The Internship Offices Network and the Coady Institute are pleased to announce the selected McGill students for the 2015-2016 OceanPath Fellowship. Learn more about their projects below.
Siobhan 'Chevy' Lazenby, BA Environment and International Development Studies
Kigali, Rwanda - The "eye-dea" is to reduce blindness in the "land of a thousand hills" through the development of community-designed educational tools, the expansion of rural screening, and by partnering with L'Association Rwandaise des Diabetiques. The persistent rural-urban inequities and the rapid escalation of diabetes put more people at risk of avoidable vision loss in Rwanda than ever before. I hope to shift the narrative from a purely curative approach by focusing on preventative eye health initiatives and by removing barriers and increasing accessibility for folks with visual impairments.
Reach Chevy siobhan.lazenby [at] gmail.com (here).
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Jannika Nyberg, BA Political Science and Canadian History
South Burnaby youth network, Burnaby BC - The Democracy through Dialogue pilot program seeks to democratize the Burnaby school board using an asset-based youth empowerment model. I intend to use dialogue to unearth which aspects of their public education the youth community wants to change and then work with local stake holders to establish the mechanisms necessary for sustainable structural change. By supporting the implementation of structural change within the local school board, as determined by the community, the yough will have the mechanism to represent their voice and foster a more civilly engaged network of young citizens.
Reach Jannika jannika.nyberg [at] gmail.com (here).
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Madeleine Pawlowski, BA Honours International Development Studies and Geography
Alberta youth - While we are all involved in community development throughout our lives, many young people lack the tools to be effective change-makers. For this reason, my initiative consists of a series of workshops to engage young people around topics like participatory development. I hope to help students learn to recognize the issues that exist in their communities and the resources that they have to overcome them. Through engaging both Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth, I hope to foster a greater understanding of the concerns facing all Albertans.
Reach Madeleine madeleine.pawlowski [at] mail.mcgill.ca (here).
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Odessa Sherbaniuk, Bachelor of Social Work
Chimaltenango Region, Guatemala - The women's groups in the villages are already doing amazing work to improve their families' economic conditions and the vitality of their community. Many women participate in microcredit projects with local organizations. There have been collective farming initiatives and various independent business ideas. My idea for the Fellowship is to partner with the women's groups to develop a cooperative social business and/or community-led microfinance initiative that will amplify the skills that the women already possess and the strengths that are inherent in the community.
Reach Odessa odessa.sherbaniuk [at] mail.mcgill.ca (here).
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