Davis Project for Peace

When Gad Nkurunziza ’27 excelled in sixth grade in the Burera district of Rwanda, his school’s headmaster gave him a chicken for his academic achievements. That single chicken introduced Nkurunziza’s family to poultry farming and transformed their lives, he said. Soon, Nkurunziza will bestow the same gift onto other families in his village, with the hopes it will help bring prosperity to his home community. “We as youths are able to not only impact our own lives, but also impact others,” Nkurunziza said. “I believe that society can change for the better. This [can] be done if we put creativity…

For Eugene Gato Nsengamungu ’23, his homeland of Rwanda is everything. Guided by the example of his late father, a soldier who fiercely loved his country, it’s only natural that when Nsengamungu thinks of a problem to be solved, he thinks of how he can do so back home. “This is a spirit I got from my dad,” he said. Nsengamungu, a Government and Physics major, was recently awarded a Davis Project for Peace grant from the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship to create the Rwanda Youth Tech Informants (RYTI) project, a program that will equip high school students in…

Girls who grow up in the patriarchal Massai community in Kenya are often impoverished, voiceless, and undermined by men. Although Kenya offers free public education, less than 5 percent of Kenyan women end up attending college. Diana Naiyanoi Kimojino '25, however, was determined to continue her education, even if it meant going against her family's wishes and her cultural norms. Now an economics major at Wesleyan, she's feels "an immense call of duty" to bring awareness to her Kenyan community about the benefits of college access for women. "Growing up, my education is always a point of contention with my…

In the economically disadvantaged Northern Region of Ghana, only 6 of 100 high school students enroll in college, leaving many otherwise bright students trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty. As recipients of the 2019 Davis Projects for Peace Award, four Wesleyan students who make up the Young Achievers Foundation Ghana are helping low-income students in the region access and apply for scholarship programs within Ghana and beyond. The grassroots group is led by Cofounder and Executive Director Ferdinand Quayson '20 and members Afrah Boateng '20, Abdallah Salia '22, and Alvin Kibaara '22. The $10,000 Projects for Peace grant is awarded…

Five Wesleyan students determined to make life better for girls in rural African areas have received a prestigious $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace grant. Their start-up nonprofit, Rural Access, seeks to expand access to health and education in impoverished areas, while also raising awareness of pressing health issues. Among those is the need to address lack of menstrual hygiene products, which frequently keeps girls out of school and leads to high dropout rates, poverty, and other harmful outcomes. This summer, Rural Access will be working in Ethiopia and Guyana to make menstrual hygiene kits and distribute them to girls. The…

Shantelle Brown ’19 has been awarded a Davis Projects for Peace grant for her summer project, Sisters for Empowerment & Equality (SEE), which aims to address gender inequality in Jamaican culture through an art-based mentorship program for girls age 13 to 16. Brown’s project is one of 120 initiatives selected for a Davis Projects for Peace grant, each receiving $10,000 for implementation during the summer of 2017. In 2007, Projects for Peace was the vision of philanthropist Kathryn W. Davis on the occasion of her 100th birthday to motivate tomorrow's promising leaders by challenging them to find ways to "prepare for…

Alvin Chitena ’19 has been awarded a Davis Projects for Peace grant of $10,000 to launch his project Zim Code at five high schools in Zimbabwe this summer. Zim Code provides Zimbabwean youth with free access to resources they need—computers, internet access and instruction—to learn computer programming and how to apply their new skills in their community. Davis Projects for Peace was created in 2007 through the generosity of Kathryn W. Davis, a lifelong internationalist and philanthropist who died in 2013. It supports initiative, innovation and entrepreneurship by undergraduate students focused on conflict prevention, resolution or reconciliation in countries around…

#THISISWHY Claudia Kahindi ’18 and Olayinka Lawal ’15 have received a $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace grant to launch KIU, an English education project, in Kahindi’s home area of coastal Kenya this summer. Named for the Swahili word for “thirst,” KIU will serve more than 100 fourth-grade students at Kahindi’s alma mater, Kilimo Public Primary School, in Kenya’s Kilifi County. (more…)

Four years ago, Jennifer Roach ’14 co-founded Summer of Solutions Hartford, a food justice and youth leadership development program in Connecticut’s capital. Since 2010, Summer of Solutions has grown to seven garden sites across Hartford, continuously working to “increase access to healthy food and community green spaces in Hartford by empowering young people as innovators in the food justice movement and providing them tools and opportunities to create solutions to food inequality in the city." This month, Roach's organization was the recipient of a $10,000 grant from the Kathryn W. Davis Projects for Peace program. The Projects for Peace grant will allow Summer of Solutions to expand its nine-week summer…

Two Wesleyan students have been awarded grants through the Davis Projects for Peace Program to bring their grassroots project proposals to fruition. Class of 2014's Mfundi Makama’s $10,000 grant will support The Buddies Program, which he recently created as a way to empower young women in Swaziland through educational achievement. Greg Shaheen ’13 will use the funds to establish a community-based eco-center focused on environmental education and action for teenagers in Lebanon. The projects will take place this summer. Student applicants at more than 90 Davis United World College Scholar Program partner schools—including Wesleyan—design grassroots projects that promote peace, build…

Wesleyan's student organization Brighter Dawns received a Davis United World College Project for Peace grant worth $10,000. The funds will support Brighter Dawns' "Water Sanitation Project" in Khalishpur, Bangladesh for eight weeks this summer. Tasmiha Khan '12 and possibly Rajeeta Iyer '12 will oversee the project, which will include building tube wells, latrines and providing health seminars and jobs for women in one of the poorest slums in Khalishpur.

In the dry, Rift Valley province of Kenya, communities are struggling with deforestation issues and infertile soils for farming. This rural area relies heavily on firewood for cooking and warmth, however locals are being forced to travel further for resources, limiting the time spent supporting their families.As Davis United World College Projects for Peace recipients, Robert McCourt 08 and Nyambura Gichohi 08 will help this community create alternative energy through biogas this summer. They will work with the Noontoto Womens Project, a group of 25 women that have come together to aspire to improve their livelihood. As one of 100…

Student’s Agricultural Project in Rwanda Wins Davis Projects for Peace Grant

2023 Davis Project for Peace to Improve Technology Access in Rwanda

3 Students to Conduct “Projects for Peace” in Africa

YAF Ghana Wins 2019 Davis Projects for Peace Award

Students in Rural Access Group Receive Davis Peace Grant

Brown ’19 to Address Gender Inequality as Davis Projects for Peace Grant Recipient

Chitena ’19 Receives Davis Projects for Peace Grant to Teach Programming in Zimbabwe

Students Receive Davis Projects for Peace Grant to Launch English Education Project

Roach ’14 to Transform Abandoned Urban Land into Community Gardens as Project for Peace Recipient

2 Students Recipients of Projects for Peace Awards

Brighter Dawns Receives Davis Project for Peace Grant

Projects for Peace Recipients Will Build Biogas Digester in Kenya, Providing Alternative Fuel to Wood