Liza Prendergast serves as Vice President of Strategy and Technical Leadership at Democracy International (DI). Ms. Prendergast leads the development and deployment of technical solutions to advance democracy, development, and peace. She oversees DI’s Strategy and Design, Social and Behavioral Science/Learning, Communications and Partnerships, and Technical Advisory Teams. Since 2013, Ms. Prendergast has helped advance DI’s commitment to evidence-based development and expand DI’s global presence in Africa, Asia, Europe and Eurasia, the Middle East, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Previously, she served as a Technical Specialist in Civil Society and Governance at World Learning, where she supported political transitions in Egypt and Burma and led social accountability and youth empowerment work across the Middle East and North Africa. From 2005 to 2011, she served in increasingly senior positions at the Center for Civic Education, where she advocated in the U.S. Congress for the Education for Democracy Act. She also managed the Campaign to Promote Civic Education, a national effort to improve civic education in the United States, and Civitas International programs in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa.

Ms. Prendergast currently co-chairs the Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance Work Group for the Society for International Development (SID-US). She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for Civic Education, a non-profit organization advancing the principles and practices of representative democracy in the United States. Previously, she served as the first Board Chair of the Georgetown Democracy and Governance program Alumni Association and as Secretary of the Board of Directors for Election Reformers Network. She speaks and writes regularly on issues of democracy and foreign policy and authored “Confronting a Global Democracy Recession: The Role of the United States International Democracy Support Programs”, which was featured in Democracy’s Discontent and Civic Learning (2018). Ms. Prendergast holds an M.A. in Democracy and Governance from Georgetown University, where she graduated with distinction, and a B.A. in History from George Washington University.