W&L’s Sandrine Uwantege ’27 Receives Davis Projects for Peace Grant The grant will support Uwantege’s work to empower and expand opportunities for first-time teenage mothers in her home country of Rwanda.

Washington and Lee University student Sandrine Uwantege ’27 has received a Davis Projects for Peace grant to support her work with first-time teenage mothers in Kigali City, Rwanda, and expand their opportunities through counseling and mentorship, vocational training and financial literacy. Uwantege is an economics major and data science minor from Rwanda.

“Being awarded the Davis Projects for Peace grant is deeply meaningful to me,” Uwantege said. “It gives me the opportunity to contribute to the development of my home country in a way that feels both intentional and necessary.”

Projects for Peace is a global program that partners with educational institutions to identify and support young peacebuilders. Each year, the program grants $1.25 million to student leaders who are developing innovative, community-centered and scalable responses to the world’s most pressing issues. This year’s cohort is made up of 148 projects nominated by 98 partner institutions, and the projects will take place in 59 countries and seven U.S. states.

Uwantege’s project stems from a conversation in her Economics of Social Issues class, taught by Art Goldsmith, the Jackson T. Stephens Professor of Economics, during Fall Term 2025 about how early disadvantages — particularly in education, opportunity and social mobility — can shape the trajectory of someone’s life. This discussion inspired Uwantege to begin researching the barriers young people face in her home country, and she discovered that despite Rwanda’s progress in empowering youth, teenage pregnancy remains one of the leading causes of school dropout. Furthermore, most teenage girls who leave school due to pregnancy, especially first-time mothers, never return and many experience stigma, isolation and a loss of confidence.

These challenges make it difficult for young mothers to imagine a future, and Uwantege’s project seeks to interrupt this cycle by helping first-time teenage mothers rebuild a sense of possibility for their futures and expanding the opportunities available to them.

“I have always believed that true development must be inclusive, and this award gives me a platform to support young girls who face significant challenges that make it harder for them to continue their education or explore opportunities that help them grow,” Uwantege said. “What makes this project so important to me is knowing that it will help these young mothers feel seen, reconnect with their education and see themselves as part of Rwanda’s ongoing development. For me, it’s both an honor and a responsibility, and it allows me to put the education, mentorship and support I’ve received at Washington and Lee into a meaningful effort.”

At the heart of Uwantege’s project to empower teenage mothers is providing mentorship, life-skills workshops, financial literacy training and access to vocational and educational opportunities. To accomplish this, Uwantege will develop individual empowerment plans (IEP), inspired by the individualized education program model used in the U.S. education system for students eligible for special education.

“Sandrine’s unique approach to her project, based on the American education system to personalize the counseling and education that participants will receive, is genius,” said Dallas Tatman, assistant director of fellowships and visiting instructor of anthropology. “Projects for Peace recipients don’t just have a dream of bringing peace to a region — they have a clear vision and a specific plan to help make it a reality.”

To implement the IEPs, Uwantege will partner with AfriYAN Rwanda, a network of youth-led organizations that promote inclusive participation of youth in national and regional development. Each young mother participating in Uwantege’s project will work with a trained AfriYAN mentor to create an IEP that reflects her educational background, interests, challenges since giving birth and long-term goals.

“I was drawn to this approach because it recognizes that every person’s story is different and that real progress starts with understanding the individual,” Uwantege said. “By the end of the project, I hope these young mothers will see themselves not as girls whose futures ended early, but as women who have real possibilities ahead of them and are confident they can continue their education and explore other opportunities. I also hope the impact extends to their children and other communities and supports Rwanda’s long-term goal of empowered youth and gender equality.”

Uwantege’s understanding of the impacts of inequality and poverty has been profoundly shaped by her time at W&L, through both her classes and her involvement in the Leadership Education and Development Program (LEAD) and the Shepherd Program. She appreciates how her poverty studies classes went beyond teaching social issues and encouraged the students to think about how they can contribute to solutions-based work. She also credits LEAD (where she serves as a Tier 1 and Tier 2 facilitator) with helping her better understand herself, her interests and the kind of work that feels meaningful to her.

In addition to LEAD, Uwantege is involved in Around the Globe, the Library Student Advisory Board, Campus Kitchen, SABU and the African Society. She also serves as an International Student Orientation leader and mentor, supporting incoming international students as they transition to life at W&L. Uwantege is actively engaged in the Lexington and Rockbridge community, volunteering with the Rockbridge Area Relief Association and Habitat for Humanity. She also worked as a summer research scholar with W&L’s Office of Community-Based Learning in 2025, analyzing data from a community-university relationship survey from local community members in Lexington, Buena Vista and Rockbridge County on their relationship with W&L.

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