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Khawla Benyahya is a governance and peacebuilding practitioner with extensive experience across the United Nations, the African Union, development cooperation and regional institutions. She currently supports regional democratic governance and electoral processes at the United Nations Development Programme Regional Service Centre for Africa in Addis Ababa. Her previous work with UNDP in Dakar focused on local governance, institutional resilience, conflict prevention and public service delivery across the Sahel and West and Central Africa. She has contributed to African Union electoral observation and regional policy initiatives, including those engaging youth. Her experience also spans democratic governance, gender-responsive programming, climate adaptation and locally led resilience, with a focus on fragile and vulnerable contexts. Having worked across diverse African regions, she connects policy, institutional practice and citizen-centred approaches to governance and development. Her research and professional interests include democratic governance and institutional resilience, peacebuilding and locally led development, electoral governance and citizen participation, and the intersection of technology and democracy in Africa.
