Andrea Kwen is a legal and development practitioner with a background in criminal litigation. As Programme Manager for Human Rights, she supports the strengthening of community protection mechanisms for human rights defence and civic space resilience, while advocating for free speech. Her work focuses on tracking emerging digital and governance trends that may affect civic participation, facilitating collaborative responses among diverse stakeholders, and overseeing rapid response systems deployed for the protection of marginalized communities.
Before joining the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation, Andrea worked with local and international development partners, where she deployed her participatory programme design and strategic advocacy skills to drive reforms in public safety and security governance, and rights protection. She has also designed feminist solutions for increasing young feminist participation in civic and political processes.
Andrea is passionate about strengthening the civic space ecosystem, advancing women’s rights, and addressing the complex challenges of evolving digital democracies as a contested space. She holds an LLB from Benue State University, Makurdi, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2017. She is also a fellow of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung’s Open Minds Young Voices Activists Programme.