Lyric Thompson

Lyric Thompson is Senior Policy Manager at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). In this capacity she leads the institution’s formulation of evidence-based policy recommendations and manages the institution’s advocacy efforts with the US Government and Internationally. Lyric also serves as co-chair of the Girls Not Brides USA advocacy coalition working to end child marriage, on the steering committee of the Coalition to End Gender-Based Violence Globally, and plays a leadership role in various other coalitions advancing the global policy agenda on women and girls. Her ICRW field work includes building the advocacy capacity of a coalition of women’s property rights groups in Tanzania and mobilizing a wide variety of stakeholders to achieve gender-responsive, urban development in slum communities of Mumbai, India. Lyric brings expertise in policy and advocacy on such issues as women, peace and security; violence against women; girls’ rights; child marriage and women’s economic empowerment. She has advocated for gender-equitable policies at the United Nations, White House, State Department, Department of Defense, USAID and on Capitol Hill. Prior to joining ICRW, Lyric worked as Senior Policy Analyst and External Relations Officer at Women for Women International, where she advised officials at the White House, State Department and Department of Defense in the crafting of the United States’ first-ever National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. Prior to this, she worked on USAID-funded conflict mitigation and democratic governance projects in Sudan and Serbia for Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI), where she conducted fieldwork on post-conflict reconstruction efforts in Sudan. Lyric has addressed the UN General Assembly on harmful widowhood rituals and given testimony to the Human Rights Council’s Special Working Group on Discrimination Against Women in Law and Practice.