Road to Hope (Fall 2025)

Project Background

Globally, the number of youth caregivers is unknown. In the US alone, however, an estimated 1.6 million young people care for loved ones.  Given the burden of HIV and other chronic illnesses in global majority settings, this number is expected to be much higher in other locations across the world. 

Research from the HIV epidemic has shown that caregiving at a young age places immense stress on children or adolescents. In low-resource settings, these young caregivers are often forced to give up their education. Furthermore, they face a greater risk of exposure to poverty and community violence. The Hidden Toll of Care Giving on Youth Care Givers 

According to the WHO Palliative Care, palliative care is a supportive approach that aims to prevent and relieve health-related suffering of adults, children, and their families facing problems associated with life-threatening illness. It is based on a comprehensive and person-centered approach, addressing physical, psychological, social, and spiritual suffering. This includes socioeconomic support for patients and families who are often among the poorest in the community due to challenges in earning income, given their serious illness.

In Uganda, palliative care patients reported that their most significant concerns were not physical pain, but rather the distress of knowing their children would be left without support and would likely have to drop out of school with no hope for the future. Palliative care nurses raised the need to address this suffering among their patients and their families.

Definition of Success

The Spring 2026 project offers a Notre Dame student team the opportunity to conduct a structured, policy-oriented analysis of CES’s transition toward greater organizational independence. The project will examine available legal frameworks, financing structures, and governance arrangements to establish a new legal and fiscal representation in the United States to support its work in Mexico. The project hopes to explore options for establishing support for international mechanisms, particularly in the US, that will best support long-term organizational survival and effectiveness.

Road to Hope Program: In response, the Palliative Care Association of Uganda (PCAU) launched the Road to Hope (RTH) Program in 2012, in partnership with the Center for Hospice Care (USA). This education-focused program supports young caregivers from impoverished backgrounds so they can remain in school while caring for chronically ill parents. The children are identified in collaboration with palliative care practitioners in the community, enrolled in appropriate schools, and supported with school fees and requirements, medical care, psychosocial, spiritual, and child protection services. 

Integrating social and economic interventions in palliative care programming is important in addressing inequalities and exclusion of indigent families and can greatly contribute to better access to health care services while also acting as a tool for poverty alleviation, especially across generations.

Definition of Opportunity

Global Partners in Care and the Palliative Care Association of Uganda aim to evaluate the Road to Hope Program to identify best practices, enabling the global expansion of support for child caregivers. While assessing this work, please identify the key factors of this program that should be highlighted for palliative care organizations considering implementation in other contexts, and develop a framework for creating programs for child caregivers. Furthermore, identify possible funding sources that could be used to fund such programs across the world.

Road to Hope Bios F25 by kbross

Final Deliverables

Road to Hope - Final Deliverable by kbross

Building Tomorrow (Fall 2025)

Project Background

Building Tomorrow (BT) is a leading education NGO in Uganda and Rwanda, dedicated to enrolling out-of-school children and helping marginalized primary students master the basic academic skills they need to thrive. At the heart of BT’s work is Roots to Rise—a proven model of short, targeted learning camps that close skill gaps in literacy and numeracy. This “Teaching at the Right Level” (TaRL) approach has been shown across the globe to dramatically improve learning outcomes, giving children the foundation for lifelong learning and opportunity.

BT delivers Roots to Rise through an innovative Fellowship program, recruiting top Ugandan college graduates for two years of service. Each Fellow works with four schools, training teachers and mobilizing Community Education Volunteers (CEVs) to run learning camps both in schools and in villages. Over two years, a Fellow and their team can run more than a hundred camps—helping hundreds of children get back on track.

The model works. But recent analysis revealed something striking: not all schools and communities are receiving the same number of camps. Some deliver the full program, others far fewer. And this matters—because when dosage drops, so does impact. Closing this gap could unlock significantly greater learning gains across thousands of children.

Definition of Success

The Spring 2026 project offers a Notre Dame student team the opportunity to conduct a structured, policy-oriented analysis of CES’s transition toward greater organizational independence. The project will examine available legal frameworks, financing structures, and governance arrangements to establish a new legal and fiscal representation in the United States to support its work in Mexico. The project hopes to explore options for establishing support for international mechanisms, particularly in the US, that will best support long-term organizational survival and effectiveness.

