Alma Stafa

Alma Stafa is a 24-year-old first-generation ethnic Albanian-Canadian woman born and raised in Ontario, Canada to ethnic Albanian parents from Ferizaj and Kamenicë, Kosova. Alma holds a Master of Arts in Global Governance at the Balsille School of International Affairs, University of Waterloo in Canada. Her graduate research is focused on the lack of transitional justice afforded to female victims of sexual violence during the Kosova War analyzed through the politics of memorialization, heroism, and transitional justice. She also holds an Honors Bachelor’s Degree in International Development and Political Science from Trent University. She currently works as the Executive Assistant to the Consul General at the Consulate General of the Republic of Kosovo in Toronto, Canada. 

Through Alma’s graduate studies, she interned with Canada’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations where she worked on Canada’s UN Fifth Committee team for Political and Public Affairs. She was also a Research Fellow who co-authored a policy brief on the Disability-Food Insecurity-Conflict nexus to inform Canada’s international assistance policy and presented the findings to Global Affairs Canada. During her Bachelor's degree, Alma attended the 2019 Kosovo International Summer Academy on peacebuilding in post-conflict areas through diplomacy and leadership. She has held various roles at Trent University as a Support Programs Leader, Online Learning Student Assistant, and Student Ambassador. She also has over two years of experience in the Public Health sector, as well as experience working with refugee newcomers to Canada. 

Alma’s roots in Kosova have guided her academic research and professional interests to work towards gender equality in Kosova, transitional justice, and improving Kosovo’s diplomatic role in the international arena.