Research Assistant

Ariani Son is pursuing an M.A. in International Development Studies at The George Washington University, where she is concentrating in gender equality and social protection. Ms. Son, being both Mozambican and Dutch, has worked for the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Mozambique first as a Political Officer, and later within their Civil Society, Gender, and Social Inclusion Department working on human rights advocacy and women’s empowerment. Her main responsibilities involved administratively monitoring and evaluating civil society organizations focusing on capacity building and land rights advocacy against corporations in the natural gas extractive industry. Since moving to Washington D.C., Ms. Son has completed a fellowship with Save the Children with their Gender Policy and Advocacy team where she was able to build relationships with relevant partners on girls’ empowerment and ending child marriage. Ms. Son graduated from University College Utrecht in the Netherlands with a B.A. in Liberal Arts and Sciences specializing in anthropology, and completing tracks in criminology and psychology. Ms. Son has field experience in Sub-Saharan Africa, namely Mozambique, and is fluent in Portuguese.