Weekly meeting - Jody-Ann Anderson, current peace fellow

Each year, Rotary selects up to 100 individuals from around the world to receive fully funded academic fellowships at one of our peace centers. These fellowships cover tuition and fees, room and board, round-trip transportation, and all internship and field-study expenses. In just over a decade, the Rotary Peace Centers have trained more than 900 fellows for careers in peace building. Many of them go on to serve as leaders in national governments, NGOs, the military, law enforcement, and international organizations like the United Nations and World Bank. 

Rotary offers master’s degree fellowships at premier universities in fields related to peace and conflict prevention and resolution. Programs last 15 to 24 months and require a practical internship of two to three months during the academic break. Each year, we award up to 50 master’s degree fellowships at a select number of institutions, including Bradford University.

Jody-Ann is a current student at Bradford University and will be talking about her background, why she wanted to complete the fellowship and her current projects and work. Her areas of interest include but are not limited to disaster risk reduction, youth workforce development, coping, emergency response, conflict mitigation, relationship building and knowledge management.

Jody-Ann Anderson has substantial experience in youth programming and working in high conflict, disenfranchised urban neighborhoods particularly in her homeland Jamaica. She has successfully managed a complex multi-country, youth-led disaster risk reduction project that sought to strengthen the capacity of vulnerable marginalized urban communities, to prepare and respond to disasters. This approach integrates the people most affected by disasters in formulating strategies and solutions to increase their own resilience. Her portfolio also includes the strengthening of partner capacity/relationships, and supporting local organizations in the improvement of their internal management structures.