Ruwani Dharmakirthi
International Funds Program Manager
Ruwani Dharmakirthi is a program manager for international funds at the Center for Disaster Philanthropy. In this role, she supports strategic grantmaking and stewardship of CDP’s international disaster response and recovery funding and partnerships.
Before joining CDP in September 2025, Ruwani worked for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), managing the RISE grants challenge, a global initiative advancing survivor-centered, trauma-informed approaches to address gender-based violence in climate and conservation contexts. She oversaw grants and partnerships across Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Central America, including work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, Guatemala, Mexico, the Philippines, Nepal and others.
She previously worked with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in South Sudan on the Enhancing Community Resilience and Local Governance program, advancing community engagement, inclusion of women, girls and other marginalized groups, and risk mitigation and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse. She also supported IOM’s disaster responses, including Ebola preparedness, COVID-19, flood response and complex emergencies.
Her earlier roles included supporting women’s economic empowerment programs with CARE International in Uganda for refugees from South Sudan and DRC, managing resilience and livelihoods programs with TPO Uganda, and serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in southwestern Uganda as a community agribusiness advisor.
She holds a master’s in international affairs, a graduate certificate in emergency management and a bachelor’s in English literature from Florida State University.
Ruwani grew up in Sri Lanka and Florida, where she gained firsthand complex emergency and disaster experience and developed a passion for locally led, community-based solutions. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her partner and dog. When not working, you can find her hiking, kayaking or biking with her partner and dog or cooking an elaborate meal for friends.