Projects - World Academy for the Future of Women

World Academy for the Future of Women Projects

WAFW offers a variety of educational and service programs for students and local communities.

ACADEMIC LEVELS

The World Academy for the Future of Women (WAFW) began as a one year program for 100 university women from freshman to senior year, to a multi-year, multi-level program for both women and men. Today WAFW has five separate divisions comprised of members from all class levels, freshman through senior year. The division levels are:

First Year World Academy for the Future of Women (Year 1 women) – available in China, Nepal and Bangladesh
Advanced World Academy for the Future of Women (Year 2 women) – available in China
Men’s Academy for the Future of Women (Year 1 men) – available in China
Advanced Men’s Academy for the Future of Women (Year 2 men) – available in China
World Academy in Action (Year 3 women and men) – available in China

WORLD ACADEMY PROJECTS

Each WAFW member is required to engage in a project. The projects, which are based on a United Nations Sustainability Goal, are designed by WAFW members and enable them to use:
1) the knowledge and skills they have gained from the curriculum content provided by WAFW facilitator in their seminars;
2) their ability to take the academy content to action through interactive labs;
3) the coaching they received to resolve issues as they move the content into action.

The projects serve as an opportunity to take action on a significant issue impacting women, children or their community.

Big Bang Thinking

the Big Bang Thinking project is devoted to solving problems for all WAFW projects. Our ultimate goal is to develop and use our creative minds to solving world problems related to social injustice, gender equality and human rights. Using the skills of brainstorming, pre-planning, potential problem analysis, and after action review we select the best ideas for being creative, practical, visionary and getting the best results.

We have worked with members in the Literacy Project on ways to collect more books in the most cost effective manner, allowing us to reach more parents to read with their children. We have worked with members of the Warm Hearts Project and found ways to collect and donate clothes to people in neighboring villages. Sharing Big Bang ideas with project members brings about more passion, inspiration, creativity and innovation. It also promotes teamwork.

Dream Harbor

The Dream Harbor project team is devoted to achieving universal primary education. We encourage primary school children to continue and complete their education through high school level. We offer college awareness to students with strong academic skills. We work with all students to help them find their dream and pursue it, and we encourage them to ask questions and be good thinkers. Finally, we sponsor local activities that encourage students who have dropped out of school to return and continue their education.

On a weekly basis we meet with children whose parents work in the cafeteria at Sias University (China), and provide follow up with the parents, which allows the opportunity to gain greater insight on how to successfully meet the needs of individual students.

Free Lunch

The Free Lunch project team is committed to helping eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, two critical problems in China, and the children are the most vulnerable among the entire population. This project raises money through campus awareness campaigns to assist children who do not have access to lunch in rural schools in Henan Province and the mountainous areas in China.

Each year the project team raises funds through donations from Sias students and faculty members, and from local restaurants who encourage their customers to contribute to the Free Lunch project. Thanks to this funding, nearly 2,200 warm lunches have been provided for children in the mountainous area at a cost of ¥3 for each lunch!

Give Voice to Women

WAFW is committed to the advancement and acceleration of women’s leadership worldwide. By promoting gender equality and empowering women, we encourage women to take a stand for themselves and other women. We advocate for women to pursue their dreams and achieve equality in their home, community, and work place. The activities include:

• STAND UP, TAKE ACTION, MAKE NOISE – an activity originally initiated by the United Nations to bring awareness to the Sustainable Development Goals. This event takes place each fall on Sias campus. Academy members organize a parade and march through campus speaking out about the UN Sustainable Development/Sustainability Goals. Students advocate and raise awareness for all of these social issues.

• LEAN IN promotes gender equality, giving women the opportunity to share their experience and help each other pursue happiness and success in life.

• Students interview WAFW facilitators and invite them to share their unique personal and professional experiences. These interviews are recorded then published on our website and posted on social media.

• We invite women from all walks of life and different backgrounds to participate in our annual Women’s Symposium and share their experiences.

• We partner with the International Women’s Academy in finding women’s voices in Henan and in China. We put these voices together with the voices of women from different countries in international clubs around the world.

These activities inspire and encourage women to find their voice and make choice in their lives.

Green Sias

Green SIAS addresses environmental sustainability. This project educates students, faculty and the local community members on environmental issues with the philosophy that starting locally contributes to a global perspective for creating sustainability. Our goals are to improve students’ awareness of the environment at SIAS such as conserving water, electricity, disposable items including plastic bags, bottles and boxes, and to be a strong voice to the world.

