Sara Gonzalez Devant (2009 - 2010)
Spain - Sweden
Sara graduated with distinction from Oxford, having also been awarded the Refugee Studies Centre’s Prize for Best Dissertation 2006/2007 for her paper which focused on the dynamics of conflict and displacement during the Timor-Leste crisis. As a Sauvé Scholar, she intends to focus on migration dynamics in South Africa in connection with the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Sara was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her mother, a Spanish theatre director and her father, a Swedish/Cuban urban planner, worked for the Swedish Development Agency in Botswana at the time. Sara’s family later moved to Lesotho, then Sweden and now are settled in Barcelona.
Between 2005 and 2006, after completing her degree in Law and Politics at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Sara worked in the Office of the President of the Republic of Timor-Leste as well as in the legal advisor’s office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she focused on policy development for the prevention of human trafficking. Sara remained in Timor-Leste for three months after the April 2006 crisis broke out in the capital Dili, putting the country on the brink of civil war and displacing over fifteen percent of the population. She worked on two emergency management projects for UNDP and the National Disasters Management Office. One consisted in ascertaining the extent of damage to properties in the capital as a consequence of the violence and was part of a greater effort to inform policy on immediate and medium-term recovery. The second was the revision of the draft National Disasters Risk Management Plan. At the same time, Sara volunteered for a local NGO (HOPE), which assisted smaller IDP camps by delivering food, and acted as camp spokesperson in meetings of international relief fora.
Sara returned to England to pursue a Master of Science in Forced Migration at Oxford University (LMH), graduating with Distinction. Her paper on the dynamics of conflict and displacement during Timor-Leste’s crisis was awarded the Prize for Best Dissertation 2006/2007 by the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), and was later published as an RSC working paper.
After graduation, Sara worked at the Resident Coordinator’s Office, UN Botswana, and then at the Delegation of the European Commission in Gaborone. She also worked as a freelance researcher during this time, publishing several articles about Timor-Leste and Botswana. In 2008, she wrote an assessment as an external consultant for UNHCR on Timor-Leste’s National Recovery Strategy. In July 2009, she gave a lecture at Wadham College, Oxford University, about the repatriation of refugees forcibly displaced to West Timor in 1999, and the difficulties of returning to Timor-Leste in the present context.
As a Sauvé Scholar, Sara will engage in organisations that work with migrants and refugees and will benefit from the advice of her Academic Mentor, Professor Stephen M. Saideman, Canada Research Chair in International Security and Ethnic Conflict.
The focus of her project is changing social realities in South Africa in connection with the 2010 Soccer World Cup, particularly in relation to migration and integration patterns. Sara will follow the opportunities and challenges that accompany the championship from the perspective of both the migrant communities and the receiving communities, as well as how policy is responding to these. She will also maintain an online video blog with short, well-researched, balanced and easy-to-understand reports of interest to young persons, and with a strong editorial line that encourages civic awareness and informs civil society on issues such as refugee protection or social welfare. Sara believes that the emphasis given to personal development and initiative by the Program will enable her to develop projects with real social impact that also respond to her own academic interests.
Links
Botswana Country Profile, New Internationalist (Septembre 2008)
Timor-Leste Country Profile, New Internationalist (July 2008)
"Crisis and Nation-Building in Timor-Leste", in How to Build a Nation in Southeast Asia in the 21st Century? CABASSET-SEMEDO, C. et DURAND, F. (eds.) Timor-Leste, , Institut de Recherche sur l’Asie du Sud-Est Contemporaine (Irasec), 2009
Displacement in the 2006 Dili Crisis: Dynamics of an Ongoing Conflict, Refugee Studies Centre Working Paper 45, janvier 2008
