Over the past year, Fellows assisted in developing the series by: providing support in leadership as Student Co-Chairs, participating as speakers, engaging in the sessions, providing critical feedback as well as identifying topics and speakers of interest.
The Queen’s Mastercard Project Office warmly welcomed the 2019 Mastercard PhD Fellows on Monday May 6th, 2019.
As part of the first Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program journal club, PhD candidate Mulugeta Bayisa discussed the fluidity of disability with a presentation entitled “Rethinking disability.”
The Mastercard Foundations Scholars Program is wrapping up its second year at the University of Gondar and is progressing in its overall aims. With two parts to the program being simultaneously running side by side the program is becoming efficient in catering and providing scholarship opportunities to talented but disadvantaged youth with disabilities and at the same time building the capacity of University of Gondar staff who will be pivotal in bringing a more inclusive curriculum to the university.
Scholarship opportunities for East African Countries including South Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti and Eritrea (for migrants, in Ethiopia)
The research will answer questions related to access, quality, and relevance of education or CBR programming for people with disabilities and will address gaps in research and practice in Ethiopia and regionally.
With the main theme of the day focusing on inclusiveness, three larger than life Billboards, which represented accessibility, inclusiveness and quality education, were unveiled to the public. The day also saw activities including a management meeting, a presentation on Occupational Therapy and a consultative meeting on program expansion.
Hiwot Mekuanent will be applying her doctoral work at Queen’s Faculty of Law to help improve the lives of people with disabilities in her homeland Ehtiopia. Admitted into the school’s PhD program as an “exceptional faculty leader” from the University of Gondar, she has received a Mastercard Foundation at Queen’s University Scholarship to complete her studies.
Scholars who study at the University of Gondar were asked to finish the sentence “I envision a world where” for International Peoples With Disabilities Day and they answered by saying unique but influential things.
The Mastercard Foundation’s Scholars Program at the University of Gondar organized a Celebration that spanned 2 days and covered many activities. The event was held from the 27th through the 28th of November 2018.