Social Science Research Council

Senior Adviser, HIV/AIDS, Gender and Security

klot@ssrc.org
Office Phone: Ext. 472

Jennifer F. Klot is Senior Adviser for SSRC programs on HIV/AIDS, Gender and Security. Prior to coming to the Council, she served as a Senior Adviser at the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) on Governance, Peace and Security. In this capacity, she directed Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Elisabeth Rehn’s Independent Expert Assessment on Women, Peace and Security and advised the Arusha peace process and the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, helping to broker women's participation in these processes and ensure attention to gender issues. During her tenure at the United Nations, Ms. Klot was instrumental in introducing issues relating to gender and children into the UN's peace and security agenda. Between 1994-2000, she served as a Policy Advisor on peace and security at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and directed the General Assembly-mandated United Nations Report on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, chaired by Graça Machel. Prior to joining the United Nations, Ms. Klot served as the Acting Executive Director for the Fund for Education in South Africa and as the Regional Representative for the southern Africa office of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, an international fellowship program for public entrepreneurs. She also directed a project to disseminate, research and document indigenous music of southern Africa for performance and educational purposes, and recorded and toured internationally with the African Jazz Pioneers, a South African jazz ensemble.

Ms. Klot has been a visiting scholar at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. She received a Master's of Regional Planning from Cornell University and a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science, Economics and Women’s Studies from Rutgers University. She is an Editorial Board Member of Security Dialogue, published in association with the International Peace Research Institute, a member of the American Program Board of Humanity in Action, an Advisory Committee member of the All Africa.com Global Health Initiative, and Board Member of Iris House for Women and HIV/AIDS.