Although Nepal has made consistent efforts to cultivate an inclusive society over the past decades, its prevailing traditional caste system, patriarchal norms, and religious practices continue to foster exclusionary practices against women and those belonging to lower castes and ethnic groups. Indigenous Peoples, Madheshi, Dalits, and Muslims experience discrimination based on stigmatization of cultural identity...
By Betty Bugusu, PhD., Technical Director, LASER PULSE, Purdue University, and Harriet Adong, Director of Communications and Knowledge Management, Makerere University - RAN On August 31, 2023, Makerere University, School of Public Health, ResilientAfrica Network (RAN), Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), Gulu University Constituent College (GUCC) in Moroto, and Purdue University brought together 89...
As LASER PULSE’s Research Translation Strategy Lead for the past four years, I’ve had the great pleasure of supporting nearly 50 researcher-practitioner teams on topics as diverse as block chain technology for African indigenous vegetable sellers, to private sector engagement, to increasing mental health and psychosocial support for Venezuelan refugees and migrants. Together with LASER...
https://youtu.be/m-JN3hp733Q?si=hfuaxhefhqJPLgEG LASER’s Uganda Indigenous People’s Project has worked for several years to aid Ugandan communities in fighting human trafficking and establishing brighter futures for youth, women, and men. Now, one of the project’s efforts has been recognized by Uganda’s NBS TV station, which attended an event celebrating the 2023 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. The event...
Researchers from Notre Dame’s Pulte Institute for Global Development discussed their efforts to identify and restore traditional agricultural methods used by minority groups in Iraq during an event on Tuesday, June 13, at the Keough School Washington Office. The rise of the Islamic State and other sectarian tensions led to violence that killed tens of thousands...
Evidence and Learning Coordinator (Pulte Institute) Jaclyn Biedronski recently received a 2022-2023 Keough School Recognition Award for “significant achievement” beyond her regular job responsibilities. Biedronski served as the project manager and oversaw a team of undergraduate and graduate students who worked on updating the LASER PULSE “Private Sector Engagement Evidence Gap Map,” a visual...
Congratulations to Melissa Paulsen, the Pulte Institute’s director of Entrepreneurship and Education Programs, for her well-deserved University of Notre Dame Presidential Achievement Award. Melissa Paulsen is the program director for Entrepreneurship and Education Programs in the Pulte Institute for Global Development. Melissa advances Notre Dame’s mission to place scholarship and professional practice in service to the...
With the development world littered with large, expensive projects, would a small, locally-led intervention attract much attention? Would people want to hear about it? On June 13, 2023, Notre Dame held an update meeting at their Keough School Washington DC Office, briefing DC decision-makers on LASER’s project that supports traditional agriculture in northern Iraq. The...
As it is critical to capture key learning from the pandemic response, the USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), with Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation (DDI), has commissioned an additional evaluation series to understand the performance of the BHA-funded response to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). It includes a Performance Evaluation for the follow-on fiscal year (FY)...
Saline water intrusion into coastal aquifers is a pressing issue worldwide. In 2021, soils affected by saltwater have accounted for over 10 percent of the world’s cultivated land (FAO, 2021). Vietnam is a country with vast marine resources where up to 1.7 million hectares of land are inundated with saline water each year (Van Nguyen...
