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2023 projects

Scaling Up MamaToto for Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights in Uganda Funded by Global Affairs Canada with $3.8M from 2020-24, the project aims to address gaps of un-met comprehensive sexual and reproductive health systems, services, and education in three districts in Southwest Uganda. The project scales up a successful and innovative model, the Mama Toto implementation model, which focuses on strengthening existing government and civil society structures, and district and community leadership. This project aims to strengthen the capacity of local health facilities to deliver sexual and reproductive health services to the local population, as well as strengthen the capacity of community and local leaders to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights and education.

World ´ºË®ÌÃÊÓƵ Service Canada Student Refugee Program The SSE, in collaboration with UCalgary International, is sponsoring six refugee students from 2022 to 2025. The Student Refugee Program (SRP) is a unique initiative that combines refugee resettlement with opportunities for higher education. This project is managed and supported by the WUSC UCalgary - SSE Local Committee, which provides social and academic support for SRP students. The amount of funding is $375K.

Queen Elizabeth Scholars Program The Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships aim to mobilize a dynamic community of young global leaders to create lasting impacts both at home and abroad through inter-cultural exchanges encompassing international education, discovery and inquiry, and professional experiences. UCalgary’s 2023 projects included:

Queen Elizabeth Scholars Advanced Scholars West Africa: Partnering for innovation in women-led social work and social science in West Africa, $290K, 2021-25. This project supports research-focused exchanges between doctoral researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career researchers at UCalgary and the ´ºË®ÌÃÊÓƵ of Ghana. The anticipated research placement is 16. The Advanced Scholars West Africa phase of the QES Program is funded by the International Development Research Centre.

QES Young Leaders in International Development, $600K, 2018-23.

Canada’s Global Skills Opportunity Program Funded by Employment and Social Development Canada and jointly administered by Colleges and Institutes Canada and Universities Canada, the programming is delivered to students via their post-secondary institutions (PSIs) through multi-year projects:

Global Indigenous Skills: Ways of Knowing, Ways of Doing, Ways of Connecting, Ways of Being connects Indigenous and non-Indigenous students to international learning opportunities with an Indigenous focus. The program has received $750K in funding for the period from 2021-25.

Building Bridges to Global Learning provides students with funding prior to submitting a global learning application, allowing them to see the possibility of participating in global learning and choose the best program fit with the assurance of guaranteed financial support. The program has received $385,000 for the period from 2022-25.

Academics Without Borders A non-profit organization that implements capacity-building projects in collaboration with higher education institutions in lower- and middle-income countries, faculty members and staff act as volunteers for the projects and provide in-kind support in the form of academic time, volunteering, etc. Two projects took place in 2023 with partnership institutions in Kazakhstan and Ecuador.

Building research capacity of education faculty and graduate students, Shakarim ´ºË®ÌÃÊÓƵ, Kazakhstan

Institutional Development in Ecuador to Achieve Sustainable Solid Waste Management, Universidad Técnica de Ambato, Ecuador

Daughters for Life Scholarship Program This program is open to female students from the Middle East. The Daughters for Life Foundation is committed to building a future in the Middle East, defined by women’s empowerment across the region. One student received this scholarship and graduated from the Faculty of Arts. The program received $46K in funding from 2019-23.

Government of Canada Scholarship Program for Non-Canadians This program supports international students from a range of designated countries studying or researching for short or medium term stays at UCalgary. The program received $205K in funding from 2023-24.

Gender Response One Health This project seeks to accelerate the adoption of gender-responsive (GR) One Health (OH) approaches in regions affected by endemic zoonotic diseases (EZDs) and human-animal-environment interface-related illnesses. By focusing on enhancing community health and fostering equitable OH empowerment, particularly for impoverished, marginalized, and indigenous women and girls, our efforts are concentrated in two targeted regions: Jijiga, Somali Region, Ethiopia, and Meru County, Kenya, both of which experience high EZD prevalence. Global Affairs Canada has allocated a total of $12 million to support this project, with Alinea International as the lead organization. Collaborating partners include Farmers Helping Farmers, One Health Institute, ´ºË®ÌÃÊÓƵ of Guelph, ´ºË®ÌÃÊÓƵ of Saskatchewan, Atlantic Veterinary College, and UCalgary. UCalgary's estimated budget allocation is $450K from the overall grant. The project is scheduled to run from 2023 to 2028.

The Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program Part of Global Affairs Canada’s International Scholarships Program, it enables professors at Canadian post-secondary institutions to pursue short-term research and/or teaching activities in Latin America and the Caribbean as a means of exploring, creating and advancing institutional partnerships in the areas of research, student mobility, joint programming, capacity building, and others. Two UCalgary professors received $13K in funding in 2023. 

The Association of Commonwealth Universities A global network of universities that aims to build a better world through international collaboration in higher education, the ACU has over 500 member universities in 50 countries across the Commonwealth. The ACU’s strategic plan, “The Road to 2030, " reinforces the fundamental belief that global challenges can only be solved through international collaboration and our collective commitment to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through higher education. In the last 7 years, UCalgary received 4 ACU awards and is among the top recipients’ of ACU awards in Canada.

Commonwealth Peace & Reconciliation Challenge Grants, $4235, 2022-23. This grant is aimed at academic and professional staff at ACU universities, which can be used to support initiatives advancing peace, reconciliation, and indigenous knowledge.

ACU summer school, $2000, 2023. The ACU summer school was hosted at Stellenbosch ´ºË®ÌÃÊÓƵ in July based on the theme of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa. Students get to learn about the political, social and economic forces that shaped 20th Century South African politics, including apartheid, with their peers from around the Commonwealth.

Virtual programs like the Global Community Challenge YYC level the playing field for students from low-income countries to team up with students from Calgary and around the world to solve shared challenges. In 2023, we had 72 students from 12 universities in 18 countries work to solve 9 challenges set by local community organizations.

International Development Week (IDW) is a celebration of Canada's achievements in creating positive change around the world. In 2023, UCalgary International hosted the World’s Challenge Challenge (WCC) during IDW, 24 students participated. The WCC is a competition where teams pick one of the UN’s SDGs and propose a solution. The winning team won $3,000 and competed against other schools at the International WCC held at Western ´ºË®ÌÃÊÓƵ.