Ms. Isabelle Pypaert-Perrin
Executive Director of the International Movement ATD Fourth World
Isabelle Pypaert Perrin first joined the long-term ATD Fourth World Volunteer Corps in 1981 and worked in low-income communities in her native Belgium as well as in Guatemala, Haiti, Mauritius, France, Switzerland, and southeast Asia. All her work has been underpinned by the goal of reaching and empowering people most likely to be left behind. As part of ATD Fourth World's international leadership team since 2008 and its director general since 2012, Isabelle Pypaert Perrin is responsible for grassroots cultural projects and policy advocacy work in 34 countries. Her ethos of leadership is based on horizontal governance that begins with people experiencing the worst forms of poverty. In 2009–2012, she led an international participatory research project published under the title Extreme Poverty Is Violence – Breaking the Silence – Searching for Peace. Isabelle Pypaert Perrin's degree is in social work from the Institut Cardijn Haute École Louvain en Hainaut, Belgium.