CGI U Outstanding Commitment Awards 2009
The 2009 CGI U Outstanding Commitment Awards, made possible by the Pat Tillman Foundation and the Wal-Mart Foundation, were grants given to exceptional student commitments. For 2009, The Pat Tillman Foundation and the Wal-Mart Foundation made a total of $400,000 available to 78 student innovative, high-impact student Commitments to Action aimed at improving communities and lives around the world.
Winners received funding to implement their CGI U commitments, which were new, specific, and measurable plans to address current global challenges across the five CGI U focus areas of Education, Energy & Climate Change, Global Health, Peace & Human Rights, and Poverty Alleviation.
The CGI U Outstanding Commitment Awards were piloted in 2008 to provide financial support to innovative, student-driven initiatives. The awards recognize students and student organizations from a variety of higher education institutions including community colleges, historically black colleges and universities, Ivy League schools, religious schools, tribal colleges, and state schools. Download a complete list of winning commitments here.
"When given the means, every young person has the potential to make a significant impact in their community and our world," said Pat Tillman Foundation Chair Marie Tillman. "Through this partnership, the Pat Tillman Foundation is able to further its mission of supporting young people dedicated to citizen service by using the Tillman Social Action Fund to put resources directly in the hands of students and empower them to take action."
"Wal-Mart is focused on sustainability at every level and the Wal-Mart Foundation is proud to partner with CGI U to reach hundreds of students and university officials who share our commitment to changing the environment for generations to come," said Margaret McKenna, president of the Wal-Mart Foundation.
The 78 student projects were diverse in their scope and approach. Aaron Johnson and his colleagues at Howard University committed to assist in the demolition and new construction of a theater in an impoverished region in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. Together with Howard University's Engineers without Borders chapter, these students committed to work with the Istituto di Cultural Brasile Italia Europa to employ construction practices that were ecologically sustainable while maintaining the historical and cultural heritage of the community.
Through the Smallholder Farmers Rural Radio, Nnaemeka Chiediebere Ikegwuonu of the University of Pavia, Italy planned to reach 3.5 million poor rural farmers living in isolated communities of Imo State, Nigeria with agricultural information in their native language. The project aimed to reduce poverty in rural communities and accelerate economic empowerment of small farmers at the household level. Broadcast information included techniques in crop production, livestock rearing, soil management, and small irrigation.
Finally, Ashifi Gogo, a graduate student at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, planned to turn ordinary cell phones into potentially life-saving devices. Gogo partnered with cell phone companies and key public health stakeholders in Ghana and Nigeria to create a system where any consumer with access to a cell phone could send a free text message to drug manufacturers to verify that their medication is real and not counterfeit. Gogo's efforts targeted counterfeited malarial medication in particular, which is thought to be responsible for some 200,000 preventable malaria deaths.
