Lydia Cardona is a bilingual international development professional with 6+ years of experience in training, research, and project administration. In her current role at Conservation International, she helps to build staff capacity on environmental peacebuilding and conflict sensitivity through technical support, training design and facilitation, and development of educational resources. Her interest in supporting gender-sensitive and conflict-sensitive conservation through dialogue and consensus building that integrates diverse stakeholder groups is rooted in prior cross-sectoral experiences and time abroad. This interest has since extended to supporting dialogue and peace initiatives within her own community.
Lydia’s past experiences include working domestically in public sector consulting, internationally with UN Women and UNICEF, and teaching English in Georgia and China. She holds a master’s degree in International Peace Studies from Trinity College Dublin, with a focus on women, peace, and security, and a B.A. in International Affairs from the University of Georgia.