Melinda MacDonald has worked extensively in international development with a variety of international development partners both bilateral and multilateral (e.g., several UN Agencies). She has over 20-years’ experience working both in Evaluation, M&E and in the management and implementation of projects – mainly related to human rights (especially gender and child rights) and peace. Beginning in 2005 she lived and worked in overseas development in Thailand and surrounding SE Asian countries. She also worked with several of the IICRD proposed Evaluation Team members on the Child Protection Partnership (CPP), which was an IICRD implemented project funded by the Canadian Government. The project ran in both Thailand and Brazil and Melinda was the Deputy Director in Thailand. Following this period, a part from UN Agencies and International Donors, she worked with a number of international non-governmental organiations on child’s rights concerns such as with World Vision’s Project Childhood, where she and Michael Miner also developed the M&E system for Project Childhood the Prevention Pillar.
She holds a PhD (PhD in Human Rights Education, Peace Building) and her research focused on intergenerational trauma in Cambodia and Mozambique, particularly on children and youth experiencing conflict. She also worked with spiritual and cultural appropriate organizations, including Catholic organizations in Mozambique to help study healing from trauma. She has also been a long-time supporter of the Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution (CICR) located at St. Paul University in Ottawa. She was the A/Executive Director as well as teaching courses on community based conflict resolution at CICR for several years prior to leaving from SE Asia. Melinda speaks English, Italian and French.