Definition of Opportunity

This project zeroes in on a critical organizational challenge: Why is there so much variation in camp delivery? And how can BT ensure that every child, no matter where they live, receives the full benefit of the program?

Working in partnership with BT and Notre Dame faculty, the student team will contribute to a mixed-methods study to:

• Analyze BT’s rich monitoring and survey data

• Conduct interviews with former Fellows and BT stakeholders

• Identify barriers and enablers that explain why some schools run more camps than others

• Co-develop recommendations to improve consistency and maximize impact

The findings will directly shape BT’s program design and strategy—helping ensure thousands more children across East Africa learn the foundational skills they need to be successful in school and life.

Building Tomorrow Bios F25 by kbross

Final Deliverables

BT Final Presentation by kbross

Our Kids of South Bend (Fall 2025)

Partner Background

Our Kids of South Bend is a new nonprofit with a bold mission: to work from cradle to career so that every child in our community has the support they need to thrive. We begin in the Near Northwest Neighborhood (Census Tract 6), one of South Bend’s most challenged yet resilient communities.

Our Kids will serve as the backbone organization for child and family well-being—coordinating services, breaking down barriers to access, and ensuring no child falls through the cracks. We will connect families to existing partners, hold systems accountable for delivery, and, when necessary, directly provide high-impact services. Our approach is simple but ambitious: saturate support in one neighborhood until every child is on track for success, and then scale.

The need is urgent. Children in South Bend face:

• Adverse childhood experiences at rates higher than the national average.

• Chronic absenteeism  – 37% in South Bend Community School Corporation (SBCSC) schools.

• Low academic achievement – 77.8% below reading proficiency; 81.2% below math proficiency.

• Rising youth violence, now the leading cause of death for young people nationwide.

Our aim is nothing less than to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty and build a replicable model that proves what’s possible when an entire community commits to its children.

Our Kids draws inspiration from global and local innovators –  India’s ASPIRE, and the work of similar organizations in the U.S., such as the Harlem Children’s Zone.  Our pilot launches in 2026, proving the model in the Near Northwest Neighborhood before expanding citywide and perhaps beyond. Planning for the launch of Our Kids SBN is being led by Dr. Andrew Hoyt, Founding Head of School at the Portage School of Leaders, an innovative, competency-based charter high school in South Bend radically committed to students’ authentic engagement in deeper learning and positive adult relationships; Alec Torigian, National Coordinator for ACE's Pursuing Achievement Through Higher Education (PATH) initiative, whose mission is to provide radical accompaniment, opportunity, and formation on scholars' journeys from 6th grade through college graduation; and Jeffonia Jones, Family Engagement Specialist at the Portage School of Leaders, a certified life coach responsible for connecting students and families with the tools, resources, and support they’ll need to reach their fullest potential.

 

Definition of Opportunity

Our Kids South Bend wants to conduct a thorough analysis of the strategic partners in and/or accessible to the children and families of the NNW neighborhood for its comprehensive neighborhood saturation model of cradle to career child support services with universal coverage of at-risk children. 

Key objectives of the team will be to:

1. Conduct a community asset mapping of likely partners, their capacity for expansion (with and without additional financing), their services, prospects for collaboration, and projected gaps in service accessibility, including all ECD centers.

2. Synthesize lessons from ASPIRE in India, the Harlem Children’s Zone, and the Promise Neighborhood initiatives for Our Kids SBN, for example, concerning staffing ratios and models, financing models, systems and tools, and processes for initial community survey and program launch.

3. Gather additional demographic information from census data and other public databases on the needs and social determinants of education in the neighborhood. 

