Sahana Dharmapuri is a gender expert and advisor to senior civilian policy makers and military officials on promoting peace and conflict prevention. Ms. Dharmapuri’s global perspective brings an intersectional lens to a broad range of inter-agency and multilateral engagement.

Ms. Dharmapuri is the inaugural Director of Our Secure Future, the Women, Peace and Security program of One Earth Future Foundation (2016 to present). Ms. Dharmapuri also has served as gender advisor on women, peace, and security issues to the Department of State, USAID and the Department of Defense. Her work includes developing sustainable policy approaches and program implementation for NATO, Sweden and Canada. She is a key interlocutor to USIP, IPI, and other international organizations on women’s rights and a variety of security issues.

Ms. Dharmapuri’s professional honors include: a Fellowship at the Carey Institute for Global Good for Nonfiction Writing in 2016; a Fellowship appointment at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard Kennedy School of Government 2011-2013; and a Fellowship appointment at USAID as an Investing in Women in Development Fellow from 2003-2005.

She is widely published including in Foreign Policy Magazine, CNN Online, and various outlets. In 2001 she co-created the first India-Pakistan Track 2 diplomacy effort with the University of New Delhi’s Women’s College and His Holiness The Dalai Lama’s Foundation for Universal Responsibility. She was recognized on International Women’s Day 2021, as a leader in women’s rights on the Fem100 list (www.gendersecurity.org). Ms. Dharmapuri received a BA and Master’s Degrees from the University of Chicago.