Davis Project for Peace Student Bios

Davis Projects for Peace is an invitation to undergraduates at the American colleges and universities in the Davis United World College Scholars Program to design grassroots projects to be implemented during the summer. Through a competition on over 90 campuses, the most promising projects will be selected for funding at $10,000 each. More information…

Name: Ariel Mota Alves ’20

Project: Peace Camp 4.7

Inspired by target 4.7 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, my project brought 35 high schoolers from 5 municipalities in Timor-Leste for a week-long educational summer camp that focused on civic engagement, sustainable development, and global citizenship. Focus areas were in youth issues, human rights, gender equality, environmental degradation, peace, and conflict resolution, mostly are discussed from the local perspectives. I invited people from governmental entities, local non-profit organizations, activist, social workers, lawyers, youth organizations and individuals to come and share their experiences doing social justice work and efforts to achieve sustainable development in Timor-Leste.

Name: Leonard F Vibbi ’17 Majors: CIS Year: Summer 2016
Project: Peace through Psychosocial and Micro Credit Support to 25 Ebola Women Survivors in Kenema Community
Twenty five people benefited from the project. These beneficiaries were women who survived the Ebola and residents in Kenema, Sierra Leone. Major components of the project included: Psychosocial Workshop, Business Training Workshop, Micro-loans related to six different business areas (palm oil, clothing and textile, snacks, wood fuel, beverages, and groceries), and Visits with Business Mentors. As a matter of fact and as an attestation to the longevity and sustainability of the project, the project ended by officially becoming a community organization. The organization was registered with the Government of Sierra Leone under the name of, Wi Go Grow Incorporated (W2G Inc.). This organization will continue to promote sustainable livelihood means for women through business in Kenema.

Name: Chandreyi Guharay ’16 Majors: Political Science, Sociology/Anthropology Year: Summer 2015
Project: Preventing Youth Violence through Education for Peace: Strengthening Community Stewardship (Nicaragua)
Partnered with a local NGO, the Foundation for the Autonomy and Development of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua (FADCANIC) to explore and analyze the “phenomenon” of youth violence. Developed a peace education curriculum to help prevent youth violence with new knowledge obtained from interviews and focus groups completed in Wawashang and the watershed communities of Pearl Lagoon, in the Southern Atlantic Region of Nicaragua.

Name: Kelly Prado ’16 Majors: Environmental Studies & Economics Year: Summer 2014
Project: Rustic Greenhouses to Adapt to the Negative Effects of Climate Change in the Diets of the Chicche Community (Peru)
Fifteen greenhouses were installed, which allowed the community to grow ten different vegetables and seven different young tree fruits. They will help the community to adapt to the challenging weather, and the sustainable production of vegetables and fruits will enhance the diet of the community.

	Name: Love Odetola ’14 Major: CIS Year: Summer 2013 Project: Peace Through Public Health The Peace Through Public Health project was developed to help neglected women provide basic neccesities for their children – health care, water, basic clothing, balanced food or electricity. The project was broken down into three smaller projects: the Portable Water Project, public health workshops for women and children, and a Microfinance Project to Empower Women.

	Name: Duy Ha ’14 Major: Economics Year: Summer 2013 Project: Rung Oi – Rainforest Education in Vietnam Rung Oi! The project provided an interactive component contributing to human sustainability and social harmony. The long-term goal of this project was to create a community of support for many future community-related projects in Vietnam.

	Name: Sudip Bhandari ’14 and Julia Coffin ’12 Major: Biology (Sudip) and Religion; Sociology/Anthropology (Julia) Year: Summer 2012 Project: The Anne Frank Project The Anne Frank Project Nepal (AFPN) was developed to educate students in Nepal about the history of the Holocaust through the inspiring story of Anne Frank. We aimed to create awareness about the topic and foster mutual respect and tolerance among students through two sub projects: the Traveling Educational Exhibition designed to teach mostly middle school and high school students in schools throughout the country, and the Peace Library to provide youth a permanent resource to access books related to history, human rights and democracy.

	Name: Nicholas Kang ’12 Major: CIS- “Social Innovation and Community Development”; Biology Year: Summer 2011 Project: Li-k’ei Project: Youth Promoting Peace in Merritt, British Columbia My project had three main components. The first was outreach towards local First Nations community to engage their youth in leadership and service experiences using the Smart Step Youth Association’s youth programming to facilitate those experiences. The program also established a youth council to provide First Nations and non-First Nations youth a voice at the political level. The program’s third component was establishing a full time Teen Centre as a resource and safe location for teenagers to organize leadership, sports, and service activities. (read more)

	Student: Monica Southworth ’10 Majors: Political Science, Concentrations in Statistics and Middle Eastern Studies Year: Summer 2010 Project: Saadani Water Project The purpose of the internship was to provide the village of Saadani with a potable source of drinking water, which we did through a rainwater collection system. My personal contribution was showing up and helping the project move along, making sure it stayed within the allotted budget. But I think the biggest impact made was allowing the village to have a clean source of drinking water that they knew wouldn’t be contaminated. Since a lot of people in the village suffer from typhoid and UTIs, this is the biggest impact.

	Student: Subhash Ghimire ’10 Major: Political Science Year: Summer 2009 Project: Fulbari Summer Camp — six-week summer camp in rural Nepal I ran a six-week summer camp for 42 war affected children in my village in western Nepal. I also established the first library in the region with 1600 books and 2 computers. Currently, I am working on building the first peace school in the country in my hometown to help 250 war affected children go back to school and lead normal lives…(read more)