Backpacker, Go! Fall 2023 Newsletter 2.2
Quick Summary
- Article 26 Backpack celebrates reaching 4,000 users and welcomes Armenian students with a new language and partnership.
- Backpers express solidarity with displaced students worldwide and encourage document safeguarding.
- Backpack surveys user needs in Rwanda and develops training modules to onboard users. Be part of the journey by taking their user interface survey!
Backpacker, Go!
Fall 2023 Newsletter 2.1
UC Davis Backpack Guide Collective
Published by the Article 26 Backpack team at the University of California, Davis, Backpacker, Go! provides resources, news, and relevant information to Backpackers to support them in protecting their human right to education. This quarter, we have information about free academic credentialing resources and fellowship opportunities.
First, we have a welcome message from Backpack’s founder, Dr. Keith David Watenpaugh, Professor and Director of Human Rights Studies.
Article 26 Backpack News
As of November 2023, Article 26 Backpack has reached 4,000 Backpackers from around the globe. We are excited to continue expanding our reach to new regions and student communities.
Beginning this October, Backpack established a working relationship with the students and the administration of the American University of Armenia in Yerevan to support ethnically Armenian students displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh. Backpack is now available in Eastern Armenian.
Backpack Fellows in Rwanda are conducting a global survey of Backpack users to identify user interface issues on the Backpack platform.
Please consider adding your response. You can access the survey here: https://forms.gle/qjvxcz3ybTVEn2XE9
Backpack is developing training modules to instruct students in how to navigate the platform and enroll themselves and their peers. Read more about the Backpack Badge in our interview with Lauren Cegelski below.
Finally, Article 26 Backpack stands in solidarity and support with all students who have been displaced by conflict, including those in the Congo, in Gaza, and in Sudan, as well as those in Nagorno-Karabakh. As always, we urge displaced students around the world to store their documents safely and securely–however that may work best.
Resources
Academic Credentialing Services
Education Credential Evaluators (ECE®) Aid is providing free credentialing services for Backpackers. These services compare academic and professional degrees earned in one country to academic and professional degrees earned in another. To use ECE® Aid’s credentialing service, please email us at backpack@ucdavis.edu.
Education Credential Evaluators (ECE®) AID está proporcionando servicios de acreditación gratuita para mochileros. Estos servicios comparan títulos académicos y profesionales obtenidos en un país con títulos académicos y profesionales obtenidos en otro. Para usar el servicio de acreditación de ECE® AID, por favor envíenos un correo electrónico a backpack@ucdavis.edu.
Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE®) Aid fournit des services d’accréditation gratuits pour les Backpackers. Ces services comparent les diplômes universitaires et professionnels obtenus dans un pays aux diplômes universitaires et professionnels obtenus dans un autre. Pour utiliser le service d’accréditation d’ECE® Aid, veuillez nous envoyer un e-mail à: backpack@ucdavis.edu.
يقدم Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE®) Aid خدمات تقييم مجانية لحاملي الحقيبة. تقارن هذه الخدمات الدرجات الأكاديمية والمهنية التي تم الحصول عليها في بلد ما مع الدرجات الأكاديمية والمهنية التي تم الحصول عليها في بلد آخر. لاستخدام خدمة Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE®) Aid، يرجى مراسلتنا عبر البريد الإلكتروني على
مرکز «کمک به ارزیابی تحصیلی» (ECE® Aid) خدمات تأیید مدارک تحصیلی را به صورت رایگان برای کاربران «کوله‌پشتی» ارائه می‌کند. این خدمات، مدارک تحصیلی و حرفه ای را در یک کشور با مدارک علمی و حرفه ای در کشور دیگر مقایسه می کند. برای استفاده از خدمات کمک به ارزیابی تحصیلی ECE® Aid، لطفاً به ما ایمیل بزنید: backpack@ucdavis.edu
Scholarship and Fellowship Opportunities
Welcome to Backpacker, Go’s “Scholarship and Fellowship Opportunities” section! This section includes opportunities and resources that Backpackers may be eligible to apply for.
UNDERGRADUATE OPPORTUNITIES
Title: Opportunity Scholarship
Organization: The Dream.US
Requirements: Applications are open to immigrant students with or without DACA or TPS who came to the U.S. before the age of 16 and before Nov. 1, 2018 and be admitted to one of our Opportunity Partner Colleges to receive this scholarship.
Description: For undocumented students who live in states where they have no access to college. The Scholarship is for up to $80,000 to cover tuition, fees, and on-campus housing and meals for a bachelor’s degree.
