Jessica Oliver

Bio

Jessica Oliver has worked as a policy analyst in the Education Directorate at the Canadian International Development Agency while completing her MA at Carleton University. Jessica recently returned from Gulu, northern Uganda where she spent two months conducting field research on education programs for war-affected children. In Gulu, she volunteered with Children/Youth as Peacebuilders (CAP), a local community-based organization, and at Awere Secondary School as a teacher.

Jessica has interned at the Canadian Bureau for International Education in Ottawa and taught kindergarten in Istanbul, Turkey. She has also volunteered with St. Francis Xavier University’s X-Project, a social action committee that provides literacy programs for school-age children living on the Pictou Landing First Nation Reserve.

Originally from Newfoundland, Jessica holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from St. Francis Xavier University and a master’s degree in English literature from Queen’s University. In order to pursue her interests in human security, peace-building, development, and social policy, Jessica returned to university in 2007 to complete a master’s degree at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University with a focus on conflict analysis and conflict resolution. She speaks English, French, and basic Turkish.

Issue of Investigation

As a recipient of the 2009 Gordon Global Fellowship, Jessica will examine education policies for war-affected children and youth. Since the mid-1990s, donors, international organizations, and NGOs have focused on targeting education assistance in conflict-affected countries to child soldiers in order to facilitate reintegration and build peace. Jessica will investigate the impact of this policy on peace-building in a context where civilian war-affected children and youth may not have access to quality education. She will conduct a comparative case study of northern Uganda and southern Sudan.

Photo taken at Pawel displacement camp, Amuru district, Uganda