A Yale College junior was awarded a 2024 Davis Projects for Peace grant, which provides funding for innovative, community-centered projects that address the world’s most critical issues.
Nishah Jaferi was among 129 awardees from 94 partner institutions to receive funding to pursue a project, typically between June and September in the award year. Projects focus on issues related to health and well-being, the quality of and access to education, youth development, environmental issues, and protecting human rights.
Projects for Peace was founded in 2007 by Kathryn W. Davis, who celebrated her 100th birthday by supporting 100 Projects for Peace, designed “to bring about a mindset of preparing for peace, instead of preparing for war.” The grant is administered by Middlebury College in Vermont.
Jaferi, of Saybrook College, is a pre-med student studying molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. She will use the Davis Projects for Peace grant to implement her program, Nisa Project, a women’s health literacy program designed to support refugee, asylum seeking, and undocumented women in their health and resettlement journeys. Her program features a series of culturally competent and trauma-informed wellness courses addressing topics in women’s health, self-advocacy, and equity. Through her project, Jaferi aims to improve access to essential health knowledge and services, fostering agency, autonomy, and support for newcomer women.
Jaferi is passionate about cancer immunology, women’s health equity, and community building in migrant communities. In 2020, she founded Hello Hygienics, an initiative to provide critical personal protective equipment and health resources to underserved communities across South Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic. At Yale, Jaferi is a STARS II Scholar conducting research on topics in basic cancer research, survivorship, and intimate partner violence at Yale School of Medicine. She has also held positions as director of the Yale Women’s Leadership Conference and as a health-policy intern for Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS), in New Haven, and serves on various community advisory boards promoting women’s health in Connecticut.
