Amanda Schmitt

Amanda Schmitt is the Sanctions Project Coordinator at The Soufan Center, supporting the project, Deterrence and Denial: The Impact of Sanctions and Designations on Violent Far-Right Groups. The Soufan Center, with the support of the Airey Neave Trust, is undertaking this project through summer 2022 to deepen understanding about the impact of sanctions and proscriptions on terrorist groups, with a focus on violent far-right actors. Previously, Amanda served a the Program and Communications Officer at The Soufan Center. She has experience in research and project management across the United Nations, nonprofit, and public sectors, with a regional focus on the Middle East across humanitarian policy, forced migration, international law, and conflict analysis.

She also previously worked as a research consultant with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) humanitarian access technical advisory unit in New York. Pursuant to this role, Amanda led a project to develop case studies on access trends and mitigation measures in the COVID-19 response. She has also worked in Beirut with a Syrian peacebuilding NGO, the Center for Civil Society and Democracy (CCSD), and with the American NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court (AMICC) in New York. Additionally, Amanda led a consultancy team working with the U.S. Embassy in Amman to assess durable solutions for Syrian IDPs at Rukban. She also worked in grant management and fundraising at the Enough Project, a human rights NGO based in Washington, D.C.

Amanda was awarded a Master of International Affairs degree at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California.