Sonia Jagtiani is a program associate for the Western Balkans and Peacebuilding programs. Prior to joining the Fund, Ms. Jagtiani worked as a researcher in Beirut for the Memory Initiatives on Syrian Cultures, researching the role of Syrian visual art in preserving and building cultural memory after the outbreak of the conflict. During 2016, she worked for small civil society initiatives in Lesbos, Athens, and the Ritsona refugee camp supporting refugees as a translator and doing community outreach organizing and advocacy to fill essential gaps. Ms. Jagtiani also worked in London for organizations supporting immigration detainees, asylum seekers, and refugees and as an ESL teacher in France. She holds a Master of Arts in religion in global politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, where she concentrated on forced migration and post-conflict transformation. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts from Louisiana State University where she double majored in international studies and French and minored in political science. She is fluent in French, Hindi, and Urdu and intermediate in Arabic.