“My many years have taught me that there will always be conflict. It’s part of human nature. But I’ll remind you that love, kindness, and support are also part of human nature. My challenge to you is to bring about a mindset of preparing for peace, instead of preparing for war.”
Kathryn W. Davis
$10,000 Grant Available for 2024 Davis Projects for Peace
Williams College has been invited to nominate one or two student proposals for a $10,000 grant for summer projects that “…promote peace and address the root causes of conflict among parties.” One hundred such grants will be awarded nationwide.
The Davis Projects for Peace program supports student-developed projects that would foster peace in the world. The program is designed to “…encourage student initiative, innovation, and entrepreneurship focusing on conflict prevention, resolution, or reconciliation.” In the past, successful approaches have included “…fostering diplomacy or otherwise contribut[ing] to advancing peace processes underway; promoting economic opportunity and entrepreneurship among those in post-conflict areas; finding creative ways to bring people on opposite sides of issues together…through arts, sports, music…to promote a common humanity;… [and] starting or leveraging initiatives, organizations …or infrastructure projects to build/rebuild community.”
What does “Projects for Peace” hope to accomplish?
The program hopes to encourage student initiative, innovation and entrepreneurship focusing on conflict prevention, resolution or reconciliation. Some of the most compelling projects to date have reflected one or more of the following characteristics:
— Contributing to conflict prevention
— Ameliorating conditions leading to violence/conflict
— Looking for and building on shared attributes among differing peoples, races, ethnicities, tribes, clans, etc.
— Fostering diplomacy or otherwise contribute to advancing peace processes underway
— Promoting economic opportunity and entrepreneurship among those in post-conflict areas
— Finding creative ways to bring people on opposite sides of issues together, such as through
art, sports, music or other techniques to promote a common humanity
— Developing leadership and mediation skills training for those in conflict or post-conflict societies
— Starting or leveraging initiatives, organizations (e.g. education, health) or infrastructures projects to build/rebuild community.
ELIGIBILITY
Any student or student group is eligible to submit a proposal for consideration. Graduating Seniors are welcome to apply. Projects can be either domestic or international in focus.
HOW to APPLY
To be considered, a student (or group of students) must:
- Prepare a written project proposal which describes the project (who, what, where, how), including expected outcomes and prospects for future impact (not to exceed two pages). Proposals should include pre-approval of all involved parties and organizations involved in the project. Proposals will be reviewed by a faculty/staff committee, which may request revisions and/or clarifications. The proposal(s) that Williams selects will be submitted to the Davis family in February; awards will be announced in March. You can view previous project proposals and reports HERE and application guidance can be found HERE
IMPORTANT: All written project proposals require a heading to include the following: Title of Project (not to change once submitted), country where project took place, sponsoring college, designated project leader name, remaining team member names and schools, date range of project execution.
- Develop a one-page budget that includes all significant costs, such as airfare, lodging, food, and materials. Please consult the budget template form HERE.
- The name of a Williams College faculty member (“references”) whom we will contact to assess your suitability for a Davis Projects for Peace Award. If you are making a joint proposal, we require one reference for each applicant.
- Application materials due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 12, 2024 as a single Word Document or PDF submitted to Bob Blay @ [email protected] (subject line, “Davis- Projects for Peace”)
More information about the Davis Projects for Peace program, including FAQs, proposal guidelines, and the proposals and reports from previously funded projects, can be found at: http://www.davisprojectsforpeace.org/ .
DUE DATE
Proposals must be submitted to: Bob Blay [email protected]
by 5 p.m. on Friday, January 12, 2024.
Proposals will be reviewed by a faculty/staff committee, which may request revisions and/or clarifications. The proposal(s) that Williams selects will be submitted to the Davis family in February; awards will be announced in March. All project activities must take place during the summer of 2024.
More information about the Davis Projects for Peace program, including FAQs, proposal guidelines, and the proposals and reports from previously funded projects, can be found at: http://www.davisprojectsforpeace.org/ .
Questions?
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