator Andrew J. Bacevich will discuss his brand-new book, “Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War,” at 11 am.

We welcome RSVPs to events@afsa.org for any of these programs other than the AFSA Awards; please specify which program you are RSPV-ing to.