Renee Chartres

Senior Land and Legal Advisor with 13 years’ experience working on governance, climate change, land rights and gender equality, Renée is passionate about supporting land systems that help to address the challenges of our time – including action on climate change, inequality, and poverty.

Renée has recently joined the LEI team from Tetra Tech, Europe where, as Senior Manager in the Governance, Security and Justice team she sharpened her relationship building skills and leadership attributes leading the governance and climate change portfolios of the GDP$22M North Africa Technical Assistance Facility. In this role she oversaw more than 25 projects across five countries, managing interventions with government, academia, the private sector and civil society.

An experienced and innovative researcher, lecturer and program implementer, Renée has supported the UK government (DFID) and World Bank on the design of its land program in Senegal, led the development and roll out of the global methodology on women’s land rights and the law at the FAO HQ in Rome, and prior to this supported innovative mechanisms to recognise women’s customary land rights in the Burundi as part of a multidistrict land registration funding.

Renée brings strong technical, thematic and project management experience drawing on her knowledge of international human rights law, legal and policy frameworks, political economy and adaptive management strategies, customary justice systems, gender equality and impact evaluations. Renée has provided strategic technical advice on numerous land, gender equality, climate resilience, and justice sector reform projects in West and East Africa, the Middle East and Western Europe.

Renée holds a Masters in International Legal Studies from Georgetown University and a Masters in International Relations (Peace and Conflict Studies) from Sciences Po France. Renée speaks French, Italian and German and basic Spanish.