Meet the Team

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Our Kids Bios F25 by kbross

Final Deliverable

Fall 2025 - Our Kids by kbross

The Vines (Fall 2025)

Partner Background

The Vines Foundation (TVF) is a catalyst for positive change in Tunuyán, a city in the western province of Mendoza, Argentina. Tunuyán is located in the Uco Valley, a largely rural region that is known for its wine and other agricultural products. We are a dedicated partner who supports sustainable initiatives that improve the overall health and vibrancy of the Tunuyán community. TVF is the philanthropic arm of The Vines, an Argentine farming, winemaking and hospitality company with deep connections to international resources through our clients in the US, Europe and Brazil. TVF leverages these resources to meet the immediate and long-term needs and aspirations of the local community through enhancing holistic community health, improving food security, and promoting sustainable livelihoods. Through our work, we engage community members, public, and private sector partners to solve complex challenges.

 

Definition of Opportunity

TVF is currently working to build a community center in Tunuyán. While the center will serve as a hub for all of our programming, its primary feature will be a vocational (trade) school. The school will focus on helping aspiring professionals develop the skills necessary to secure stable (year-round) jobs, particularly in the hospitality, tourism, and gastronomic industries. 

Why a vocational school? Tunuyán is a dry and dusty region of the Uco Valley with an agriculture-based industry that has been particularly impacted by climate change. Irregular rainfall and volatility between cold and extreme heat, combined with insufficient infrastructure and production facilities to promote rural development, have caused economic uncertainty to skyrocket. Like many industries in Argentina, the agricultural sector experiences high rates of informality. Laborers often lack workers’ protection and access to social security, and face volatile labor demand due to the seasonal nature of agricultural work. Around 40 percent of Tunuyán’s 55,000 residents live in poverty.

This vocational center hopes to create long-term stability through stable employment. Through extensive research (including from ND students!) and community surveys, we have concluded that a vocational school is the best way for our foundation to invest in the sustainable development of Tunuyán. Our ability to leverage the resources and knowledge of The Vines’ hospitality, gastronomy, and agricultural expertise will allow us to build out an effective program that enables young professionals to secure positions promising a sustainable income and a stable future. Our connections to other restaurants, hotels, and wineries in the region, as well as local universities and technical authorities, will ensure we are tuned in to the changing needs of the industries we seek to place our graduates in.

For the Uco Valley community, these programs represent an opportunity for economic development by creating a skilled workforce that can support and attract businesses in the hospitality industry. For the students, these programs provide a path to financial stability, career advancement, and personal growth, including essential life skills like teamwork, communication, and problem-solving. By improving the well-being of individuals, we aim to foster a thriving and dynamic community.

Vision of Success

Through this partnership, we hope to be better equipped to begin with the end in mind. 1) We can define the core elements of the vocational school that we can articulate to the local community (and potential students) as well as internationally (potential donors).    2) We have successful models we can draw inspiration from, and ideas of how we might adapt them for Tunuyán.   3) We have a proposed structure for the courses, and a reason for choosing this structure.  4) We have a clear direction for evaluating the development and measuring the success of the vocational school (impact evaluation/KPIs). 5) We can build an internal process to ensure our efforts are consistently contributing to our goals. 

Meet the Team

Vines Bios F25 by kbross

Final Deliverable

Final Presentation the Vines TBC Fall 2025 by kbross

The Vines (Fall 2024)

Partner Background

The Vines Foundation is a catalyst for positive change in Tunuyan, a city in the Western province of Mendoza, Argentina. Our mission is to promote the capacity of our community through sustainable initiatives that improve food security, strengthen socioeconomic independence, and contribute to the holistic wellbeing of each child in our community. As the philanthropic arm of The Vines, an Argentine farming, winemaking and hospitality company (vinesofmendoza.com, vinesresortandspa.com) with deep international connections, the Foundation is leveraging its resources to meet the immediate and long-term needs of the local community. Most importantly, we are seeking to increase capacity and participation through engaging community members and organizations, local and national businesses, and the municipal government to address complex challenges. 

 

Definition of Opportunity

The Vines Foundation seeks assistance in researching best practices and devising a plan to integrate our Relief Aid and Community Development efforts through the establishment of a multi-purpose community center (that might focus on nutrition, health, and education, as well as sports and recreation, as well as mental health support). This center will be a focal point for (1) relief aid outreach services and (2) community development initiatives, particularly vocational training programs for the hospitality sector. These programs will equip individuals with the knowledge and skills needed for stable employment.

