David Hunsicker

David Hunsicker is a Senior Conflict and Peacebuilding Advisor in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Center for Conflict and Violence Prevention (formerly the Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation). Mr. Hunsicker specializes in issues of religion, identity and conflict, as well as development responses to violent extremism and insurgency. For most of the last twelve years, one of his central roles has been technical oversight of a congressionally-mandated program to bring together Israelis and Palestinians around issues of common interest. Mr. Hunsicker has provided support on conflict mitigation, religious freedom, and countering violent extremism to the USAID Missions in Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Burma, Iraq, Jordan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Tunisia, including an assignment as the Development Advisor in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)’s Force Reintegration Cell in support of the implementation of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s peace and reintegration program.

Previously, Mr. Hunsicker spent eight years living and working in the Central Asian Republics of the former Soviet Union. Most recently, he served as the Religion, State and Society Specialist in USAID’s Central Asian regional mission. In this capacity, he was responsible for advising USAID and U.S. Embassies in the five Central Asian republics on integrating religious communities into U.S. Government-funded development programming to counter the spread of extremism in the region and to promote inclusive development. He also worked in the U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan where he provided support to local human rights groups and facilitated Embassy outreach to religious leaders.

Mr. Hunsicker has a B.A. in Islamic Studies from the University of Michigan and an M.A. in Near Eastern Languages and Civilization from the University of Washington. He is a fluent Uzbek speaker, with experience that includes public speaking and publications, and conversant in Turkish and other Turkic languages.