Bulletin Podcast #4 – Commitment Award 2018 (1/2)

Dear readers and listeners,

We are very proud to bring you the fourth episode of The Bulletin Podcast.
In this episode, our host Maria Brackin and co-host Raphael Robiatti interview five project applicants to 2018’s Commitment Award. Next episode will feature another four projects.

Here you can find a short description of the projects we have interviewed in this episode:

Laura Camila Barrios Sabogal -“Community-Based Tourism for Reconciliation: Building bridges between former FARC combatants and conflict-affected communities” (Colombia)

The project “Community-Based Tourism for Reconciliation” by second-year student Laura Camila Barrios Sabogal seeks to bridge gaps between former FARC combatants in La Montañita, Colombia and the local communities affected by the conflict. The main goal of the project is to contribute to the local reconciliation process in the region by developing community-based tourism projects, such as trekking and caving, which will aid the reintegration process of former FARC combatants.

Ibrahim Koita and Amos Edem Agbenyo – “Water is Life” (Ghana)

First-year student Ibrahim Koita has created a project in conjunction with Amos Edem Agbenyo, President of the Rotaract Club of Adenta Central, which seeks to provide safe and potable drinking water to the people of Kramokrom by commissioning an ultra-modern mechanized borehole with a reservoir and five taps. Clean drinking water prevents the spread of water-related diseases and reduces the amount of time spent fetching water, meaning school attendance rates could increase.

Johana Botia Díaz – “TrabajoPorLaPaz.com.co – Work for Peace” (Colombia)

Johana Botia Díaz, a first-year student, seeks to integrate ex-combatants, internally displaced people and victims of the Colombian conflict into the labor market through her project “TrabajoPorLaPaz.com.co – Work for Peace”. The goal of the project is to connect companies offering jobs and the targeted population and to train job seekers, while also advising companies regarding the bureaucratic necessities of such an integration.

Nabeela Khalid Pervez, Muhammad Usman Khan, and Muhammad Arslan Yaseen – “Har Bacha Mehfooz (Every Child’s Safety)” (Pakistan)

The project “Har Bacha Mehfooz (Every Child’s Safety)” by second-year student Nabeela Khalid Pervez and the alumni Muhammad Usman Khan and Muhammad Arslan Yaseen aims to curb child abuse in Pakistan by equipping 315 head teachers and Assistant Education Officers (AEOs) with theoretical knowledge and practical skills. The teachers and AEOs will, in turn, share their knowledge with 2700 teaching staff, and each teacher will then further train school children up to grade 8, meaning over 30000 school children would benefit in total.

Amit Tyagi – “Vidarbha Peace Project – The Suicide Epidemic of India: Working towards stopping farmer suicides in Vidarbha region of India” (India)

Brandt School alumnus Amit Tyagi has created a project that aspires to improve the lives of farmers in the Vidarbha region of India, which has greatly suffered from a suicide epidemic, with over 3000 suicides from 2012 to April of this year. The “Vidarbha Peace Project” aims to combat the alarming suicide rate by improving the economic situation of the cotton farmers of the region, who earn little with their farming and are often trapped in a debt cycle. The project plans to install a cotton ginning machine in the village so that farmers can process their cotton locally and increase their profits by selling a finished product.

We will be thrilled to hear your feedback, as well as to receive suggestions for the next episodes!