Vicki Gass

Vicki Gass, Senior Associate for Rights and Development at the Washington Office on Latin America, has been working on Central American social and economic justice issues since 1984. For several years she worked with CISPES doing local organizing, fundraising, coordinating delegations, writing human rights reports and political updates in Washington D.C. and El Salvador. She holds two Masters degrees from the University of New Mexico, the first in Community and Regional Planning, and the second in Latin American Studies with a focus on economic development and gender. Upon completing her degrees, she returned to Central America to work for Oxfam America and WOLA carrying out the post-Hurricane Mitch regional advocacy work from 1999 to 2001. Returning to Washington DC to continue to work with WOLA, she established the Rights and Development program with its focus on trade issues and rural development. From mid-2004 to mid-2006, she worked in Iraq with women on constitutional rights and advocacy.