2026 Grantee Cohort
Announcing the 2026 Projects for Peace Cohort
Projects for Peace is pleased to announce its 2026 grantee cohort. It is made up of 142 projects nominated by 98 partner institutions.
The student leaders of each project receive $10,000 in funds to pursue innovative, community-centered, and scalable responses to the world’s most pressing issues. Most projects will be implemented between June and September this year.
Applicants are encouraged to pursue projects that respond to community needs and make the most of their skills and interests. This year, almost half of the grantees will address issues related to health and well-being. Other common areas regard the quality of and access to education, youth development, environmental issues, and protecting human rights.
Grantees develop and implement a wide range of interventions to address their prioritized issues. These include co-facilitating educational enrichment or skills development activities, securing educational materials and equipment, leading outreach and information campaigns, supporting infrastructure development, and using art and design to bring people together.
Since its founding in 2007, Projects for Peace has funded more than 2,200 projects. Projects are nominated by partner colleges and universities, often working from criteria specific to their institution’s priorities.
Projects may take place anywhere in the world and may be led by an individual or by a group of students. Projects for Peace will take place this summer in 59 countries and 7 U.S. states.
Projects for Peace was founded by Kathryn W. Davis, who celebrated her 100th birthday by supporting 100 Projects for Peace, designed “to bring about a mindset of preparing for peace, instead of preparing for war.”
Below, please find a complete list of the nominating institutions, project titles, and project locations. Join us in congratulating the remarkable student leaders who have chosen to commit their summer to the cause of peace. See the Project Archive and the Reading Room to read about these and other Projects for Peace.
2026 Projects for Peace
All awards pending submission of required documents.
(AF) indicates projects funded alternate funding source, including the Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation
(*) indicates additional information is needed. Campus Liaisons should contact ProjectsforPeace@Middlebury.edu
| Partner Institution | Project Title | Project Location |
|---|---|---|
| Agnes Scott College | Our Water, Our Voices: Water Quality and Oral History in Rural Gulu, Uganda | Uganda |
| Amherst College | From Exile to Excellence: Healing Trauma and Rebuilding Futures for Burmese Away from Home | United States |
| Bard College | Pathways of Art: Building Community through Percussion and Visual Art | Brazil |
| Bard College | Worry Dolls”: Mayan Indigenous Ways to Remove Worries | Multiple: Guatemala, United States |
| Barnard College | Nurturing Agrobiodiversity with Oral History | Peru |
| Bates College | Kayayei Artisan Initiative: Economic Empowerment for Women in Accra | India |
| Bates College | Sustainable Cycles: Integrating Hygiene Equity and Waste Sovereignty in Chelannur | Ghana |
| Bennington College | MAKTABA - Powering Education Beyond the Grid in Iringa, Tanzania | Tanzania |
| Bowdoin College | Art for Inclusion: Building Peace through Disability Self-Advocacy in Maine | United States |
| Brandeis University | Early Warning System for Preventing Sectarian Violence | Pakistan |
| Brown University | Cities of Graded Inequality: Building Pathways to Urban Caste Peace in India | India |
| Bryn Mawr College | Neurological Conditions Awareness and First-Response Education for Junior High School Students | Ghana |
| Bucknell University | Skill to Leadership: Youth Skills and Community Leadership Pilot | Cameroon |
| Carleton College | ParticipAR: Youth, Media Literacy, and Democratic Engagement in Argentina | Argentina |
| Carleton College | Angel on the Doors: Healing Trauma through Art | Multiple: Italy, Ukraine |
| Case Western Reserve University | Bridging Educational Opportunity Gaps for Girls in Amman Through Mentorship Institution: Case Western Reserve University | Jordan |
| Claremont McKenna College | Listening After Crisis: Sylheti Bangladeshi Displacement and Community Needs in the UK | United Kingdom |
