Columbia World Projects (CWP) announced today the first three recipients of the inaugural CWP Impact Awards. The call for proposals was widely shared across Columbia’s 19 schools, institutes, centers and affiliates, eliciting 38 proposals from 15 distinct disciplines across the University.
The 2022 Impact Awards focus on one of the four CWP strategic themes, Supporting Generations, which aims to support evidence-based, people-centered strategies specific to a particular stage of life. This may include improving early childhood development outcomes, enhancing maternal and reproductive health, improving the well-being of children and youth, and supporting healthy aging and longevity.
Proposals were required to include faculty across disciplines, involve external partners, focus on fourth purpose work, demonstrate student engagement and plan for measurable outcome/impact.
“We are thrilled with the enthusiastic response to this call for proposals from faculty and research scientists across the University,” said Wafaa El-Sadr, Executive Vice President, Columbia Global, “and excited to announce the first three CWP Impact Awards recipients.”
The following three proposals were selected to receive CWP Impact Awards with projects scheduled to launch in 2022-2023.
Project SHINE! Supporting Healthy Interaction, Nurturing, and Enrichment for Preschool Children
The project aims to develop and test “wraparound health services” for preschool children, to include a preschool-based health unit, household health visits, community health events, and a nutritional teaching garden, as well as linkage to community health facilities and nutrition support.
Project SHINE! will be implemented in Sierra Leone by ICAP, Mailman School of Public Health, the Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation, in partnership with the Government of Sierra Leone (Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education and Ministry of Health and Sanitation).
Planting Stories: Seeds of Diaspora
The project aims to further understanding of how plant-based knowledge can enhance high school students’ nutrition and health. The team will design and test a program that includes creative workshops, interviews with elders and foraging walks, as well as create an archive of students’ work to document learning.
Planting Stories will be implemented in New York City by a team, with faculty from the School of Professional Studies, the School of the Arts and Columbia Artist/Teachers, in partnership with the Humanities Institute at New York Botanical Garden and Columbia Secondary School, a public high school located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood.
Ubumwe: Arts for Education and Psychosocial Support with Refugee Children and Youth
The project aims to bolster psychosocial and educational outcomes among refugee children and youth through the integration of arts in education and community spaces. The project team will create culturally relevant arts education curricular materials, which will then be pilot tested by teachers in schools for refugee children to assess their usability, acceptability and feasibility in meaningfully supporting children and youth in their schools and communities.
Ubumwe will be implemented in Kyangwali refugee settlement in western Uganda by the Mailman School of Public Health and the Teachers College, in partnership with Building African Communities Opportunities (BACO) Foundation, Hopelink Action Foundation (HAF) Uganda, AfriChild Center at Makerere University, Artolution, and Arts Ignite.
The next impact awards cycle is anticipated for Spring 2023. Information will be shared in March 2023.