Vital Strategies (Fall 2021)

Project Background

 Vital Strategies is a global health organization that believes every person should be protected by a strong public health system. We work with governments and civil society in 73 countries to design and implement evidence-based strategies that tackle their most pressing public health problems. Our goal is to see governments adopt promising interventions at scale as rapidly as possible.

Birth registration has been called the “first right of a child” as it is the first official recognition of an individual after birth.  UNICEF has estimated that four out of ten children who are born do not have their births registered.  80 percent of the children whose births are not registered are born in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. It is also estimated that less than half of all deaths occurring in the world are registered. Additionally, the cause of death in far fewer of these cases is medically certified and recorded.  In the context of the Covid-19 sweeping the world, this is a major obstacle to focusing attention and resources to contain and prevent the spread of the pandemic.  

Functional civil registration systems and vital statistics (CRVS) systems provide the fertility and mortality statistics including the cause of death estimates which help to plan, deliver and monitor health and social development programs.   They are thus a key element in the governance mechanisms tracking progress towards national and international commitments such as the Sustainable Development Programmes.  However, the results in terms of timely registration of all birth and deaths; the ability to record the proximate and underlying causes of deaths; publish national vital statistics reports drawing data from civil registration sources are all far from satisfactory in most countries in Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia. Birth registration rates have seen a significant improvement in several countries in South Asia and in some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.  But death registration rates and the generation of data from causes of death still remain a major concern. 

Definition of Opportunity

The objective is to move the conversation beyond the constituencies that are traditionally engaged in this area (demographers, statisticians, medical professionals) to stakeholders in the area of governance, public policy, public administration, the general public, etc.

Definition of Success

We hope that the team will work on developing, prototyping, and testing communications vehicles that the most effective communication vehicles to reach these audiences? Can we articulate the CRVS concerns of practitioners and scholars through opinion pieces that can take the content in such articles to a wider audience?

Meet the Team

Final Deliverables

Rusalia (Fall 2021)

Project Background

The Rusalia Resource Foundation (RRF) is a registered non-profit legal entity operating in Kisumu, Kenya with a parallel non-profit organization located in South Bend, Indiana. Founded by Dr. Juliana Otieno, a Kenyan pediatrician who was in the 2019-2020 academic year Inspired Leadership Program at Notre Dame, RRF works to empower girls in Western Kenyan by providing full high school tuition scholarships and mentorship opportunities, with a special focus on life skills education. Rusalia Scholars are expected to be “college-ready” and learn the value of education, personal strength, independence, life skills, and service to the community. The project aims to help girls develop improved life skills, including being able to handle social challenges and conflicts in an environment where they are independent of parental guidance. In addition, the program works to improve girls’ knowledge and skills on nutrition and overall healthy development.

The goals of RRF’s works are 1) To provide opportunity and create an enabling environment for girls to become self-actualized adults by providing access to an integrated support system including education, scholarship at high school and college, growth opportunities, values, and mentorship that would otherwise not be available due to the circumstances of their families 2) To enrich the academic experience of Rusalia scholars through mentoring and training from professionals and others with special expertise, such as health advocacy, particularly in preventive medicine protocols, and environmental management.

RRF has carried out two mentorship programs in partnership with ND Development Advisory Teams. The first mentorship activity focused on building an empowered girl child in building confidence, communication skills, and some knowledge on reproductive health issues. The second mentoring activity involved giving the RRF scholars skills to live in a new college or university environment. It empowered them to have people skills and networking capacity as well as preparing them for general college life.

Definition of Opportunity

Notre Dame students will work directly with girls in the program (RRF scholars) and with Rusalia leadership to explore educational and behavioral opportunities (might be curriculum, experiential, web-based platform, etc.) that address concrete responses to climate change. We hope to engage the RRF scholars to bring out their stories of experiences of the effects of climate change from their family and home perspectives. The RRF scholars will share their stories and in the process work with the ND students to create a learning platform. The platform will provide perspectives of the girls’ understanding of climate change and initiate a process of mindset and behavior change. The girls and ND students together will be involved in the development of a behavior change model for the transformation of society generally and the African community in particular. We hope for a process of joint design, helping the girls feel empowered to design programs that connect with these issues both globally and locally, tapping into the idea of“Think globally, act locally.” This might involve building a climate change curriculum or finding other ways that the girls can help lead locally in addressing climate change and environmental concerns.

Definition of Success

The DAT will help RFF support educational and leadership activities for the girls related to climate change. We look forward to understanding more about the most inspiring and concrete examples of the best programs globally for providing climate change education and engagement and translating these into the local context. We hope to take specific lessons from these international experiences and build them into our own programming, and try out many of these ideas, working directly with the girls in the program. 

Meet the Team

Final Deliverables

Rusalia and Climate Change by ND DAT

Rusalia (Spring 2021)

Project Background:

The Rusalia Resource Foundation (RRF) is a registered non-profit legal entity operating in Kisumu, Kenya with a parallel non-profit organization located in South Bend, Indiana.  Founded by Dr. Juliana Otieno, a Kenyan Pediatrician who was in the 2019-2020 academic year Inspired Leadership Program at Notre Dame, RRF works to empower girls in Western Kenyan by providing full high school tuition scholarships and mentorship opportunities, with a special focus on life skills education. As a result of the Foundation’s provided guidance and study, Rusalia Scholars are expected to be “college-ready” and learn the value of education, personal strength, independence, life skills, and service to the community. The project anticipates helping girls develop improved life skills, including to be able to handle social challenges and conflicts in an environment where they are independent of parental guidance. In addition, the program works to improve girls’ knowledge and skills on nutrition and overall healthy development.