| Claremont McKenna College | Hens for Her: A Co-Op for Empowerment | Zimbabwe |
| Clark University | Zanjeer Tod: Nayi Pehchan (Breaking the chains: A new identity) | India |
| Colby College | Yak Corral Peace Project: Minimizing Human-Animal Conflict | Nepal |
| Colgate University | TakeOne Workshops | United States |
| College of Idaho | Pintores de Paz: Youth Art for Violence Prevention and the Recovery of Public Space in Guatemala City | Guatemala |
| College of the Atlantic | Ardna Environmental Education Summer Camp | Palestine |
| Colorado College | Weave the Net–Constructing Community Power for Single Female Fishers | India |
| Columbia University | Bridging Diasporas: an Online Corpus of the Oirad Language | Multiple: Mongolia, United States |
| Concordia College | Peace Through Play | El Salvador |
| Connecticut College | Shanti Corner: School-Based Mental Health Support Systems | Peru |
| Connecticut College | Classroom of the Totorales: Peace and Heritage for Huanchaco | Bangladesh |
| Cornell University | Bridging the AI Gap: The Working Class and Experts in Conversation, Across America | United States |
| Dartmouth College | Bridging Ghana Sign Language and Medical Communication to Reduce Structural Violence | Kenya |
| Dartmouth College | UYO Tech for Peace Initiative | Ghana |
| Davidson College | Across the Lines: Youth Dialogue for Peace in Georgia | Georgia |
| Denison University | Healing in Dignity: A Rural Women’s Endometriosis & Peace Campaign in Kisumu | Vietnam |
| Denison University | Hanoi Air Health: Youth for Outdoor Workers | Kenya |
| Duke University | Nurturing Seeds of Peasantry in La Montañita | Colombia |
| Earlham College | Bridges for Peace | Armenia |
| Emory University | Renewing Hope after the Storm: Building Health, Happiness, and Peace in Central Vietnam | Vietnam |
| Franklin & Marshall College | Crafting Leaves to Rebuild Lives | Nepal |
| Future Generations University | Women, Nature & Peace Initiative: Empowering Women for Conservation & Peace | Nepal |
| George Washington University | Architecting Technical Innovations for the Peacemakers to Regain Their Inner Peace | United States |
| Georgetown University | Nuevos Futuros | Ecuador |
| Gettysburg College | Project SheShield | Nepal |
| Graduate Institute of International Studies/Geneva | When Rumours Become Security: Youth Digital Peacewatch Network and Urban Conflict Prevention in Eastern DRC | Nepal |
| Graduate Institute of International Studies/Geneva | Coloring Peace: Art, Belonging and Digital Safety | Democratic Republic of Congo |
| Grinnell College | Leading Towards Peace: Co-Creating Leadership Programming with Afghan Girls at SOLA | Rwanda |
| Hamilton College | Light of Beginning: Creating Child-Centered Peace Spaces for Refugees in Amman, Jordan | Jordan |
| Harvard College | Frames of Belonging: Sudanese Youth Document Community and Care in Cairo | Egypt |
| Hood College | Kush Recovery and Resilience Project (KRRP): Building Peace through Youth Recovery and Reintegration in Kenema District, Sierra Leone | Sierra Leone |
| International Christian University | Connecting the Memories of Nagasaki, Tohoku | Japan |
| International House | Build Peace through Storytelling: A Practice for Meaning-Making, Compassion, and Relational Cohesion | Ghana |
| International House | Empowering Voices, Cultivating Minds: Public Debate Programing in Ethiopia | India |
| International House | GirlShield– Promoting Peace Through Sexual Assault Prevention, Building Awareness and Empowering Girls in Ghanaian High Schools | China |
| International House | Learning to Belong: Everyday Practices of Peace with the Children of Tamil Nadu | India |
| International House | SwipeSafe: Promoting Peace and Choice for Young Women | Ethiopia |
| International House | (Re)generating archives as inter/ra-community solidarity and peacebuilding | Kenya |
| International House | Seeds of Peace: ‘Umeed di Fasal’ | Kenya |
| International House | Kuwa Raia: Preparing for Peace by Learning Civic Participation Early | Malawi |
| International House | Chanuka: A Path to Peace, Safety, and Economic Strength for Young Women in Kibera, Kenya - Africa’s largest slum | Mozambique |
