Sapna Chhatpar Considine
Director (NY)
Sapna@StrategyforHumanity.org
Sapna Chhatpar Considine is a Director at Strategy for Humanity, where she heads up our New York operations and is a key lead on the multilateral portfolio. Her areas of expertise include United Nations processes and structures, atrocity prevention, responsibility to protect, civilians in conflict, human rights and humanitarian crises, and peacebuilding and sustaining peace. Sapna began her career 20 years ago working at the grassroots level to mobilize students, policy makers and the general public to support democratic freedoms in Burma.
Prior to coming to Strategy for Humanity, Sapna served as the co-founder and Program Director of the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect (ICRtoP), a global coalition of civil society organizations working to prevent genocide and mass atrocities. At ICRtoP, Sapna cultivated linkages with hundreds of civil society organizations from all over the world to build local, regional and global capacities for implementation of the Responsibility to Protect and to mobilize action for the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities. Responsible for conceptualizing and drafting the founding purposes, principles, and governance structure of the Coalition, Sapna designed and implemented the strategy of the Coalition, developed yearly action plans and generated startup funds from foundations and governments.
Sapna has a record of driving impact in complex decision-making environments. She has served as the primary liaison and advocate with government representatives, high-level UN officials, regional bodies and civil society. She also has cultivated and coordinated a network of organizations, communications strategy, bilateral advocacy with U.N. Member States, and public education initiatives and events.
Sapna is an expert contributor to global and regional discussions on mass genocide and atrocity crimes, conflict prevention and peacebuilding, including discussions on how the UN should move forward on mainstreaming prevention, strengthening institutions through civil society collaboration at the domestic and regional levels, assessing risk in a variety of country crisis situations and recommending courses of action for diverse stakeholders.
Earlier in her career, Sapna worked for a U.S. Congressman, serving as his lead on international affairs and working to respond to human rights crises. She also worked at a DC-based civil rights law firm, which specialized in class action employment discrimination law.
Sapna holds a Master of International Affairs, focusing on Human Rights, from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the American University in Washington, DC.
While at Strategy for Humanity, Sapna has led initiatives for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the United Nations Office for the Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect, the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, Peace Direct and Cordaid.
A selection of Sapna’s publications include:
Blog Post: Sapna Chhatpar Considine and Lesley Connelly, “Peacebuilding Approaches to Sustaining Peace: Views from Local Peacebuilders”, Peace Direct and International Peace Institute (IPI Issue Brief, April 2018)
Consultation Report: Local Voices for Peace, Local Peacebuilding Approaches to Atrocity Prevention (Peace Direct, April 2018)
Peer-reviewed article: “The Responsibility to Protect: Guidelines for the International Community to Prevent and React to Genocide and Mass Atrocities”
Book chapter: “Realizing the Responsibility to Protect During Emerging and Acute Crises: A Civil Society Proposal for the United Nations” in Responsibility to Protect: The Global Moral Compact for the 21st Century (Palgrave MacMillan, 2008).
Guest Editor of a volume on Civil Society Perspectives on the Responsibility to Protect in Global Responsibility to Protect (Brill, 2011).
Training toolkit: International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect Toolkit on the Responsibility to Protect