Deadline: Opportunity scholarship closes January 31, 2024
Learn more HERE
Title: Student Refugee Program (applicable for asylum seekers residing in Jordan, Kenya, Tanzania, Lebanon, Uganda)
Organization: managed by World University Service of Canada
Requirements:
- Be a refugee living in a country of asylum in which the program operates;
- Have completed secondary school and have official and original transcripts of educational documents;
- Be between 18-25 years old;
- Be competent in English or French (oral and written);
- Be single with no dependents/children;
- Eligible and suitable for resettlement under Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees program;
- Be self-reliant, mature and suitable for integration in Canada; and
- Be currently facing barriers to accessing or completing post-secondary education (i.e. university or college)
Please note: There are specific eligibility requirements for each country of asylum that will be posted in each year’s Call for Applications.
Description: This is not a scholarship. Students are sponsored for one year with basic financial and social support. The program combines resettlement to Canada with access to education.
Deadline: The deadline hasn’t been posted yet and varies depending on the country but will be between November and April.
More information HERE
Title: Refugee Scholarship
Organization: Yesbud University
Requirements: This scholarship program is for foreign nationals who have refugee status living anywhere in the world.
Description: The Refugee Scholarship is an effort to combat unprecedented humanitarian and economic loss by providing displaced students with the opportunity to pursue higher education at Yesbud University. The Scholarship supports displaced students from anywhere in the world who are unable to complete their higher education online. Depending on the degree program, the scholarship will cover full tuition fees and registration fees. Students will be informed regarding the scholarship only after degree admissions decisions are made.
Deadline: N/A
More information HERE
UNDERGRADUATE & GRADUATE OPPORTUNITIES
Title: Daughters for Life Scholarship
Organization: Daughters for Life Foundation
Requirements:
- You are a female student.
- You are a resident and citizen of the following Middle Eastern countries: Palestine, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Morocco.
- You are in financial need.
- You are committed to returning to your home country once your studies are completed.
Description: The Daughters for Life Foundation is committed to building a future in the Middle East, defined by women’s empowerment across the region. Fully-funded scholarships are open to every level of post-secondary study, including undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate studies.
Deadline: January 19, 2024
More information HERE
Title: Mastercard Foundation Scholarship
Organization: Mastercard Foundation
Requirements:
- Are you an African national with a commitment to ethical leadership and community building?
- Are you a committed, young person whose academic ambitions exceed your financial resources?
- Are you a student interested in joining an exceptional network of young changemakers?
- Do you identify as a woman, refugee, internally displaced person, person with a disability or another marginalized community that makes accessing higher education challenging?
- For an undergraduate (bachelor’s) degree, candidates must be 29 years or under at the time they apply.
- For a graduate (master’s) degree, candidates must be 35 years old or under at the time they apply. Each university has its own eligibility criteria.
Description: To be considered for the program, students must be academically strong and have demonstrated a commitment to making a difference in the lives of others. The Scholars Program is implemented through our partner universities and non-governmental organizations. The application process and decision-making are managed individually by each partner. If you are interested in becoming a Scholar, you must apply through the university of your choice.
Application Deadline: University specific.
More information HERE
GRADUATE OPPORTUNITIES
Title: The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans (PD Soros)
Organization: Paul & Daisy Soros Foundation
Requirements:
- Applicant must have New American status (immigrant or the child of immigrants)
- Either applying to or pursuing full-time graduate/professional degrees at United States institutions
- Applicant must be 30 years of age or younger as of the application deadline.
Description: Every year, The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans (PD Soros) supports thirty New Americans— immigrants or the children of immigrants—who are pursuing graduate or professional school in the United States. Each Fellowship supports one to two years of graduate study in any field and in any advanced degree-granting program in the United States.
Each award is for up to a total of $90,000. Here is the financial break down: Each Fellow receives $25,000 in stipend support a year (all stipend awards are capped at $50,000 per year), as well as 50 percent of required tuition and fees, up to $20,000 per year, for one to two years. The first year of Fellowship funding cannot be deferred.
Deadline: Applications open in Spring 2024 for the 2025 Fellowship
More information HERE
Title: The DPU70 Scholarships
Organization: Bartlett Development Planning Unit at University College London
Requirements:
- Applicant must be a national and resident (domiciled) in a sub-Saharan country
- Applicant must have received an offer letter for their Master’s degree within the Bartlett Development Planning Unit.
