Melissa Sinclair

Melissa Sinclair has been working at the intersection of international development and conflict for over fifteen years. In the spring of 1999 she served as a volunteer in Albania with refugees from the Kosovo crisis through World Hope International (WHI). From 2000-2002 managed a variety of education projects with WHI in the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica, Kosovo. As a Research Associate at the National Defense University (2004-2010), Ms. Sinclair’s research focused on post-conflict reconstruction and civilian-military cooperation. She is co-author of the articles Implications of an Independent Kosovo for Russia’s Near-Abroad (2007) and Solutions for Northern Kosovo: Lessons Learned in Mostar, Eastern Slavonia, and Brčko (2006), published by the Center for Technology and National Security Policy.

From 2011-2013, Melissa worked in Afghanistan with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), serving one year in the remote northwestern district of Bala Murghab and the second year in the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. She is currently (2014-2015) a Franklin Fellow the Office of Civilian-Military Cooperation in USAID’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance where her research focuses on assisting USAID in capturing lessons from its cooperation with the U.S. military in Afghanistan.

Ms. Sinclair holds a master’s degree from the Peace Operation Policy Program at George Mason University (2008) and is a Ph.D. candidate at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. Her dissertation explores the history of U.S. Foreign Assistance as a means for observing changes in American self-perception and geopolitical positioning from 1789-1949.