Kyla Jagger Neilan is co-author of Jeffrey Ashe's In Their Own Hands: How Savings Groups are Revolutionizing Development (2014).  She contributed research to Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything: Capitalism Vs. the Climate (Simon & Schuster, 2014).  She has also contributed research for the United Nations World Food Program, Oxfam America, and Catholic Relief Services including fieldwork in Mali, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, and Tanzania.  Kyla holds an MPA in International Development from Cornell University's Institute for Public Affairs and a BA from Oberlin College in Third World Studies, Environmental Studies, and French.  She received awards for gender and environmental research and fellowships from myAgro, the Cornell Institute of Public Affairs, and Environment Ohio Research and Policy Center.

Kyla is a practitioner, researcher, and activist for social justice and food sovereignty. She is fascinated by the intersections of gender and food systems at the margins. Her work in humanitarian emergencies supports people in crisis. Writing and activism allow her to be in solidarity with social movements that address root causes of crisis.

Kyla from the northeast United States, and travel globally as a humanitarian aid worker, mostly in Central and West Africa.