Description: The DPU70 Scholarships aim to support two students from Sub-Saharan Africa to study the DPU’s master's courses in the 2024-25 academic year. Financial support includes: full overseas tuition fees, an annual allowance of £16,008 to cover living and study expenses for the normal duration of the programme at UCL. Additionally, a flight to/from the UK, UK Study Visa costs, English language assessment costs, health test costs and the NHS Immigration Health Supplement charge. All Promise scholars will also receive on-going academic and career support during their study. Full international fees plus living stipend and travel to and from the country of domicile for the one-year duration of the master's programme. The exact value will vary slightly, depending on airfares and other costs of travel.
Deadline: Master’s degree programs close the application window in early April 2024 (admissions letters are sent out on a rolling basis, beginning Dec 2023). The DPU 70 Scholarship application is open between Feb 15-Apr 5 2024. You MUST have a Master’s degree program offer letter from a Bartlett Development Planning Unit program to submit your DPU 70 Scholarship application.
More information HERE
Title: Columbia University Scholarship for Displaced Students
Organization: Columbia Global Schools, Columbia University in the City of New York
Requirements:
Foreign nationals who meet any of the following criteria:
- You have refugee status (living anywhere in the world)
- You have received asylum in the United States or submitted a U.S. asylum application
- You are in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status
- You are an internally displaced person
- You are an Afghan national in the U.S. on humanitarian parole or with a special immigrant visa
- You are a Ukrainian national in the U.S. on parole
Description: The Columbia University Scholarship for Displaced Students at Columbia Global collaborates with participating schools to offer full tuition coverage and support for non-tuition expenses to accepted students. This assistance extends for the duration required to complete their degree. Recipients of the scholarship are required to be full-time students attending classes in person.
Deadline: Degree/School specific. Applicants must first apply to a participating degree program and then to the Scholarship for Displaced Students. Both applications must be submitted before the deadline for the degree program’s application.
More information and deadlines of participating schools HERE
OTHER RESOURCES
- UNHCR has a database of scholarships specifically for refugee students. Access the database HERE.
- Talent Beyond Borders is seeking to connect refugee job seekers with employment opportunities. Access the job board, create a profile, and submit applications HERE.
- Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan are open to job applications from Afghan nationals, particularly women in Afghanistan, displaced Afghan women, and women with disabilities. Find more about the vacancies HERE and apply HERE.
- The website Opportunities for Youth posts various internship and job opportunities for students and young professionals all over the world. Check it out HERE.
- Finally, Jusoor has released an article offering helpful tips on choosing the right program of study, scholarship, and university for your goals. Read it HERE.
Remember to Use Your Backpack
As you apply to universities and other institutions, remember to update your Backpack! We encourage you to review your Backpack and update it to reflect all of your academic and professional achievements prior to submitting applications.
Your digital portfolio can store items such as a resume, CV, creative works, and letters of recommendation and can be shared with educational institutions and employers in Backpacks.
Your educational portfolio can store items such as transcripts, diplomas, certificates, and letters of recommendation and can be shared with educational institutions and employers in Backpacks.
You can create a Shared Backpack to share the contents of your Backpack with educational institutions, university affiliates, and employers. You can create a Shared Backpack on the Create a Share page. You can create different Shared Backpacks to suit your needs. All Shared Backpacks expire after seven days to protect your privacy.
Using techniques borrowed from the humanities field of "digital storytelling," the Article 26 Backpack gives Backpackers a chance to record and upload an oral statement of purpose, "My Story/My Future.” The short videos also provide a way to bring a human face to the academic documents that are contained in Backpacks.
You choose what to upload, and you can choose if and when to delete your documents. You are in control of the contents of your Backpack.
To learn more about how to use Article 26 Backpack, please watch this tutorial.
Meet Article 26 Backpack Team Members
Get to know a few members of the global Article 26 Backpack Team!
Olivier Mupenzi, based in Kigali, Rwanda
Meet Olivier Mupenzi, an Article 26 Backpack Project Fellow at the Kepler educational non-profit. Olivier has been with Kepler for six months and has been working with refugee students to store their documents in Backpack for three months. As a Project Fellow, Olivier coordinates Backpack enrollment events across Rwanda and Ethiopia, fields questions from Backpackers regarding how to navigate the platform, identifies areas of improvement and communicates refugee students’ needs and concerns with the global Backpack team.
