Compañeros en Salud (Fall 2022)

Project Background

Partners In Health (PIH) is an international health organization relentlessly committed to improving the health of the poor and marginalized. PIH partners with local governments to build local capacity and works closely with impoverished communities to deliver high-quality health care, address the root causes of illness, train providers, advance research, and advocate for global policy change.

The organization originally developed as a community health project in Haiti and has since expanded to several countries around the world, including Mexico. Since 2011, Compañeros En Salud (CES), Partners In Health in Mexico, has operated as a non-governmental organization that collaborates with the local Ministry of Health to strengthen healthcare delivery. To achieve comprehensive healthcare delivery, CES provides follow-up care for non-communicable diseases and maternal health patients with community health workers, known locally as Acompañantes.

Definition of Opportunity

Acompañantes care for members of their own community who have complex medical and social situations; the impact of their work on their own mental health – both its emotional burden and its therapeutic role – was highlighted in a CES quality improvement project to inform the creation of a comprehensive mental health pathway to care for the acompañantes. Programmatic changes suggestions done by current Acompañantes are being taken into consideration to allow wellness and professional growth opportunities for the whole team.

The Acompañantes program coordinators at CES are looking to develop a curricula through the fall of 2022 to later be implemented in 2023 - 2024 with the Acompañantes and Acompañantes supervisors to improve the personal and collective wellbeing of the current teams through techniques such as mindfulness and relaxation, gratefulness, purpose, creativity; as well as reinforce adequate team dynamics and communication that will allow for each CHW to feel as supported by CES as they care for their patients. Because supportive supervision plays a critical role in ensuring CHWs feel well-prepared to do their work, it is also important to expand training of CHW supervisors to enhance their current activities by gaining more knowledge on 1) other CHW programs, 2) popular education techniques and 3) practical use of Microsoft Office package; as well as developing more leadership skills such as team building and group dynamics, assertive communication, opportune feedback, etc.

Definition of Success

Development and creation of training materials and a work plan on the proposed subjects that can be delivered to the 9 groups of Acompañantes and 3 Acompañantes supervisors during the period of July 2023 – June 2024.

Meet the Team

Final Deliverable

Prototyping Writing Workshops For Students & Teacher | Education Bridge (Fall 2022)

Project Background

Education Bridge seeks to create flourishing South Sudanese communities through education and peacebuilding.  As part of this mission, Education Bridge opened its first school, Greenbelt Academy Bor, in South Sudan in February 2017. Led by South Sudanese Notre Dame graduate Majak Anyieth ’17, Greenbelt Academy Bor currently serves 500 students in grades 9-12, and in a very short time, has become one of the strongest academic schools in South Sudan. Early last year, Education Bridge opened its second school, Greenbelt Academy Juba, in the capital of South Sudan. Greenbelt Academies seek to provide quality secondary education as well as to develop a generation of South Sudanese who are not only well prepared academically, but who also see themselves as peacemakers and transformational leaders.

Definition of Opportunity

Building more effective communication skills (both written and oral) for high schools are critical. There is an opportunity to build a new communications/writing program – by working closely with the writing program at Notre Dame. This might mean to work alongside EB students in drafting and writing essays for college admissions, pre college admissions, and admissions to other programs such as the African Leadership Academy. You might also explore ways to engage faculty, administrators, and students currently at the school to help each other support and build a writing program. 

Definition of Success

Education Bridge aims to provide growth pathways for students where Education Bridge builds networks of the most talented students and educators in South Sudan, and finds new ways to support their growth over time (for example, building communication skills capacity).

Meet the Team

Final Deliverable

McDonald Center for Student Well-Being (Fall 2022)

Project Background

The McDonald Center for Student Well-Being strategically assesses the environment and creates structures for wellness enhancement and risk reduction. Using evidence-based practices and collaborating with a range of campus partners, “McWell” works collectively to provide initiatives, services, and resources that support the eight dimensions of well-being.

Also includes:

University Health Services (UHS)

University Counseling Center (UCC)

Student Support and Care

Definition of Opportunity

Given the stresses that exist on college students & the impacts of the pandemic, it is evident that students could benefit from wellness resources more than ever. The University offers a variety of resources of great value to students, but they are spread across different schools, offices, and initiatives.  This project focuses on a potential partnership with the new Keough School of Global Affairs and imagining a school with a focus on student wellbeing and flourishing.

Definition of Success

A successful project would not only show what opportunities and resources for wellness exist at Notre Dame but would present them to students in a user-friendly way that is both attractive and efficacious at spreading the resources. Further, such mapping may show how different efforts might more effectively work together, or show where gaps may exist in wellness resources. 

One possibility would be to create a student-facing website that is interactive and user-friendly.

Meet the Team

Final Deliverable

The Vines (Fall 2022)

Project Background

The Vines Foundation is a catalyst for positive change in Tunuyan, a city in the West of the province of Mendoza, Argentina, exploring ways to empower our community to enhance health, end hunger and overcome hardship, as well as promote sustainable livelihoods. As the philanthropic arm of The Vines, an Argentine farming, winemaking and hospitality company (vinesofmendoza.com, vinesresortandspa.com) with deep connections to international resources through our clients in the US, Europe, and Brazil, the Foundation is leveraging these resources to meet the immediate and long-term needs of the local community. Most importantly, we are building capacity within our community and the organizations we work with, and seeking to engage community members and organizations, local and national businesses, and the municipal government to address complex challenges. 

Definition of Opportunity

In the fall of 2021, and in the spring of 2022, the Vines Foundation partnered with the University of Notre Dame Development Advisory Teams (DAT) to create a strategic and inspirational mission and vision statement for the Foundation, which will serve as guiding principles for the foundation as it expands its community work. We seek to communicate through our work the importance of accompaniment and co-creation, in which we see our community members as partners who are the first and best teachers capable of enacting change and creating opportunities for their families and neighborhoods. Working together with the community and the DAT, we developed strategies to bring together an effective working/community group of local leaders to guide the development process.

Currently, the community engagement efforts of the Foundation are structured around:

Engaging in co-creative efforts to realize sustainable projects in the community.

Maintaining and developing relationships with community members to strengthen a chain of transparent communication and feedback throughout project development and implementation.

Creating a network of local and regional organizations and businesses to partner with the comedores to allow for simultaneous investment in capacity-building and increased community independence. Develop best practices for increasing presence of Social Corporate Responsibility (RSE) in alliance’s work.

Currently, the project-based efforts of the Foundation are structured around:

Providing food weekly to the comedores (soup kitchens) of Tunuyan, which serve as community spaces where children can receive meals during the week and interact with each other.

Increasing comedor capacity through workshops and educational and recreational opportunities to be held on-site.

Developing a community garden at 3 different comedores, which will serve as a pilot project for the community to grow in independence and learn new skills.

Maintaining a dog refuge/shelter on property grounds to care for, vaccinate, and facilitate adoption for stray dogs. We are also seeking to evaluate resource dedication towards facilitating spaying/neutering for street dogs in the community

Definition of Success

Through working with a fall 2022 DAT, we hope to generate interest, excitement and actions in support of The Vines Foundation.  We plan to firmly establish the base for expansion and replication of our successful projects and develop strategies to increase the monetary and non-monetary resources and capacities of the foundation.  

Meet the Team

Final Deliverable

The Vines Fall 2022 Final Deliverable by Joseph Drey on Scribd