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Opportunity:

The DAT will help develop a new college-ready program for the girls in their RRF mentorship program. The new program will have four objectives: 1) To engage Rusalia scholars to make them more prepared for university/ college education. 2) To develop skills of college-ready girls on how to relate in society 3) To impart life skills to the girls for college life and beyond. 4) To develop empowered girls and leaders in society.

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Definition of Success:

The DAT will help RFF design a skills-building pathway that will help ensure that 100% of the girls in the program will enroll in university/college for further education/training, and have the skills necessary to be successful in their new environment. We look forward to inspiring and concrete examples of the best programs globally for providing expanded mentoring and development opportunities for girls that might inform the new programs for girls that we are developing. We hope to take specific lessons from these international experiences and build them into our own programming.

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Meet the Team:

Final Deliverables:

DAT Final Presentation by Joseph Drey on Scribd

Self-Confidence Activity Guide

Discussion Activity Guide

Student Panel Guide

Rusalia Resource Foundation (Fall 2020)

Project Background:

The Rusalia Resource Foundation (RRF) is a new non-profit legal entity operating in Kisumu, Kenya with a parallel non-profit organization located in South Bend, Indiana.  Founded by Dr. Juliana Otieno, a Kenyan Pediatrician who was in the 2019-2020 Inspired Leadership Program at Notre Dame, RRF works to empower West Kenyan girls by providing full high school tuition scholarships and mentorship opportunities, with a special focus on life skills education. As a result of Foundation provided guidance and study, Rusalia Scholars are hoped to be “college-ready” and learn the value of education, personal strength, independence, and service to the community.

The purposes of RRF are: 1) To provide opportunity and create an enabling environment for qualified girls to become self-actualized adults by providing access to an integrated support system including education, growth opportunities, values and mentorship that would otherwise not be available due to the circumstances of their families; 2) To provide scholarships that will fund the expenses of girls that are academically eligible to attend high school and improve the transition to higher learning institutions such as community, national colleges and universities; and,  3) To enrich the academic experience of Rusalia scholars through mentoring and training from professionals and others with special expertise, such as health advocacy, particularly in preventive medicine protocols, and environmental management. The girl child in the target area in Kisumu, Kenya is at risk given the poor living conditions in most rural homes and the hostile environment. Educational opportunities are not the same for girls and boys. This comes from the cultural preference of taking boys to school as opposed to girls, with a combination of factors such as poverty, diseases, sexual and labor exploitation putting girls, particularly at risk. This has led to a high school dropout (50%) rate and teenage pregnancies. The role of mentoring of the girls is crucial.

Opportunity:

The importance of mentoring the young (or less experienced) by an older (senior), more experienced or knowledgeable person is well known and appreciated as it fosters learning, communication, and personal development opportunities. This mentoring process will enhance confidence, life skills, and build self-esteem.  The question we want this DAT to explore is how might we provide effective mentorship opportunities to high school girls in low socioeconomic areas to achieve 80% or higher high school completion rates and be the change agents for their community? Virtual and face to face mentoring may be applicable. We also want to explore the roles of peer mentoring, task-focused versus relationship-based mentoring, and short vs long term mentoring. 

Definition of Success:

We look forward to inspiring and concrete examples of the best programs globally for providing expanded mentoring and development opportunities for girls that might inform the new programs for girls that we are developing. We hope to take specific lessons from these international experiences and build them into our own programming, including for helping set expectations for both the girls and mentors.

Meet the Team:

Final Deliverable

Rusalia DAT Final Deliverable F2020 by DAT on Scribd

Maternal and Child Health - Ford Family Program (Fall 2013)

Client Profile

Dandora (Nairobi, Kenya) is one of the largest urban squatter settlements in the world. The Holy Cross Congregation has had been working for more than 50 years in Dandora. The Kellogg Institute’s Ford Family Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity works closely with the community in Dandora to explore different opportunities for social, community and health development. The Parish and community have expressed a long-term interest in establishing a maternity ward, and donors have also expressed interest in providing support.  We would like this to be a ward that incorporates research, focusing on serving a population for which high quality, cutting edge care maternal and child health care is often out of reach.

See all Development Advisory Team projects with the Ford Family Program

Definition of Problem

The Ford Family Program would like a group of students, ideally with at least one premedical or global/public health student, to investigate strategies to improve the services available at the community level by harnessing mobile technology.

Initial Steps and Options

Investigate potential models that use mobile technology to improve the provision of maternal, pre-natal and post-natal care to women in resource-poor settings in East Africa.  The final product should include:

1)    Identify at least 4 -5 separate models, programs or initiatives that use mobile technology that improves (or attempt to improve) maternal health in the developing world.

1. At least 1 of these examples should involve the use of a handset-based application to guide the interaction of community health workers and community members.
2. At least 1 of these examples should involve the use of a handset-based application to monitor maternal health indicators.
3. At least 1 of the examples should involve the use of mobile communications (e.g., text messaging or mobile phone communication) for community health workers to interact directly with community members.
4. At least 1 of the examples should involve the use of a mobile money transfer platform.  Potential examples may use the platform to deliver subsidized care to targeted participants, provide unconditional cash transfers, improve service delivery at the facility level, or some other purpose.

2)    The final product should evaluate the potential models based on the following criteria, and identify the single program or strategy expected to succeed:

1. Cost effectiveness
2. Ease of implementation
3. Proven benefit or impact
4. Potential ease of scalability
5. Relevance for the local context

3)    The chosen model or program should include a budget, work plan, and timeline to fully understand the resources needed to implement a similar initiative in Kenya