| International House | Building Sustainable Climate Change Financing Through Community-Led Initiatives | Multiple: TBD |
| International House | Building Peace and Resilience in Boane District through active Community Participation in the Non-Revenue Water Reduction Initiative | Nigeria |
| International House | Dreams Without Borders: Weaving Youth Aspirations Across Gen Z Movements | Pakistan |
| International House | Eden Grove: Community-Based Food Access and Environmental Peacebuilding in Nigeria | Pakistan |
| International House | Peacebuilding Through Theatrics and Dialogue: A Pakistan–Afghanistan Youth Engagement Initiative | South Sudan |
| International House | Peace Through Economic Agency: Empowering Women and Bridging Divides in Pakistan | Timor-Leste |
| International House | Humanity Nexus | United States |
| International House | Eskola ba Dame: Whole-School Education on Peace, Equality and Well-Being | United States |
| International House | Digital Bridges NYC: Muslim–Jewish Youth Peacebuilders Against Online Hate | Pakistan |
| International House | A.I.M. for Peace - Alumni Integrated Mentorship for Veterans Restorative Justice | Sudan |
| Ithaca College | Art for Peace | Kenya |
| Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz | Love and War and All the Places In-between | Germany |
| Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz | Tusikize! Resonant Futures Lab: Amplifying Young Women’s Voices for Public Discourse Through Sound, Story, and Collective Imagination | Kenya |
| Johns Hopkins University | Strengthening Community Emergency Response Capacity: A Community-Level Medical Training Initiative in Peri-Urban West Africa | Multiple: Ghana, Senegal |
| Johns Hopkins University | Educating Clinicians on Environmental Health Outcomes (ECHO) | United States |
| Kalamazoo College | Walking Back to Ourselves: A Youth Peace Walk in Mongolia | Mongolia |
| Lake Forest College | Muyu Ruruwan: From Seed to Fruit, Menstrual Health as a Practice of Peace | Peru |
| Lehigh University | CareAlert: Timely Alerts, Better Care | Sierra Leone |
| Lehigh University | Newtrition: Innovating Sustainable Solutions to Combat Malnutrition through Cross-Cultural Collaboration | Sierra Leone |
| Lewis & Clark College | Empowering Young Girls, Bosnia and Herzegovina | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Luther College | Growing Seeds for Peace (GSP), Thailand | Thailand |
| Macalester College | Voices of Amani: Educating for Peace | Kenya |
| Maqsut Narikbayev University | Speech for All: Inclusive Access to Early Speech Support in Kazakhstan | Kazakhstan |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Small Private Online Classes for Gaza (SPOCs4Gaza) | Multiple: Palestine, Egypt |
| Methodist University | Support Strive Success: Education for Stability and Peace in Assam | India |
| Methodist University | Foundations of Peace: Improving Accessibility and Living Conditions for Children with Disabilities in Sri Lanka | Sri Lanka |
| Middlebury College | Bridging Communtities Through Sport in Prozor-Rama | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Middlebury College | Mustaqbal: Bridging Egypt’s Urban-Rural Divide Through Education and Dialogue Initiative | Egypt |
| Middlebury College | Bali Environmental Initiative | Indonesia |
| Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey | Mekong Digital Guardians: Combating Cyber-Fraud to Build Economic Resilience & Trust | Thailand |
| Mount Holyoke College | Betty’s Table of Hope Food Pantry | Nigeria |
| Mount Holyoke College | Agora Lab: Oral History of Youth Civic Participation | United States |
| Northwestern University | Khwahish: Social Justice Education through Creative Drama | India |
| Oberlin College | Udaan: Women’s health, Dignity, and Economic Empowerment | India |
| Occidental College | Para Las Madres: Building Peace Through Community Care for Immigrant Mothers and Children | United States |
| Pitzer College | Expanding Zaghawa’s Capacity: Training Future Sudanese Paralegals and Community Organizers | Egypt |
| Pitzer College | Project SMILE | Ghana |
| Pomona College | Hope Through Technology: A Digital Skills & Peacebuilding Program for Refugee Youth in Tongogara, Zimbabwe | Zimbabwe |
| Princeton University | Our Human Experience | United States |
