Laura Spano

Laura is the R2P Program Officer at World Federation of United Nations Association (NYC). She runs a capacity building and awareness raising program aimed at increasing advocacy efforts to prevent genocide. For the past five years Laura has worked in Rwanda, South Africa, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Armenia, China, Venezuela, Colombia, USA and Australia on civilian protection and mass atrocity prevention. She has recruited and supported hundreds of volunteers, written numerous project and funding proposals, controlled thousands of dollars and designed and implemented capacity building and poverty alleviation projects. Laura has worked at the local levels with grassroots organisations all the way to the top where she now works at the UN and interactions with government officials and diplomats daily. This includes developing a human rights training program in Rwanda, managing a community engagement program for refugees in Australia, researching MDGs in Africa for a South African civil society organisation, and holding workshops and conferences on genocide prevention. Laura, has delved head first into the world of development designing and leading a program to rebuild schools structures and provide educational opportunities in Rwanda and lead volunteer programs in Kenya.

She completed her post-graduate Degree in Development (Post-Conflict Reconstruction). a BA (International Relations & Development) and a Diploma of Modern Languages (French) from the University of Melbourne, Australia. During her studies she spent time researching in Rwanda and went on an exchange year at McGill University, Canada.

In her spare time Laura writes and presents on her experiences of working in the world of International Relations; consisting of anything from how to get into the UN, to conflict prevention, to reflecting on post-colonialism. And sometimes she just write about coffee.