Elise Young is Counterpart’s Senior Director of Women’s Empowerment and the WomenLead Institute, responsible for the women’s empowerment practice area. Young has served as an international development analyst, advocate, and technical advisor for over 20 years, specializing in women’s economic empowerment, agricultural development, food security, fair trade, inclusive education, civil society capacity bridging, as well as gender equity, disability rights, LGBTQI+ inclusion, indigenous and refugee rights, safeguarding, and social inclusion. As a Senior Technical Advisor for Gender, Equity and Social Inclusion at FHI 360, she supported co-creation and mainstreaming of the organization wide Gender, Equity and Social Inclusion Framework 2.0, and served as technical lead on multiple women’s economic empowerment projects and business development opportunities. As Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs at Women Thrive Worldwide, she advocated for gender equitable U.S. and global policies in partnership with women’s rights organizations around the world. She also served as a Small Business Development Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin. Young has in country experience in Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East, South America and the Caribbean, Europe, and South and Southeast Asia.