Michelle Barsa

Senior Technical Manager for Peacebuilding and Transforming Extremism, United States

A skilled expert in models of inclusion for peace and security processes, Michelle Barsa brings her extensive experience to implement strategies for countering violent extremism, particularly as they relate to women.  

Michelle Barsa is the Senior Technical Manager for EAI’s Peacebuilding & Transforming Extremism practice area. She specializes in models of inclusion for peace and security processes, with an emphasis on women and civil society. She holds a Democracy Fellowship from the Institute for International Education, where she supports the advancement of the U.S. Government’s research on violent extremism.

Before working at EAI, Michelle was a director at Inclusive Security where she advised on U.S. foreign policy issues related to women, peace, and security. She led programs in Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, Sudan, Libya, and Nigeria. Michelle has extensive field experience working with women in civil society, government, and national security forces to localize the impact of ongoing peace and security processes, increase women’s political activism and implement strategies for countering violent extremism.  

This brief but illustrative list of publications and videos further demonstrate Michelle’s expertise in issues of inclusive security and countering violent extremism:

Michelle’s earlier work with NGOs involved leading a variety of programs including direct implementation of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan; trauma counseling for survivors of domestic violence in the U.S. and Guatemala; researching the impact of free trade agreements on domestic violence in El Salvador and supporting women-led nonviolent peace movements in the West Bank. Michelle also founded an NGO in New York that addressed the Latino immigrant labor rights resulting in changing local city laws to end discriminatory practices in business licensing.

She holds a master’s from The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University and a bachelor’s in finance and philosophy from Boston College. To contact Michelle Barsa please email her at mbarsa@equalaccess.org.