The Talloires Network E-Newsletter - August 2020

Posted August 12, 2020 - 09:48 by Mike Osborne

The Talloires Network is one of the partners with whom PASCAL collaborates. The Network enjoys a high profile and is among the several national and international bodies encouraging universities worldwide to adopt a more centrally-focussed universities' 'third mission' commitment to community service in its different senses and settings.

Here is a copy of Talloires Network E-Newsletter for August 2020:

 
 
Talloires Network Newsletter
Tufts University   Medford, Massachusetts, USA    11 August 2020 
Dear Colleagues,

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact our daily lives across the world, our member institutions are working in collaboration with local partners to meet this moment. Together they are providing health care, food, water, mental health services, hygiene education, and support to community businesses. The Talloires Network is committed to finding ways for essential university civic engagement partnerships to go about their work more safely. 
 
It is a tremendous honor to announce the winners of the University Award for Innovative Civic Engagement, a program established in collaboration with Open Society Foundations. The program is providing 100,000 USD in financial support to member institutions in the Global South who are working with local communities to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. The international selection committee prioritized partnerships that incorporate gender equity, diversity, and inclusion into their missions and activities. The winners are:

  • CAMEROON: Health Care for Internally Displaced Persons in Cameroon to Mitigate the Impacts of COVID-19, Meridian Global University in partnership with Access Care Foundation will provide basic healthcare services for people trapped or displaced by the conflict in the Anglophone Regions of Cameroon. The partnership will focus on a hygiene and education campaign and other preventive measures against the pandemic as well as the reduction of maternal or neonatal deaths.
  • KENYA: Co-creation Strategies for Improving the Health of Children and Access to Safe Water in a Time of Crisis, Mount Kenya University in collaboration with Partners for Care will implement more sustainable and impactful interventions in rural East Africa to improve the quality of water and sanitation services. The interventions aim to reduce waterborne illnesses and preventable diseases, and in light of the COVID-19, they are focusing on setting up handwash stations to curb the spread of the virus. 
  • MEXICO: Food Security & Health Promotion Initiatives During the COVID-19 Crisis, Universidad Veracruzana in partnership with the Veracruz State Department of the Environment will involve local communities and indigenous youth in food security projects throughout the region. By way of participatory research and reflection-in-action, community members will work with students to incubate start-up projects in conservation of water resources, greenhouses, and agro-ecological farming.
  • NICARAGUA: Biophychosocial Strengthening of the University Community and its Environment Against COVID-19, National Autonomous University of Nicaragua in collaboration with municipal mayors and non-profit institutions that serve the local community proposed to promote biopsychosocial health and wellness habits. The university’s Psychosocial and Community Clinic at the Multidisciplinary Regional Faculty will be working with their partners to offer additional resources online and to promote community awareness of the importance of mental health.  
  • ZIMBABWE: Combating COVID-19 Through Digital Innovation and a Community-Driven Approach, University of Zimbabwe in partnership with the Glen Norah Community Cooperative will address the devasting COVID-19 impacts on people’s livelihoods and the local economy. It will promote decent employment creation and income generation by providing entrepreneurship education and establishing a revolving loan facility for vulnerable small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs.

In September, the Talloires Network will celebrate its 15th anniversary. We will mark the occasion by announcing the winner of the international design competition for the new Talloires Network logo as well as a messaging philosophy consistent with contemporary standards in the field of university civic engagement, the academic culture of the 2020s, and the accomplishments and direction of the Network to date.

With this transition in mind, I share the sad news of the passing of Steering Committee member Nisar Ahmed Siddiqui on 22 June. The Network has had the good fortune of working with Vice-Chancellor Siddiqui for many years and we are grateful for his significant contributions. I encourage you to read about his inspiring achievements in Pakistan. Let us take a moment to reflect on the courageous efforts of Vice-Chancellor Siddiqui and the other leaders in the university civic engagement movement who came before us. 