Olivier believes that Backpack offers “hope that [the] future is good if you are educated. Hope that with documents, you can improve your standard of living wherever you are. Hope that you can carry knowledge everywhere and that [your] life is not limited to where [you] are now”.
Olivier brings his own experience as a refugee student to his work with Backpack: every day, he is inspired by the motto, “He who heals the wound heals well”. To Olivier, “a refugee supporting another refugee means a lot with the fact that he/she is supporting from experience. So, being a refugee and experiencing the camp life… boosted the courage within myself to participate in changing and helping refugee and displaced students.
“I am driven by the spirit of ‘if I don’t serve my community (people of the same status), none will do so’; again, as a refugee by experience, I know how to treat, collaborate and support refugees and displaced people which proves that I can do it better than anyone.”
Arpi Mouradian, based in Yerevan, Armenia
Arpi is a student at the American University of Armenia majoring in Business with a minor in Gender Studies. In Arpi’s words,
“What drew me to signing up to work with Article 26 Backpack was just the notion that I would be helping the people, my people I hadn't been able to properly help during battles and wars over the past 3 years. I wasn’t sure what I was signing up for but the words ‘support displaced students’ confirmed for me that this is what my next step should be.”
Arpi has led her team of AUA students as they became Backpack guides trained in how to enroll displaced students and how to uphold and inform students about their human rights, including the right to education. Arpi and her team also assisted in translation. Arpi says of her experience working alongside the American Backpack team,
“My experience with this collaboration has been very goal-oriented. It is always heartening to see others who have no stake in the lives of my people be intent on providing a type of support no one even thought they needed or would have ever needed.”
Article 26 Backpack seeks to affirm and make achievable Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states all students should have access to higher education without obstacles. Arpi believes “education to be the core solution of most any problem. The human right to education isn’t an absolute one but it may as well should be. This is considering it is the lack of it I find at the core of intolerance and hatred among many other attributes we often find in humanity.”
“William Saroyan famously said that he ‘should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia. See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.’ The celebrated novelist and playwright was able to say this, be this sure in the Armenian people because of what he knew and what he believed. That can only come as a result of learning or reading or studying. This is why there will always be a need, a force to fight for the human right to education, humanity isn’t stationary. We can only evolve and survive through mental growth which stems from one place.”
In closing, Arpi also hopes her impactful work with Article 26 Backpack provides a pathway to participation for her local community. “I hope this collaboration shows the members of my university who haven’t an idea yet what Article 26 Backpack is, that there is a way they can help. There is a way they can encourage their friends and family who they know need this service to go for it. The more this circulates among people the more the displaced people of Artsakh will remember that there will always be chances to rise again and grow again.”
Lauren Cegelski, based in Davis, California, the United States
Lauren is a student at University of California, Davis, studying International Relations and Economics, as well as the Director of Partnerships for Article 26 Backpack.
In her position, Lauren oversees the Article 26 Badging Program, currently in its last stages of development, which will provide all Backpackers and potential Backpack guides with a series of training modules on human rights education, the Backpack platform, and how to protect the educational futures of refugee students. Those who take this module will be given a certification – “Badge” – as a Backpack guide. The Badge will be free and open to all participants.
About the Badge, Lauren says that “Backpack wanted to create the Badge to ensure that all guides had access to proper training materials. It was important to us that everybody was on the same page when it came to conducting enrollment activities, and the Badge program is a way to ensure that everybody has the proper knowledge to ensure the safety and success of the Backpackers.”
Thinking long term about the Badge’s impact on the educational access of refugee students, Lauren says, “I hope that there will be a large number of guides who have successfully completed the course and that as a result, our recruitment numbers will greatly benefit. At the end of the day it's about ensuring our guides have the knowledge to safely promote this tool and that students around the world feel heard when we offer enrollment.”
Thank you Olivier, Arpi, and Lauren for all the work you do to protect the human right to education!
If you or a member of your community would like to be featured as a Backpack guide (a Backpacker who enrolls others into Backpack) please send us an email at backpack@ucdavis.edu.
Contact the Article 26 Backpack Team
Follow us on Facebook (@a26backpack), Twitter (@a26backpack), and Instagram (@article26backpack).
Email us at Backpack@ucdavis.edu.
For more about Article 26 Backpack, visit us at https://backpack.ucdavis.edu/ .
At this time, we only have the resources to produce this newsletter in English, but we are hoping to expand and develop translated versions of the newsletter. If you have any feedback for us regarding our newsletter or have thoughts on what resources and support you would like to see in future newsletters, please do not hesitate to reach out!