Danuta E. Lockett

For the past 30 years, Ms. Lockett has worked in countries affected by war in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to help individuals and communities rebuild their lives. As Senior Vice President of a Washington, DC-based technical services firm, Danuta founded and managed a division dedicated to the study and support of Communities in Transition. She evolved the firm’s largest portfolio of projects in countries recovering from conflict. For the Victim of Torture Fund, she shaped and managed a portfolio of grants implemented by over 100 local organizations in 23 countries to treat torture survivors, in keeping with the Fund’s Congressional mandate.

Ms. Lockett’s clients have included the United Nations, U.S. Agency for International Development, Peace Corps, World Bank, and the Organization of American States. Highlights of her technical work include development of programs to mitigate conflict and broaden political participation in Zimbabwe, engagement of donors on issues of gender based violence and treatment of survivors of trauma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), design of community development projects in war torn settings of Angola and El Salvador, and expansion of treatment services for torture survivors in Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Peru. She also led a study on the vulnerability of children in the DRC, and developed programs for demobilized ex-combatants and child soldiers in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Angola, Mozambique, and Colombia.

Born to a family displaced by war, Ms. Lockett understands well the impact of trauma on families and the challenges of transition after conflict. She completed her undergraduate degree in sociology at the University of Washington and her graduate work at George Washington University where she earned a doctorate in human development and psychology. She has served on the Boards of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and Refugee Women in Development.