{"id":12659,"date":"2022-05-03T10:15:11","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T14:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earlham.edu\/?p=12659&preview=true&preview_id=12659"},"modified":"2022-08-25T11:11:12","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T15:11:12","slug":"earlham-college-students-selected-for-national-grants-to-launch-peace-making-projects-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earlham.edu\/news-events\/earlham-college-students-selected-for-national-grants-to-launch-peace-making-projects-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Earlham College students selected for national grants to launch peace-making projects in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Two Earlham College students have been selected for competitive grants from Projects for Peace<\/a> to launch educational initiatives that will widen pathways for African women to pursue post-secondary education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Junior Feven Naba\u2019s \u201cTechiyalesh Initiative\u201d will establish an academic society and professional network in Ethiopia for undergraduate women in STEM. Junior Wisdom Boinde\u2019s \u201cMaaro\u014b Initiative\u201d is focused on strengthening access to higher education for underrepresented women in northern Ghana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen today are told they can be and do anything, yet fewer than 30 percent of STEM jobs around the world are occupied by women,\u201d said Naba, who is completing her physics and pre-engineering studies at Earlham this spring before enrolling in Columbia University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis gender disparity is even wider in Ethiopia where I was born and raised,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to inspire and support women to follow their dreams \u2013 just like myself. While I acknowledge the privileges I have been afforded by attending a liberal arts institution with the core values of peace and justice, I want to inspire and support women in Ethiopia, where support systems are not widely implemented and accessible to everyone to follow their dreams.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naba is working with students and professors in the United States and Ethiopia to jumpstart the project this summer. One of her key collaborators is her brother, Batuel Naba, who is studying physics and computer science at Adama Science and Technology University in Ethiopia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project will establish a national organization for women in Ethiopia, launch five chapters at universities located across the country and develop a mentorship program. Additional funding from Projects for Peace will be used distribute scientific instruments like Arduino, which are inexpensive and user-friendly platform that can be integrated into a variety of electronics projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFeven\u2019s project is exceptionally ambitious; were it not so meticulously scaffolded and carefully thought out, it would almost certainly not be doable,\u201d said Ahmed Khanani, the director of Earlham\u2019s Center for Social Justice, and a mentor on both projects. \u201cAll this work will create more spaces for women in STEM fields in Ethiopia to thrive, thereby moving towards peace in an ambitious, optimistic, and exhilarating register.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeace is marked not only by the absence of war but also by the presence of justice and equity, with opportunities allowing individuals to follow their aspirations,\u201d added Naba. \u201cIt is impossible to talk about a peaceful and sustainable future when women are not integrated as equal participants and contributors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wisdom Boinde is a native of Ghana and Feven Naba hails from Ethiopia.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Boinde plans to leverage educational opportunities to empower women to pursue post-secondary education as an alternative to becoming migrant workers, which is a common occupation among northern Ghanaian women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGhana is a peaceful nation. However, southern Ghana has achieved economic development way faster than the North,\u201d said Boinde, a computer science and physics major at Earlham. \u201cThis results in circumstances that breed animosity between the two regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs someone who grew up in Northern Ghana, I have witnessed the economic disparities between North and South first-hand,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I, as a man, did not have certain opportunities, I cannot imagine what women, who are treated as subordinates in Ghana go through. I want to do my best in crafting a society where both men and women can reach their goals and aspirations without having to be hindered by part of the country they belong to. That, to me, is peace.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boinde is partnering with the High Morale Academy, a nationally recognized sports academy in Northern Ghana, that trains young women to compete in national and international track-and-field and cross-country races. He will provide workshops for hundreds of the academy\u2019s clients and help them identify scholarship opportunities and craft competitive applications for admissions. He will ensure the sustainability of this project by collaborating with different scholarship and athletic bodies around the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen from my region are vulnerable to poor work conditions, sexual abuse and do not earn a living wage,\u201d Boinde said. \u201cI want to empower women to take a different path, to become educated and have options beyond the status quo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will help these women use their athletic affiliation to secure scholarships at higher educational institutions in Ghana and abroad,\u201d he said. \u201cThis will open up economic opportunities for Northern Ghanaian women and reduce the number of women who are forced to migrate to become laborers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boinde is also conducting research for a physics professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology this summer and plans on using his learning and connections from MIT and his education in general to upscale his project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis carefully crafted project will procure computers, hire interns, launch a seminar composed of alum and local leaders, and develop an open-access website with scholarships, all with the effect of negotiating a very specific issue that will make a discernible impact in persons lives,\u201d Khanani said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlham College is a proud partner organization with Projects for Peace, which was established in 2007 by the late philanthropist Kathryn Wasserman Davis. Earlham is one of the few partner institutions to be awarded funding for two projects this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Media contact<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Brian Zimmerman<\/strong>
Assistant vice president of strategic communications
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Email: zimmebr@earlham.edu
Phone: 765.983.1256<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n