For the Uco Valley community, these programs represent an opportunity for economic development by creating a skilled workforce that can support and attract businesses in the hospitality industry. For the students, these programs provide a path to financial stability, career advancement, and personal growth, including essential life skills like teamwork, communication, and problem-solving. By improving the well-being of individuals, we aim to foster a thriving and dynamic community.

Vision of Success

Through working with the Fall 2024 GAC, we hope to gain insight and devise these final deliverables:

• Based on the community assessment, define the best location(s), partners and physical components of the community center. Summarize what the community is hoping to achieve with this community center, identify risks & opportunities and list potential partners.  Provide recommendations for next steps forward.

• Based on best practice research, what community center models should be considered by the The Vines Foundation?  Identify the key factors that must be considered, possible financial resources and recommend the best next steps forward..

Meet the Team

Final Deliverable

Education Bridge (Fall 2024)

Project Background

Education Bridge aims to create flourishing South Sudanese communities through holistic education and conflict transformation by educating a generation of peacemakers and transformational leaders to address the perpetual cycle of poverty and violence in South Sudan. Education Bridge drives this change through a unique and holistic approach to secondary education that merges peacebuilding curriculum, leadership development and academic excellence that is implemented through our schools - Greenbelt Academies.  Led by South Sudanese Notre Dame graduate Majak Anyieth ’17, the Greenbelt Academy currently serves over 1,200 students in grades 9-12 at two schools in the capital, Juba (Central Equatoria State), and in Bor (Jonglei State). These two high-performing secondary schools are ranked among the highest in the country. In addition to a desire to add more secondary schools across the country, Education Bridge has launched a teacher training network for its alumni as a pathway into primary school teaching. 

Education Bridge has worked with Notre Dame DAT teams over multiple semesters on projects related to developing a peacebuilding curriculum, enhancing opportunities for girls, contributing to organizational sustainability, and developing international partnerships. They are now considering the possibility of expanding schools and developing criteria for doing so.

Definition of Opportunity

The immense youth unemployment crisis across Africa presents an important opportunity to education organisations on the continent: how will we prepare young people to successfully transition into a world where they will need to address intensifying global challenges and create employment opportunities for their communities? In South Sudan, this is an especially pertinent question - with over 70% of the country's population being under the age of 30. Less than 1% of young people transition into university, and employment opportunities are extremely scarce. This poses a serious threat to the potential for dignified livelihoods, but also for the overall peace and stability within the country. Education Bridge is focused on developing a generation of transformational leaders and peacemakers who can end violent conflict and poverty in their communities. Over the last years, Education Bridge has developed a secondary school program that serves this purpose well. In the next few years, Education Bridge will have to expand their programming to ensure they are providing their students and alumni with the right support to successfully transition into the important community leadership role that will see alumni make meaningful changes in the country. Some questions to consider: What will enable Education Bridge alumni to become high-impact leaders in their communities? What support do they need at different stages of their journeys? What are the biggest challenges they might face, and how could Education Bridge best mobilise resources to help their students address and overcome them?

Definition of Success

A successful project will have a number of key outputs: 1. A strategy that defines and outlines key programmatic approaches to addressing the challenge at hand. 2. Work with Education Bridge to identify potential funding organizations and develop an actual proposal for at least one of those organizations and 3. Help develop a pitch for a proposal that can be used to approach potential funders passionate about this work with Education Bridge. 

Meet the Team

Final Deliverables

Global Affairs Canada (Fall 2024)

Project Background

Global Affairs Canada (GAC) is responsible for defining, shaping and advancing Canada’s interests and values in a complex global environment. GAC manages diplomatic relations, promotes international trade, provides consular assistance and leads international development, humanitarian and peace and security assistance efforts. It also contributes to national security and the development of international law.

The Strategic Coordination and Analysis unit, in the Transnational Threats and Conflicts Bureau, produces tailored analysis and advisory support to inform Canada’s peace and security programming in conflict settings. It also works alongside other parts of the department and diplomatic missions on responses to conflict and security threats and conducts analyses on emerging security challenges.

