Meet the Peace and Reconciliation Challenge Grantees for 2022

Dr Oliver Mbayi Omuyoma, Kenyatta University, Kenya

Kenyatta University seeks to contribute to the integration of the children of urban refugees and asylum seekers within host communities by using storytelling as a therapeutic tool. His study seeks to:

• Map psychosocial adjustment difficulties among refugee children.
• Find out the extent to which participative storytelling improves psychosocial adjustment.
• Determine the effectiveness of storytelling as a therapeutic tool in children psychosocial adjustment.

Diana Benoit, the University of Seychelles

Diana’s research interests are gender studies, political transitions, transitional justice and the health-peace nexus. She is currently engaged in an action research project on trauma and healing in her home country, Seychelles. The University of Seychelles will receive its first peacebuilding guide and the staff will be trained to become peacebuilders. The implementation of an awareness campaign will create understanding on transforming conflict and building positive peace.

Jacqueline Mowbray, University of Sydney Law School.

Jacqueline Mowbray is a first-generation Australian who lives and works on Aboriginal land, and is passionate about incorporating Indigenous perspectives in the law curriculum. She will produce a series of podcasts documenting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and their experience of law. Featuring the school’s Indigenous Practitioner-in-Residence in conversation with indigenous elders and activists, these podcasts will be used in teaching to contribute to decolonisation of the curriculum.

Ms Meenal Choubey, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, India.

Meenal Choubey has worked previously as a researcher and assistant professor of law. Her research area include social justice, the Sustainable Development Goals, International education and education for justice. The Peace and Reconciliation Challenge Grant will support in conducting mother-tongue-based multi-lingual education workshops for instructors teaching indigenous students in the rural areas of Odisha. A series of workshops will enhance the knowledge of teachers and the inclusion of these workshops will help integrate indigenous knowledge systems in the curriculum.