Mary Hope Schwoebel

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Mary Hope Schwoebel

Associate Professor

Personal profile

About

Mary Hope Schwoebel, Ph.D., brings 30 years of experience in the fields of peacebuilding, governance, humanitarian assistance, and development, and has worked for governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay, where spent five years. She then spent six years in the Horn of Africa, managing programs for UNICEF, USAID, and NGOs in Somalia and Kenya. While raising a family and pursuing her doctorate, she spent 15 years consulting for USAID and State Department their partners, and other multi-lateral and non-governmental organizations.She has worked on every continent and in some of the world's most challenging environments, including Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Kenya, Peru, Pakistan, Colombia, Turkey, Nepal, and Indonesia, among others.

Just before accepting a faculty position at DCRS, she had spent five years at the Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding at the US Institute of Peace, where she developed and conducted training courses in over a dozen countries overseas and in Washington, D.C. and researched and authored policy-oriented publications. During her time in South Florida, Dr. Schwoebel has served as DCRS's Chair of the Curriculum Committee for all but one year since she has been at DCRS. During the 2018 election, she served as an Elections Monitor in various locations in Broward County. She is the Co-Chair of the Planning Committee of the Graduate Education in Conflict Resolution Symposium. She also serves on the Advisory Committee of the multitlaterally-funded multi-country research project "Forging a Resilient Social Contracts in Fragile and Conflict Contexts". She is the Director of Public Policy for the NSU chapter of the American Association of University Women.

Dr. Schwoebel is the author of a wide range of publications on international affairs, most recently “Legitimacy, Statebuilding and Peacebuilding in Somaliland: in Local Peacebuilding and Legitimacy, edited by Christopher Mitchell and Landon Hancock. Selected other book chapters include, "The Intersection of Public and Private Spheres for Pashtun Women in Politics" in Gender, Political Struggles and Gender Equality in South Asia and "The Evolution of Somali Women's Fashion During Changing Security Contexts" in The International Politics of Fashion: Being Fab in a Dangerous World. In 2017 she served as Visiting Editor for a special issue of the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development entitled, Peacebuilding Approaches to Preventing and Transforming Violent Extremism. Since she has been at NSU, she has overseen two multi-country studies in West and East Africa, one of gender and violent extremism and the other on transborder and regional issues in violent extremism, where she oversaw research teams comprised of international and national researchers in multiple languages.

Her areas of interest include peacebuilding and state building, peacebuilding and development, gender and conflict, culture and conflict, and the interactions between religious and indigenous systems of governance and conflict resolution and international interventions.

Education/Academic qualification

Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR), Ph.D., George Mason University

… → 2007

M.Ed. Adult and Non-Formal Education, University of California, Davis

… → 1992

B.S. Social Science, Portland State University

… → 1978

External positions

Consultant, Forum of Federations / Conflict Dynamics International

Jul 1 2020 → …

Lead Researcher, DTS

Nov 1 2015 → Jan 1 2017

Lead Researcher, DTS

Nov 1 2014 → Nov 1 2016

Senior Consultant, MSI, Somalia

Nov 1 2014 → …

Team Leader, SSG Advisors

Oct 1 2013 → Jan 1 2014

Adjunct Faculty, George Mason University

Jan 1 2010 → Jan 1 2011

Senior Program Officer, United States Institute of Peace

Apr 1 2008 → Oct 1 2012

Team Leader, Community Security and Social Cohesion Consultant, UNDP / BCPR

Mar 1 2008 → Jul 1 2008

Senior Technical Advisor (Part-Time), AMEX International

Jul 1 2006 → Jun 1 2007

Trafficking in Persons Consultant, Chemonics International

Apr 1 2006 → Jun 1 2006

Researcher / Writer, DTS

Dec 1 2005 → …

Peacebuilding Consultant, Pact. Nepal

Dec 1 2005 → Jun 1 2006

Trainer, Chemonics International

Sep 1 2004 → Nov 1 2004

Gender Consultant, Catalyst Consortium

Feb 1 2004 → May 1 2004

Gender and Disaster Consultant, CEDPA / USAID / India

Jan 1 2004 → Feb 1 2004

Consultant, MSI / USAID / REDSO

Jan 1 2004 → Oct 1 2004

Consultant, Nathan Associates/USAID/RegionalCenter for Southern Africa (RCSA)

