iChad

Headquarter Address: Brown School, One Brookings Dr., St. Louis, MO 63130

Website: http://ichad.wustl.edu/

Sector of Work: Research, Asset development, Child Development, Youth Development, Community Development

Region/Country: Uganda 

Mission:
 ICHAD’s mission is to contribute to the reduction of poverty and improvement of public health outcomes for children, adolescents and families in low-resource communities, particularly those in Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing nations.

Description:
The Center advances its mission through:

• Innovative applied intervention research: ICHAD houses a broad range of innovative applied social and economic empowerment intervention research studies with practice, programming and policy implications. Through its research, ICHAD seeks to develop evidence-informed, scalable, and sustainable solutions to address poverty and improve youth outcomes.
• Capacity building opportunities for new generation of scholars: ICHAD develops and implements enhanced research training programs and mentorship opportunities for Master’s, Doctoral and Postdoctoral students as well junior faculty at Washington University in St. Louis and in developing countries. The training focuses on conceptualization, design, implementation and evaluation of applied intervention research concerning economic empowerment through asset-development, social protection and public health. The training also provides mentorship in scientific grant writing, manuscript preparation, and dissemination of key findings intended to inform practice, programming and policy.
• Raising public awareness and support for economic empowerment interventions: ICHAD seeks to increase public awareness for economic empowerment programs that: a) address context-specific and mutually-reinforcing challenges/stressors faced by developing country youth (e.g., “youth bulge”) and their families; and b) generate new public-private partnerships to advance widespread adoption, implementation and scale-up of evidence-based economic empowerment interventions.
• Informing public policy and programming: ICHAD seeks to use the findings from its applied research to inform child and adolescent-focused policy and programming. ICHAD engages district- and national-level policymakers and establishes academic-government partnerships to disseminate its study findings and move forward the policy agenda on child and adolescent well-being.

 
ICHAD builds upon a 15+ year solid foundation of basic and applied innovative field research and conducted by ICHAD Research Team across Sub-Saharan Africa. To the best of our knowledge, ICHAD constitutes one of the first university-based interdisciplinary center focusing both on child and adolescent health and economic empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Practicum Details 

Language Requirement: English

Possible Projects: Smart Africa, SUUBI+Adherence, SUUBI4HER, Bridges to the Future, Kenya Youth Savings Impact Assessment

Preferred Knowledge and Background: Research, Community health, Monitoring and Evaluation, Community Development, Child Welfare

Cost: Students are responsible for flights, housing, potential visa fees, and living expenses. Students are required to purchase purchase WUSTL travel insurance for the duration of their practicum for $40/month.

Travel Immunizations or preventative medication is recommended and may be required for your program participation. Students are responsible for covering all associated costs. Please refer to the CDC for more information. 

Brown School Contact: Global Programs Office and Dr. Fred Ssewamala

To apply and rank iChad as one of your Brown School practicum choices, click here.