Alexander Molterer and Anna Scherer in Nepal.

Master in International Affairs students Alexander Molterer, from Austria, and Anna Scherer, from Switzerland, were among this year’s Davis Projects for Peace winners.

Davis Projects for Peace, in its sixth year, provides grants to university students from nearly 100 institutions who collectively receive over USD 1 million in funding for projects in all regions of the world. Mrs Kathryn Davis launched the programme on the occasion of her 100th birthday in 2007.

The aim of Alexander Molterer and Anna Scherer’s project, entitled “Apples for Peace”, was to assist two communities of Nepal’s Helambu region to re-engage in apple and apricot production, with the intention of economically and socially benefitting the entire community in the long term.

As part of the project, the students worked directly with the villagers, the government Agricultural Development Office (DADO) and the non-governmental organisation Aythos. The team faced linguistic, cultural and natural challenges, such as monsoon season, implementing their project, which is meant to benefit up to 100 families with special concern given to the most marginalised, such as young girls – who, according to the project leaders, are especially prone to become victims of human trafficking. 

Mrs Davis obtained her PhD from the Institute in 1934, in the same year as her late husband, Shelby Cullom Davis, former United States Ambassador to Switzerland from 1969 to 1975. Each year since 2007 she has also financed four PhD scholarships, each for four years and has made a generous contribution for the Campus de la paix.
 
Previous winners:

• Hip Hop for Peace
• Theatre for Peace
• Bridges for Peace