Green SIAS has three awareness activities. First, the Thousand Signatures project encouraging college students to take better care of our world by signing a pledge to take action to protect the environment. Second, in the Green Sticker we offer green stickers to the students who bring us plastic bottles to recycle, so “Green” will be seen throughout the campus. The last activity – Earth Hour – a worldwide activity, encourages students to turn off the lights during a specifically designated time so that we can save energy and reduce our carbon footprint.

Because we are committed to being a voice to the world, we use social media to challenge other college students to participate in these important activities to recycle and conserve.

HIV / AIDS Awareness

The project HIV/AIDS Awareness focuses on eradicating HIV/AIDS by creating public awareness through learning and understanding HIV/AIDS. The team strives to educate about prejudice, by helping orphans whose parents are HIV patients develop confidence and personal power. We partner with the Chi Heng Foundation, a community charity, which has helped more than 1400 children with education and job skills.

The project has two big events each year: on International Children’s Day HIV impacted orphans are invited to Sias to enjoy a university campus atmosphere and meet university students. On December 1, World AIDS Day, an art exhibition – a knowledge competition – and a charity bazaar are sponsored by Sias students and the community.

The goal is to promote education and understanding of the impact of HIV/AIDS in Henan Province, It is critical for college age students to understand this issue as people under the age of 25 account for half of all new HIV/AIDS infections each year worldwide.

Literacy Project

The Literacy Project focuses on achieving primary education. This reading program is designed to encourage parents to read to and with their children on a regular basis. Each week our reading activities are held both on and off campus. Team members demonstrate to parents how reading to their children stimulates language development and learning. When children love reading and parents encourage good reading habits, this furthers learning and helps parent and child recognize the value of education. Books are provided by the Literacy Program and Brits Abroad, a Shanghai based ex-pat charity organization. A joint project among Global Interactions, WAFW, Henan Provincial Library and Ben Yuan Foundation has distributed more than 2,000 English books to our children!

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

This project teaches the value and necessity of generating money. Projects cannot be implemented without a realistic understanding of fiscal responsibility.

Market Place Project
The Market Place project focuses on running a successful business. This project involves the development and marketing of products, including handicrafts made by local rural women. We sell these handmade goods and manage the inventory, revenue, and expenses. The Market Place team develops a business plan. Tasks are divided into four departments: marketing, planning, operations, and public relations. The development and practice of critical management skills serves to enhance students’ ability to find good jobs after graduation. The Market Place project provides funding for WAFW operations and projects.

World Academy Run – Join The Human Race
The second major activity is the 1st World Academy Charity Night Run purposed for the spring semester. Students, faculty, and community residents register to run a course though Sias campus. Each lap of the course represents one major world issue, such as hunger, poverty, gender equality, HIV/AIDS, universal education for children, global partnerships, environmental sustainability, domestic violence. Participants receive a token symbolizing their completion of each lap. Runners who complete all eight laps receive a certificate acknowledging their tribute/commitment to improving conditions for humanity.

Sunshine Angels

The Sunshine Angels Project promotes the educational and social development of children with disabilities. We cooperate with Xinzheng Special Education School where students are 8-15 years old. There are 12 deaf and 60 mentally challenged children at the school. Each Wednesday Academy members go to the school and conduct a project with the children. Each year a seminar “Special Education Experiences & Opportunities”, which focuses on brain development and teaching pedagogy, is organized for teachers, professors and parents. The goal is to provide an opportunity to exchange experiences and gain partnerships in learning how to integrate special needs children into society and communities. The students’ projects on Sias campus are displayed in our community and campus to encourage more people to become aware of these children and their abilities.

Warm Hearts

The Warm Hearts project is committed to eliminating extreme poverty. Our main activity is to collect clothes and donate them to people in poor regions each fall through several primary schools. Our goal is to keep families warm and healthy throughout the winter, allowing children to have sufficient clothing to attend school.

In the spring, we re-establish communication with students from these schools to give encouragement to young children. We teach them social media skills as a means to broaden their world and to stay connected with us.

Our efforts improve the quality of people’s lives by satisfying the demands of basic life. Our vision is to assist people in solving problems of social poverty and improve their well-being.