Apr 1 2003 → Jun 1 2003

Consultant, Management Systems International (MSI)/USAID.Guyana

Oct 1 2002 → Nov 1 2002

Consultant, Senior Researcher, Management Systems International (MSI)/USAID

Mar 1 2002 → Sep 1 2002

Consultant, ARD/USAID/OTI

Apr 1 2001 → May 1 2001

Adjunct Faculty, Georgetown University

Jan 1 2001 → Jan 1 2002

Evaluation Consultant, USAID/Management Systems International, (MSI)/Greater Horn of Africa Peacebuilding Initiative (GHAI), Somaliland

Aug 1 2000 → Oct 1 2000

Consultant, United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), Turkey

Jul 1 2000 → Aug 1 2000

Adjunct Faculty, George Mason University

Jan 1 2000 → Jan 1 2001

Consultant, USAID Office for Women in Development, USAID (DAI contract)

Jul 1 1999 → Oct 1 1999

Trainer, United States Institute of Peace, Ivory Coast

Jul 1 1999 → Sep 1 1999

Consultant, AMA Technologies/USAID Office for Private Voluntary Cooperation (PVC)

Dec 1 1998 → Jul 1 1999

Consultant (Intermittent), Inter-American Development Bank

Jan 1 1998 → Jan 1 2002

Research Assistant, United States Institute of Peace

Sep 1 1996 → Jun 1 1997

Project Manager, UNICEF Kenya

Nov 1 1994 → Jun 1 1995

Team Leader, Consultant, United Nations Development Program (UNDP),UNDP Development Office, Somalia

Feb 1 1994 → Jun 1 1994

Project Manager & NGO Consortium Information Officer, Catholic Relief Services, Nairobi, Kenya

Aug 1 1992 → Mar 1 1993

Training Coordinator, University Extension, Davis, CA

Jun 1 1991 → Aug 1 1991

Project Manager, UNICEF

Nov 1 1989 → Aug 1 1990

Training Advisor, Women's Agricultural Project, Baidoa, Somalia

Sep 1 1988 → Feb 1 1989

Owner / Manager, Small-Livestock Micro-Enterprise, Paraguay

Jun 1 1985 → Dec 1 1986

Trainer, Alliance for Conflict Transformation / Partners for Democratic Change, Lithuania

… → Nov 1 2000

Trainer, Conflict-Sensitive Approaches, American University

… → Dec 1 2006

Course Writer, American University / University of the South Pacific / UNDP / BCPR

… → Jan 1 2008

Trainer, Boston School of Public Health

… → Apr 1 2003

Trainer, Catholic University

… → Jul 1 2003

Team Leader, Gender and Peace and Conflict Impact Assessments, Chemonics International

… → Apr 1 2005

Graduate Research Assistant, George Mason University

… → Jan 1 1996

Graduate Teaching Assistant, George Mason University

… → Jan 1 1996

Adjunct Faculty, George Mason University

… → Jan 1 2011

Consultant, International Alert

… → Sep 1 2006

Adjunct Faculty Member, Islamic University for Science and Technology

… → Jan 1 2009

Volunteer Coordinator, Latina Outreach Project

… → Jan 1 1987

Senior Consultant, MSI, Somalia, Somaliland, and Kenya

… → Jun 1 2014

Adjunct Faculty, United Nations University of Peace

… → Jan 1 2010

Senior Program Officer, United States Institute for Peace

… → Jan 1 2012

Disciplines

  • Social and Behavioral Sciences
  • Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
  • Peace and Conflict Studies
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