| Reed College | Building Futures: Embedding Financial Literacy in Rural Ghana: The Financial Habits Initiative (FHI) | Ghana |
| Reed College | Writing Narratives of Peace | United States |
| Ringling College of Art + Design | Kisah Kasih: Documentary Photography Advocating Visibility and Justice for Balinese Female Performers | Indonesia |
| Sarah Lawrence College | Inatlije (trans. “The People of Inat”) | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| School of the Art Institute of Chicago | Living Systems | United States |
| Scripps College | Collaborative Energy Transitions in the Amazon (Transiciones energéticas colaborativas en la Amazonia) | Ecuador |
| Skidmore College | Sarpa Shahajivan | Nepal |
| Smith College | Menstrual Peace Chains | Bangladesh |
| Smith College | Zizinduka: Healing and Harmony through Creative Empowerment | Kenya |
| St. John’s College | Toward Peace on the Korean Peninsula: A Visionary Documentary Film | South Korea |
| St. Lawrence University | Breaking the Cycle: Efficient Stoves for Health, Equality, and Peace in Guatemala | Guatemala |
| St. Olaf College | Preparing for Peace: Women, Dignity, and Preventive Health in Flood-Affected Bangladesh | Bangladesh |
| Swarthmore College | Courts of Connection: Building Peace Through Sport and Story in Lianping, Guangdong 2026 | China |
| Trinity College | Developing a Maker Space in a Rural Area of Costa Rica to Empower Young Women in STEM | Costa Rica |
| Trinity College | Booky Club: Cultura y Paz — An After-School Creative Learning Program for At-Risk Children in La Chacarita, Paraguay | Paraguay |
| Tufts University | Economic Shield: Preventing Conflict Driven Exploitation through Financial Protection in northern Kenya | Kenya |
| Union College | Sunflowers and Science: Environmental STEM Education for Ukrainian Children | Multiple: Ukraine and United States |
| Universidad del Sagrado Corazon | Aguascidia | Puerto Rico |
| Universidad ORT Uruguay | FinCrea: Financial Education as a Pathway to Peace and Economic Wellbeing | Uruguay |
| University of Chicago | Sankofa Futures: Youth Livelihoods Beyond Galamsey In Ponponya, Ghana | Ghana |
| University of Florida | Construyendo el Corazón de la Manzana (Building the Heart of the Block) | Mexico |
| University of Maine | Project Santé Maternelle | Senegal |
| University of Michigan | Youth Champions for Change (YCC) | Middle East and North Africa (MENA) |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Blooming Seeds | Uganda |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Bukedea Learning Lab: Building Peace through Game-Based Learning | India |
| University of Oklahoma | Always Comfortable: Women’s Empowerment through Menstrual and Livelihood Training | South Sudan |
| University of Oklahoma | Project for Peace in Yemen | Yemen |
| University of Pennsylvania | The Shade Program: Supporting Women and Children in Jordanian Refugee Camps | Jordan |
| University of Richmond | Abusua Africa | Ghana |
| University of Rochester | Peace as Infrastructure: Strengthening Single-Mother Households in Morocco | Morocco |
| University of Rochester | AquaSolve Rwanda: Solar-Powered Filtration for Peace | Rwanda |
| University of Virginia | The Right to Read and the Right to Be Seen: Supporting Indigenous Literacy | United States |
| Vassar College | Healthy Smiles, Empowered Communities: Addressing Fluoride Exposure in Monastir | Tunisia |
| Vassar College | We Got Next: Peacebuilding Through a Culture of Literacy | United States |
| Wartburg College | The Solar Quench Initiative | Zimbabwe |
| Washington & Lee University | Restoring Confidence and Opportunities for First-Time Teen Mothers | Rwanda |
| Wellesley College | AGORA Civic Leadership & Action Lab | Rwanda |
| Wellesley College | From Silence to Strength: Reproductive Health Education as a Pathway to Peace | Romania |
| Wesleyan University | Wings of Change Entrepreneurship Fellowship | Ghana |
| Wheaton College | Refugee Relief Through Art | Uganda |
| Whitman College | Breaking Barriers, Building Futures | Nepal |
| Williams College | Interethnic Youth Peace Council | Multiple: Haiti and Dominican Republic |
| Williams College | HAITECH Bridge for Peace | Ghana |
| Yale University | Sembrando Memoria: Un programa juvenil de archivo comunitario | El Salvador |