Featured Member of the Month
Peacebuild, the Canadian Peacebuilding Network, consists of many talented members. Each month, Peacebuild will post a new Featured Member on this Web site as well as in our monthly member eNewsletter.
We encourage any individual or organizational member to apply for the next Featured Member of the month. Please fill out the form at the bottom of the Featured Member page.
Note: In order to be considered as a Featured Member, you must be a Peacebuild member. To become a Featured Member, please fill out the Featured Member form.
- Martin Fischer, NPSIA
- Erin Koenig
- Abdul Kader Baloch, Plan Canada
- Jennifer Adams, Plan Canada
- Lara Olson, University of Calgary
- Carrie Vandewint, World Vision
- Gerry Ohlsen, Group of 78
- Tiffany Kizito, Wilfrid Laurier University
- Dr. Sarah Jane Meharg, Pearson Peacekeeping Centre
Featured Member for March 2009 – Martin Fischer, NPSIA
Martin Fischer is a doctoral candidate at Carleton University's Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA). His doctoral dissertation investigates the UN Security Council’s decision-making process on the authorization of UN peace operations to use military force to protect civilians.
Martin has worked for a broad spectrum of organizations involved in the prevention and management of conflict. His early assignments were with the Friedrich Ebert-Stiftung in Ethiopia and the Friedrich Naumann-Stiftung in Indonesia. More recently, he was part of an international team tasked by the UNDP’s Crimea Integration and Development Programme to conduct a series of training workshops for members of Crimea’s Human Security Council.
His most recent publication, co-authored with David Carment, “R2P and the Role of Regional Organisations in Ethnic Conflict Management, Prevention and Resolution: The Unfinished Agenda”, will appear in the third issue of Global R2P.
Within Peacebuild, Martin is involved with the Conflict Prevention Working Group. He is the CPWG's representative to the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict's (GPPAC) Early Warning and Early Response task force.
Featured Member for September and October 2008 – Erin Koenig
Erin Koenig’s experience – academic, professional and volunteer – illustrates a sustained interest in international human rights and human security issues.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Studies (University of Alberta), she spent several years overseas before pursuing a joint Masters in Human Rights and Democratization (University of Copenhagen), for which she submitted an award-winning MA thesis, Architectural Apartheid and Urban Cleansing: The Politics of Space and Structure in Human Rights Discourse.
Erin’s research and writing focuses on the nature, transformations and implications of spatial and social relations in cities. She has published articles in both academic journals and print media, as well as with Amnesty International and the UNHCR. Her work on urban security issues was recognized in 2006 with a Human Security in Urban Spaces Graduate Research Fellowship from DFAIT.
Erin has worked as a research analyst with the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights in Costa Rica; peace and anti-racism educator in Northern Ireland; international electoral observer in Chiapas and El Salvador; arbitrary detention researcher for UNOHCHR; researcher with DFAIT’s Human Security and Cities Program; and consultant with UNESCO’s Human Rights and Development Section in Paris, France. In early 2009, she will join the Canadian Foreign Service as a Political/Economic Officer.
Featured Member for July and August 2008 – Abdul Kader Baloch, Plan International Canada
A certified accountant by profession, Abdul has worked in the relief and development finance field since 1997, primarily in East and Central Africa. Prior to his current position as Grants Accountant at PLAN Canada, Abdul was employed by International Aid Agency and Save the Children, Sweden. His areas of expertise include: budget development, financial project management, donor compliancy and regulation reporting, training and capacity building of finance personnel, and internal audit and assurance.
Abdul joined Peacebuild's Board of Directors in the summer of 2008.
Featured Member for June 2008 – Jennifer Adams, Plan International Canada
Jennifer Adams is a Program Manager with Plan International Canada. Her focus areas include conflict resolution for adolescents and child rights in Colombia. She is also responsible for Plan Canada’s projects in Guatemala and has worked in Sudan. Jennifer has a Masters in Rural Planning and International Development from the University of Guelph. Before joining Plan, Jennifer spent over a decade working in Latin America, with field experience in Bolivia, Peru and Nicaragua.
Amongst her responsibilities as a Program Manager with Plan International Canada, Jennifer represents Plan on the steering committee of the Canadian Forum on Children and Armed Conflict. She organized the youth participation component for the Forum’s January 2008 international workshop on "The Reintegration of Children Affected by Armed Conflict" and chaired the session on "Social and Psychological Reintegration". In February, Jennifer led the elaboration of a discussion paper looking at "The Impact of Armed Violence on Children in Haiti." She was an editor on Plan’s 2008 publication of the “Because I am a Girl Report: Special Focus: in the Shadow of War.”