Definition of Opportunity

Since 2018, Coastal West Africa (CWA) has seen an increase of instability with a spike of violent extremist attacks and widespread intercommunal tensions and conflicts in northern regions along the borders with the Sahel. In order to address the window of opportunity to prevent more instability from emerging and spreading, GAC developed a Conflict Prevention Framework to guide its peace and security approach in southern regions of the Sahel (Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger) and northern regions of CWA (Benin, Côte d’ivoire, Ghana and Togo). The framework is underpinned by an in-depth analysis of conflict drivers and regional trends, intended to inform Canada’s engagement in the region to prevent the spillover of conflict and instability in transborder regions. Of the various conflict drivers examined, the relationship between climate and security needs further research. GAC is interested in understanding how climate change impacts security dynamics in northern regions of CWA. For instance, how are strict conservation and environmentalist policies fuelling community grievances in northern Benin (W—Arly—Pendjari Parks)? How are violent extremist organizations (VEOs) capitalizing on these grievances to recruit disenchanted youth and marginalized communities? How are governments in Coastal West Africa responding to the rising security threats amid rising tensions over access to natural resources?

Definition of Success

We would be delighted to have short and insightful research that allows us to better understand the linkages between climate change and security in Coastal West Africa. Short analytical pieces and mappings will boost our knowledge about this thematic. We want to clearly identify how these thematic fuels conflict drivers and enable the spillover of violence and VEO activity in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo.

Meet the Team

Final Deliverable

Partners In Health (Fall 2024)

Project Background

Partners In Health (PIH) is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to providing high-quality healthcare to marginalized communities, addressing social determinants of health, and advocating for health equity. PIH Engage is its grassroots advocacy and fundraising network, mobilizing volunteers to support PIH’s mission through community organizing, education, and policy change efforts.  

The need for community health systems strengthening became increasingly evident for Partners In Health (PIH) in 2014, when we were invited by local partners and Ministries of Health in Liberia and Sierra Leone to join the effort to address the ongoing Ebola epidemic in West Africa. It was reinforced in 2020, when we responded to calls from our partners around the world to help fill crucial gaps in local and national responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. Our experiences delivering care in community during these crises, witnessing the impact of community-based solutions on equitable outcomes, and our work partnering with Ministries of Health to strengthen health systems in their wake was the impetus for PIH to launch the Global Academy for Community Health Systems Resilience (the Global Academy), in partnership with the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) and the Aspen Global Innovators Group. 

Definition of Opportunity

The Global Academy, currently in its first year of implementation, is a twelve-month-long fellowship program which convenes community leaders to learn from experts in community health and health systems strengthening and to work together to pilot innovative, community-centred solutions to the most pressing challenges and underexplored opportunities in their communities. The program recognises the power in bringing together community leaders from diverse backgrounds to learn from one another and engage in a collaborative exchange of experiences and best practices. Our long-term vision is to build a collective voice of community leaders who can influence plans, policies, and movements in the fight to strengthen community health systems worldwide. 

As part of this collaborative effort, PIH contributes our experience in care delivery and health systems strengthening and our global network of implementers and partners. This fellowship program is built on the experience and expertise of UGHE, PIH’s training and research university in Rwanda, which has extensive experience delivering transformative executive education to healthcare and public health professionals on the African continent through its Center for Leadership in Global Health Equity. Together with the Aspen Global Innovators Group, who have extensive, global experience catalysing leadership potential to drive community change, we are seeking to elevate the place of community in the global conversation around health systems resilience and to shine a light on interventions for strengthening community health systems.

Definition of Success

• A successful final product would be in the form of a well-written, well-packaged and visually appealing report, including the following components:

  • Background and rationale of the Global Academy in the context of PIH’s mission and values and the global conversation about health systems resilience

  • Profiles of our current fellows, including the early impact that this program is having in their personal and professional lives, and on their understanding of community health systems resilience

  • Illustrative case studies on the early outcomes of our current fellows’ breakthrough projects

  • Engaging imagery

  • Short video summary of the report, produced from interview footage, graphics provided by interviewees, and other publicly available materials

Meet the Team

Final Deliverable