Judith Mathews, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology at the UNMC Munroe-Meyer Institute, was recently awarded a Fulbright scholarship.
The Fulbright program is a prestigious international educational exchange program designed to solve shared international issues. As a continuation of her capstone project for her Master’s in Public Health degree, Dr. Mathews will conduct community-based participatory research in Nairobi, Kenya for about six months beginning in December. There she will teach adolescent girls to make positive changes in their communities just as she has done through Girls Inc. in Omaha.
One of her Girls Inc. projects led to a lead poisoning prevention health fair and the other resulted in an educational program on child abuse prevention.
"Girls, especially those in low-income communities, need to be encouraged to feel like they can make changes in their community," Dr. Mathews said. "In Kenya, girls have fewer opportunities than males. The hope is to boost their self confidence and teach them that they can make a difference in their lives and the lives of people around them."
For the project, girls will identify issues specific to their communities by taking pictures and then develop, implement and evaluate an intervention. Girls from Girls Inc. and Nairobi will run parallel projects, and share ideas and data through the "Community Toolbox," a free resource website that connects people from all over the world.
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