Featured Member for May 2008 - Lara Olson, Peacebuilding, Development and Security Program (PDSP), University of Calgary
Lara’s work focuses on practical approaches to improving the effectiveness of humanitarian, development and peacebuilding efforts in conflict areas. Since the mid-1990s, she has worked as an aid practitioner and with major international practitioner-focused research projects based in Boston examining the impact of aid in areas of armed conflict. She directed the research phase of the ongoing Reflecting on Peace Practice project and co-authored the project’s findings, and has conducted trainings and workshops for international aid agencies on conflict sensitive approaches. Fluent in Russian, she has worked in the former Soviet Union with field-based NGOs delivering humanitarian, development, peacebuilding and conflict resolution programming. She was an associate at UBC’s Liu Institute for Global Issues from 2001-2003.
At CMSS as an associate since 2005, she has been an advisor on topics pertaining to human security, the interaction of aid and conflict, and civil-military coordination in peace operations, and in 2007 taught a course on NGOs, Aid and Conflict. In 2007, together with co-director Hrach Gregorian she initiated the PDSP program as a partnership between the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies and the Washington, D.C. based Institute for World Affairs. The program’s mission is to advance the understanding of effective linkages between overlapping relief, peacebuilding, development and security assistance in war to peace transitions through a program of research, practitioner dialogues, and training. For more information see: http://www.ucalgary.ca/pdsp/
Lara is the CMSS liaison for Peacebuild and a Steering Committee member of Peacebuild’s Peace Operations Working Group (POWG). Lara has a Masters degree in International Politics from the London School of Economics, and a B.A. (Honours) in Political Science from the University of British Colombia.
Featured Member for April 2008 – Carrie Vandewint
Carrie Vandewint started as a program officer for World Vision Canada in September 2006, having returned to Canada from 3.5 years working as the Program Manager, Peacebuilding and Advocacy for World Vision Southern Sudan (WVSS), based out of Nairobi, Kenya. Carrie originally went to Nairobi on a Youth International Internship Program (YIIP), sent by Project Ploughshares to their partner organization in Kenya called the Africa Peace Forum (APFO). Having finished six months working with APFO organizing dialogues on supporting peaceful elections in Kenya in 2002, Carrie began at WVSS, developing a peacebuilding program that focused on grassroots reconciliation, protection, and local rule of law and governance programming. Carrie completed a Bachelor of Humanities degree at Carleton University in 2000 and then a Master of Arts degree at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) also at Carleton University in 2002.
Within Peacebuild, Carrie is actively involved with the Sudan Inter-Agency Reference Group, the Afghanistan Reference Group, and is the Vice-Chair of Peacebuild's Board of Directors.
Featured Member for March 2008 – Gerry Ohlsen, Group of 78
Gerald Ohlsen is Vice Chair of the Group of 78 and is active with a variety of non-governmental organizations including Peacebuild's Conflict Prevention Working Group. A retired diplomat, Mr. Ohlsen's thirty-five year career focused on African affairs and the international promotion of human rights and democratization. He was head of the Canadian mission in Nigeria during the Babangida/Abacha years and also worked in Rwanda subsequent to the genocide. In Nigeria, Mr. Ohlsen worked closely with human rights and pro-democracy organizations and lead international opposition to the human rights abuses of the military government of the time. Earlier, in Zambia, he was engaged in support for the democratic transition in both that country and Malawi and was the officer responsible for Canada's relations with the headquarters of the African National Congress of South Africa. In Ottawa, he served most recently as senior advisor to both the Secretary of State for Africa and the Director General of the Africa Bureau. Mr. Ohlsen's early career involved assignments in Madagascar and Ethiopia (with the United Nations Development Program) as well as in Guyana, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia (with Foreign Affairs). During the 1970s, he served as a member of the Canadian delegation to the diplomatic conference to review the Geneva Conventions.
Since retirement, Mr. Ohlsen has undertaken a variety of consulting and volunteer assignments. In recent months, he helped lead in the formation of the Afghanistan Reference Group, a network of non-governmental organizations seeking to present alternative views of the Canadian role in Afghanistan. He has appeared before the Manley Commission and the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development in support of a long-term, multi-dimensional peace process for Afghanistan. As part of his involvement with Peacebuild, he is presently leading a team of consultants in the preparation of a manual for use by development professionals in the volatile Niger Delta region of Nigeria. With the Group of 78, he is leading a team in the development of a series of YouTube videos to communicate a series of themes related to a peacebuilding approach for Canada in Afghanistan.
Featured Member for February 2008 - Tiffany Kizito, Wilfrid Laurier University
Biography
Tiffany Kizito holds a Bachelors (Honours) degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Toronto (UofT). Previous experience includes volunteering as the Project Officer for "What Kind of World…?" at the United Nations Association in Canada (UNAC), working with the G8 Research Group at U of T, working at War Child Canada and CPCS Transcom, an infrastructure development consulting firm. In 2007, Tiffany participated in the Caux Scholars Program organized by the international NGO, Initiatives of Change. The program, which was held in Caux, Switzerland, focused on peacebuilding and conflict transformation.
