Faithness Kiondo
A Systems Approach to Climate Change: Efficient Strategies for Local Mitigation
NYU is partnering with UNICEF Tanzania and MUHAS to address climate-related health challenges in low-income communities in Tanzania. The interdisciplinary program is based on the highly successful Behavioral Communication Strategies for Global Epidemics course developed by NYU and UNICEF, and combines diverse expertise, current data, local knowledge, and collaboration across academic, institutional, and geographical boundaries. The group advances innovative, community-driven solutions and underscores the power of collective action to deliver sustainable, scalable, and impactful responses to urgent health challenges brought on by climate change.
This course provides the opportunity to work side-by-side with NYU and MUHAS graduate students and faculty, UNICEF colleagues, government partners, and other professionals to design and implement cost effective programs that respond to complex local challenges resulting from climate change, conflict, and poverty. The strategies developed in the course are presented on the final day for review by senior public health and development experts. At least one of the final projects will be partially funded through a grant by a generous donor.
During the live sessions, teams will be guided through the development of a social and behavior change strategy - grounded in community engagement - that has the best possible chance of being implemented when the course ends. The in-person sessions include: systems analysis and mapping; bottleneck analysis; the use of data in strategy design, monitoring, and evaluation; translating behavioral theory into practice; risk communication and community engagement; systems strengthening, and how to engage stakeholders and decision-makers to provide resources for strategies. The sessions are highly interactive and allow participants to share their own experiences and learn from course collaborators.