ROTARYPEACEBRADFORD

FRANCIS MULELA KABOSHA

ZAMBIA

Sponsored by: Rotary Club of Nkwazi, District 9210, Zambia

Country of Citizenship: Zambia

Language proficiency: Lenje, English, Tonga, Bemba and Basic Kiswahili

Background

I am a Zambian national resident in my country Zambia. I hold a Bachelor’s Degree of Social Work from the University of Zambia. After graduating, I joined the Anti – Corruption Commission of Zambia, before moving into private sector, where I was employed as Training and Credit Officer by Women Finance Cooperative – a micro finance institution that focused on improving women’s economic positions through micro – financing of their Income generating Activities (IGA).

However, the desire to serve the needy grew from one level to the other, such that I left Women Finance Cooperative to protect the world’s most vulnerable persons – refugees, who as a result violent conflicts find themselves as “ordinary people in extra ordinary circumstances”. I have been working as Refugee Officer since the year 2002, under the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees in Zambia. During my work with refugees, I have had relatively massive exposure to issues of international protection of the displaced masses. I have been a resource person on refugee protection and I have conducted several protection workshops for government officials, NGOs as well as UNHCR field staff. I have done human rights, and disaster management trainings among other areas of humanitarian work.

I am currently a member of the Southern Africa Regional Disaster Response Team (RDRT) with International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). I have equally obtained a Professional Diploma in Project Management from Cambridge University in England. Further, I have a certificate in Peace and Conflict Studies (Rotary Programme) obtained from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand as well as a graduate certificate in Peace Research from the International Summer School of the University of Oslo in Norway. My current job, coupled with these trainings provided a needle hole through which I started viewing the world broadly and more realistic, ultimately triggering the desire for an advanced training in conflict resolution and management.

I hope to utilize the newly acquired Rotary World Peace Fellowship to the best of my abilities in order to add value to the already existing pool of intellectuals that have been trained at the hands of Rotary’s generosity to the world. I wish to have an intern with the United Nations, focusing on post – conflict reconstruction strategies, and policies as they relate to the returning refugees (returnees) I aim at completing my MA in Conflict Resolution at Bradford University within the stipulated time frame of 2008 – 09 academic year.