Ms. Jessica Ferne

Jessica Ferne serves as the Director of Global Health Impact with the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children's Health (CanWaCH). Here, she supports strategic efforts to strengthen Canadian monitoring and evaluation processes, capacity and collaborations, in order to drive evidence-driven programming and decision-making, and ultimately improve the health and lives of women, children, and youth. Prior to CanWaCH, Ferne spent several years as the Director of Programs for IDRF, a Canadian-based INGO, where she delivered hundreds of aid and development programs across South Asia, the Middle East, Eastern and Southern Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Americas. Throughout her career, she has deployed to Lebanon, Turkey, Pakistan, Nepal, Belarus, Zambia, Tanzania, Guyana, and across Canada to work with communities. Ferne currently serves as President of the Board of Directors for the Ontario Council for International Cooperation, an international development and education network working globally for social justice. She has served in various leadership capacities in Canada and abroad, with a particular focus on emergency response; refugee, undocumented community, and criminalized community health; youth engagement; and sexual and reproductive health and rights. She has also held diverse roles with the UNDP, Bay Centre for Birth Control, Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services, Planned Parenthood Ottawa, and many others. Ferne completed her Master of Public Health degree at the University of Toronto, and an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy at the University of Ottawa. She has completed post-graduate studies in Advanced International Project Management (University of Toronto); International Policy Analysis & Strategic Planning (Carleton University); and Humanitarian Response (Harvard University). She is currently based in Ottawa, and speaks both English and French.

Witness: Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration

Standing Committee on the Federal Government’s Initiative to Resettle Syrian Refugees to Canada

Ottawa, Canada, June 7, 2016

Reflections on Moving towards the Sustainable Development Goals

Development Drinks, OCIC

Toronto, Canada, December 10, 2016

Responding to the Syrian Crisis - our work in Canada and abroad

When Art mets MSF

Toronto, Canada, July 9, 2016

Rewriting the Script: Queer-Positive Health Care in Action

32nd Annual Guelph Sexuality Conference

Guelph, Canada, June 22, 2010

Saviour Complex: Navigating Religion’s Messy History & Current Role in Development

International Development Conference 2017, University of Toronto Scarborough Campus

Toronto, Canada, February 11, 2017

Sex Work and the Urban Environment

18th Congress on Women’s Health Issues

Philadelphia, USA, April 7, 2010

Needs of Syrian refugees resettling to Canada

Town Hall: Syrian Refugee Resettlement

Toronto, Canada, March 19, 2016

From International Volunteer to Career: Pathways in International Cooperation

Go Global Expo

Toronto, Canada, September 24, 2016

Ontario Council for International Cooperation

NU (New Understandings)

IDRF (International Development and Relief Foundation)

Licensed to Learn