May 4, 2022

The student leaders of each project will receive $10,000 in funds to pursue innovative, community-centered, and scalable responses to the world’s most pressing issues. Most projects will be implemented between June and September this year.

This year, two projects from Bennington College received a grant:

Ahwar Sultan ‘22 - "Red, Green, and Blue: Migrant Labor in the Face of Climate Change in Maharashtra":

As rural life in India is being exacerbated, on one hand, by lengthening/intensifying heatwaves and droughts, and, on the other, by corporation-friendly top-down agrarian policies, this project seeks to research, document, and generate ongoing and potential political strategies to recuperate planetary and provincial crises. Collaborating with workers’ unions in Maharashtra, the project is situated along the circuits of rural-urban flows of labor and commodities, from the urban poor of Mumbai to sugar plantations of Parbhani.

Elene Charkviani ‘22 and Iñigo Auza de la Mora ‘22 - "Elderly Home Care Service Website Amagi for the Republic of Georgia”: 

Georgia is an aging country due to low birth rates and high levels of emigration. According to the Census Bureau, in 2021 the share of the senior population was 15.5%. Elderly citizens are  the only major age group with increased numbers since 1989 and no decline since 2002. Despite this, healthcare services and comfortable housing conditions remain relatively inaccessible for the elderly. The Universal Healthcare program does not cover home health care services, while elderly care and nursing home services are poorly developed in the country. Our senior home care service project “Amagi” is dedicated to develop an online platform which will make non-medical home care services easily accessible in Georgia, as well as educating the public about the preventative care of the elderly and how to handle emergency situations. The objective is to help seniors safely remain in their homes while improving their health and social conditions. 

Of the project, Charkviani says the ultimate goal is “to advance the quality of life of senior citizens while alleviating stress on families that cannot always be present for their loved ones.”

Projects for Peace is a global program that encourages young adults to develop innovative, community-centered, and scalable responses to the world’s most pressing issues. Along the way, these student leaders increase their knowledge, improve skills, and establish identities as peacebuilders and changemakers. Projects for Peace headquarters is hosted by Middlebury College’s Center for Community Engagement.