Clinton Global Initiative University 2020 Recipients

diana

Year & Major: First Year Graduate Student – Public Policy , TSPPPA

Commitment Name: Women’s Experiences

Commitment Focus Area: Peace and Human Rights

Commitment Description: “The problem I am working to address is how immigrants can overcome mental health and discuss their experiences after migrating. This is important to me because I grew up in a country where sexual violence was seen as normal. Sometimes women are sexually abused during their migration trajectory by coyotes or family members after arriving. Women, and girls feel ashamed to talk about this issue in public spaces. They have psychological traumas for the rest of their lives. Moreover, not having a legal status in this country undervalued their rights and they are not seen as members of our society. My target population are immigrant women and girls who recently arrived in the United States.”

mesoun

Year & Major: Freshman – International Development & Computer Science

Commitment Name: Post Revolution: Sudan’s Sustainable Human Rights System

Commitment Focus Area: Peace and Human Rights

Commitment Description: “There are two things this commitment hopes to solve for: first, youth advocacy in Sudan; second, empowering youth to write a Declaration of Peace specifically for Darfur. The main goal of the former is to mobilize Sudan’s youth who are disconnected with the conflict in Darfur in becoming academically, socially, and politically involved in initiatives that work in addressing the human rights abuses and humanitarian crisis in Darfur. The second empowers them to write a comprehensive Declaration that could be used as an implementable vice in the current military council and future Sudanese government. From first-hand experience, I understand where marginalization in Darfur remain, and realize that these two things have the most potential for even marginally shifting the functional paradigm of the government.

Divya

Year & Major: Sophomore – Neuroscience

Commitment Name: Global Guru: Education for All

Commitment Focus Area: Education

Commitment Description: “In 2019, Divya Rath, a member of the non-profit organization Global Guru, committed to increasing literacy among children through a community-based tutoring initiative to supplement students’ education. Divya and Global Guru members will tutor students through free online weekly classes (5-7 students per tutor) in subjects of the student’s choice. They will partner with local organizations such as the Boys and Girls Clubs, U.S. Dream Academy, and local schools to connect with potential students. In 24 months, they expect to increase the number of current volunteer tutors from 3 to 12-15 and tutor 60-70 students to the point where each student completes in-class assignments that demonstrate their mastery over 70% of the content learned during previous lessons.”

zaniya headshot

Year & Major: Senior - Political Science

Commitment Name: YesSheCanCampaign: The Climb is Our Story

Commitment Focus Area: Education

Commitment Description: “The issue our project is addressing is the lack of college and career preparation in Washington D.C. high schools. Our project will be a model for other high schools looking to improve their college and career preparation programs. This issue is important to us because understand what it is like to not have been properly prepared for college and our careers. We want to ensure that the students learn from our mistakes.”

Elizabeth Diing Manyang headshot

Year & Major: Sophomore – Engineering

Commitment Name: Me4Her

Commitment Focus Area: Education

Commitment Description: “While growing up, I received many scornful eyes from those against my education. Many girls were encouraged to stay at home and learn how to become good wives. Those that refused to stop attending school, either got impregnated or forcefully married off. They were not allowed to make choices of due to culturally embedded beliefs. As a result of all these happenings, I felt a moral responsibility of creating a platform where girls would hear from women from their own communities who have made it into universities and succeeding. Sharing stories will help them relate with them and motivate them to dream beyond the walls in the camp. Due to intense cultural practices, I anticipate high opposition from mothers who believe my program will mislead their daughters we’re westernized (since I am studying abroad). As a countermeasure will bring girls that are studying in the local universities.”

rachel headshot

Year & Major: Graduate Student – Political Management

Commitment Name: How Lack of Accessibility Creates Generational Poverty

Commitment Focus Area: Poverty Alleviation

Commitment Description: “Nigeria is a country with over 180 million people and out of that, over 50% of the population are experiencing extreme poverty. Over half of the population is experiencing hunger, homelessness, and in totality lack of resources in all areas. Being the country with the most amount of black people in the world and the heart of Africa, it is Nigeria's duty to be an example to other African countries. It is important to me as I am a child of immigrants from Nigeria. I have lived in Nigeria and have seen the effects of poverty. My target population are those experiencing extreme poverty in Nigeria. Corruption being the biggest challenge, we must reformulate the minds of citizens and show them with accessibility and fixing the system, poverty is bound to end. If not in this generation, we can begin to build a foundation for the generations to come.”

Questions?