Current Activities
Tiffany is currently pursuing a Masters in International Public Policy at the Laurier Centre for Global Relations, Wilfrid Laurier University. She is specializing in Human Security and International Economic Relations. Tiffany is presently serving as the Treasurer on Peacebuild's Board of Directors. She is also working as a Research Assistant at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), working with the think tank's Portal for North America.
Publications
During her final year at U of T, Tiffany was a member of the G8 Research Group, which was established in 1987 and led by Dr. John Kirton. Throughout her term, Tiffany assessed the progress made by France and the United States in providing debt relief to certain Sub-Saharan African countries. Her research was based on the commitments made at the Gleneagles Summit in 2005. A final compliance report was published in July 2006 and presented at the St. Petersburg Summit that same summer.
2005 Gleneagles Final Compliance Report: published June 12th, 2006: Debt Relief, Africa – France and the United States of America. http://www.g7.utoronto.ca/evaluations/2005compliance_final/.
While participating in the Caux Scholars Program this past summer, Tiffany wrote weekly articles for the Ottawa Citizen. Each article highlighted a different aspect of the program. For example, one article described the Scholars' visit to the UN. Another article looked at immigrants and visible minorities in Canada and another told the story of a friend within the program who had survived the Liberian civil war.
Six weekly articles. Published July 14th, 21st, 28th, August 4th, 11th, 18th, 2007: "Seeing past differences starts at local level"; "An object lesson in interdependence"; "National capital has duty to welcome diversity"; "Lessons learned from stories of war"; "World leaders toss eggs every day; Can they learn to co-operate so that none breaks?"; "Back to the real world -- to change it"
Featured Member for January 2008 - Dr. Sarah Meharg, Pearson Peacekeeping Centre
Dr. Sarah Jane Meharg is the Senior Research Associate in the Research and Learning Development Department at the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre (PPC). The PPC is an actively participating CPCC member. Sarah also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Politics and Economics at the Royal Military College of Canada. She is a leading reconstruction theorist who contributes her expertise through a multiple of think-tanks, policy networks and government institutions.
Dr. Meharg achieved top-honors in innovative doctoral research in post-conflict reconstruction and has received numerous awards for research, writing and conference presentations. She has completed field research in many countries studying the cause and effects of destruction and reconstruction. Dr. Meharg's research specialization is the intentional destruction of cultural property during contemporary armed conflict. Her unique theory of conflict - identicide (1997) - defines the world's most recent attacks perpetrated against people and their cultural places. Examples include the Bridge of Mostar, the Bamiyan Buddhas, the World Trade Towers, and the Iraq National Museum, which figure prominently in her publications.
As a young professional, Sarah is dedicated to bridging cultural, gender, and generational gaps in the peace and security professions. She has worked to forward the concept of "peace as a profession" and the growing strength of peace building as a global economic driver.
Current Activities
Dr.Meharg is conducting the first phase of a three-phased research project on measures of effectiveness for peace operations. Dr. Meharg will be in Brussels, Belgium from 12 February - 7 April 2008 conducting interviews with stakeholders involved in crisis management and peace operations. She will be writing a book on the methods and practices of verifying the success of peace operations – from the perspective of integrated interventions and the recipient populations of such interventions. For more information on this project, contact Sarah at smeharg@peaceoperations.org
Recent Publications
Sarah's recent articles include: "Measuring the Effectiveness of Reconstruction and Stabilization Activities," Pearson Papers (Canadian Peacekeeping Press: Cornwallis, Nova Scotia. Vol. 10 Issue 1, March 2007); "Identicide: precursor to genocide." Working Paper Series. Centre for Security and Defence Studies (Carleton University. No. 05, November 2006) http://www.carleton.ca/csds/working_papers/MehargWP05.pdf ; "Post-War Reconstruction: Humanitarian Aid or Profit-Driven Activity?" Peace Research Journal. (35:1 2003) pp 65-74.
Dr. Meharg's book Helping Hands and Loaded Arms: Navigating the Military and Humanitarian Space (Canadian Peacekeeping Press: Nova Scotia, 2007) is being used as a course text at the University of Toronto and the Royal Military College of Canada. For a description and to order a copy, visit: http://www.peaceoperations.org/web/la/en/pa/2444EEAB6AD949C5A50739294FAEE9D2/template.asp
Writing Projects and Forthcoming Publications
Identicide and Post-Conflict Reconstruction: A study of the destruction and reconstruction of cultural property in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia.
Global Identicide: A study of the phenomenon of identicide as the precursor to genocide, and the steps towards 'identigenesis' within the knowledge economy and private sector peace industry.