Sincerely,
Anthony P. Monaco
President, Tufts University
TALLOIRES NETWORK NEWS 
Announcing the University Award for Innovative Civic Engagement Winners 
The University Award for Civic Engagement will support innovative community engagement projects in the Global South during the pandemic. The award aims to discover, learn from, and support the leadership of novel university civic engagement partnerships that connect universities and local communities in ways that contribute to more equal and more inclusive societies. Read more about the five partnerships receiving awards. 
Adapting to the New Reality Webinars
The Adapting to the New Reality Webinars feature leaders in higher education from around the world speaking about ways their institutions are responding to the current crisis and offering strategies that can be adopted by others. In the most recent episode panelists from Cameroon, Columbia, Ghana, and the U.S. discussed engaged teaching, learning, and mentorship during the pandemic. Watch Here. The latest webinar was held on Monday August 10 (9am – 10am Eastern/UTC -4) and featured winners of the COV-AID Student Engagement Award. 

You can watch recordings of all episodes to date. The series is a partnership of Open Society University Network (OSUN) and the Talloires Network (TN). 
Accepting Steering Committee Nominations
We invite you to nominate a university civic engagement leader who you think should be part of the Network’s governing body! A distinctive strength of the Network is its elected Steering Committee. Committee members bring their skills, experience, and resources to the table in guiding and supporting the Network’s strategic direction. They serve three-year terms and reflect the Network’s broad geographic diversity and reach. Several positions will become vacant by the end of 2020. You may send your nomination to the TN Secretariat.
Celebrating Nisar Ahmed Siddiqui 
Founding Vice-Chancellor of Sukkur IBA University, Professor Nisar Ahmed Siddiqui passed away on 22 June. Vice-Chancellor Siddiqui was a longtime collaborator with the Talloires Network and served on the Steering Committee since 1 January 2018. Read more about his inspiring achievements. 
MEMBER AND PARTNER NEWS
Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement in Africa 
The Talloires Network and the Swearer Center at Brown University have produced a report featuring key takeaways from the Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement workshop held with higher education leaders from Africa. Sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York’s Higher Education and Research in Africa program, the workshop introduced African higher education leaders to the Classification and explored the ways in which the Classification might be applied in African countries. Read the report here.
Nous Report: Advancing University Engagement 

Nous Group has been working with senior representatives of the King’s College London, the University of Chicago, and the University of Melbourne to find a way to measure and recognize university engagement. The findings from this project are contained in a new report, “Advancing University Engagement: University engagement and global league tables.”
UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science
UNESCO is launching international consultations aimed at developing a Recommendation on Open Science for adoption by member states in 2021. Its recommendation will include a common definition, a shared set of values and proposals for action. The UNESCO Chair in collaboration with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO has produced a brief articulating important concepts of decolonizing knowledge which extends their understanding of Open Science. Read their brief in English or in French.

UNESCO asks that you contact your National Commission for UNESCO and call on them to study the brief and support the suggestions for textual content to the Recommendation.

Albion College 
Albion College President Mathew Johnson is calling on the college to be "boldly and courageously anti-racist." The college has developed "Blueprint for Belonging Action Toolkit" as part of a year-long process to build public commitments to this work across the campus. Read more. 

NESET Report on Community Engagement 
European Commission has recently published a new report entitled "Community Engagement in Higher Education: Trends, Practices and Policies." The report argues that universities play a crucial role in responding to societal needs, and can further enhance their societal impact at local, national and international levels through community engagement. Read the Report. 

Call for Proposals: Association of International Education Administrators 
AIEA has released a call for proposals for their 2021 conference. 
The conference theme is “Leading Internationalization in a New Era: Collaborating for Global Solutions” and will envision how higher education will emerge stronger in the post-pandemic era. Proposals are due August 15. Read more. 
      
Copyright © 2020, Tufts University, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
Talloires Network Secretariat
163 Packard Ave. 
Medford, MA 02155, USA

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