2011-12 Ambassadorial Scholar - Melanie Poole

Melanie has been selected to be the outbound Ambassadorial Scholar for 2011/2012 for District 9710.

Melanie graduated in December 2010 with the Bachelor of Arts (Political Science)/Bachelor of Law at ANU. Melanie has also been an exchange student at Bonn University (Germany) in the Political Science Faculty. She has also spent 2 months at the European Parliament Summer University. As part of her ANU studies, Melanie is currently studying at Berkeley University in California.

Melanie spent a year as a volunteer with the Kenyan Voluntary Development Foundation (KVDF) where she worked in a small village, volunteered in a HIV/AIDs orphanage, taught English at the local primary school and was invited to record the discussions of young women regarding genital mutilation. Following her time with KVDF, Melanie was invited by Kenyans to work with the UNHCR at Kakuma Refugee Camp in the north of Kenya. In this role, Melanie worked with refugee Sudanese women to build a childcare centre. Melanie undertook other roles with the UN and its projects.

Melanie has also worked with organisations that assist aboriginal people, in particular women in the Northern Territory of Australia, predominantly by using her legal qualifications. Melanie has also worked as a public servant in Canberra on aboriginal legal matters. Melanie has led a research project in the north of Pakistan speaking to hundreds of women about the schools that they were running. Melanie was also one of Australia's two Youth Ambassadors to the UN in 2008 which included addressing the General Assembly of the UN and working with youth activists on projects that address poverty. Following the completion of her studies at ANU, Melanie will be working on a UN project concerning Turkish women in Istanbul.

Melanie was intending to study a Masters of Arts in Gender and Women's Studies in the Middle East/North Africa (Arabic minor) at the American University in Cairo Egypt, however due to the political situation in Egypt, Melanie has been required by the Rotary Foundation to reconsider her study  preferences. Melanie considers that addressing gender inequality is a key to achieving major development goals of reducing hunger, poverty and the spread of HIV/AIDS. To do so, Melanie considers that it is essential to understand the historical, political and social constructs of gender inequality in relevant regions, in particular the Middle East and North Africa where gender inequality is substantial.

Melanie is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Woden Daybreak.

For more information, or to contact Melanie, contact: Tony Trumble trumble@tpg.com.au