Sarah Cooper, M.A.

Sarah Cooper principally supports the Carter Center’s U.S.-based democracy programming. She has more than 15 years of experience in the international democracy and governance space. This includes a wide variety of field and headquarters-based roles at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. As a global elections expert, Cooper has supported nonpartisan citizen-led election observation work — including parallel vote tabulations and electoral violence early warning efforts — in more than 20 countries. In the United States, she has provided high-level technical support to both the Montana Election Observation Initiative and Observe New Mexico Elections networks. She has also served as a consultant with the U.N. Department of Political Affairs, supporting the former Special Representative of the Secretary General to Somalia. Cooper is fluent in French and has consulted as a translator on technical elections publications. She holds a master’s degree in international affairs and international economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a bachelor’s degree in international politics from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.