The Welfare Committee
The Welfare Committee was established as a specialized committee of the Graduate Institute Student Association to promote the welfare, mental health, and physical health of the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies students. Follow the Welfare Committee's Instagram page for the latest updates on weekly scheduled and special events for Fall 2023. Read the committee's statutes here.
Board
President of the Welfare Committee
Carmen Mané
Vice-President of the Welfare Committee
Vacancy​
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Administrative Coordinator
Adhira Rajesh Menon & Harun Abubakar Siddique
Events Coordinator
Erika Shinabargar & Anjali Sabnis
Partnerships Coordinators
Sindele Monicca Mazibuko, Hanhee Yoon, Ekaterina Tarasova & Shiyuan Zhao
Social Media Coordinators
Sandra Muthoni
Communication Coordinators
Anjali Kurup
Treasurer
Morgan Genin
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Advocacy Coordinators
Anna Camilla Raab & Yaqin Zhang
Our mission
-The Committee is tasked with representing and advocating student interests to Institute administration as it relates to health, mental health, student welfare, and other related issues. This includes, but is not limited to, advocating for adequate funding and staffing to best meet the overall welfare needs of students.
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-The Committee serves as a specialized committee of GISA. As such it is expected to make regular reports regarding student opinion and current welfare concerns of students. The Committee should seek out and survey student opinion in an inclusive and comprehensive way such that all student viewpoints and needs may be taken into account and represented to Institute Administration in an accurate and complete manner.
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-The Committee will plan and execute, in consultation with the Institute or independently, innovative programming to support student welfare. The Committee will serve as the main conduit of coordination between students, GISA, the student support and various organs related to student health and welfare in the institute.
Current
projects
Zumba classes
with Laura Silva Aya on Wednesdays from 7:00-8:00 pm at Grand Morillon
Yoga sessions
with Grusha Victor & Lily Taylor on Saturdays from 10:00-11:00 am at Grand Morillon​​
Disability Task force
Works on providing psychosocial and accessibility support for students with disabilities and accommodations. We aim to cover three main fronts:
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Chronic conditions: We want to aid students in getting equipped for chronic conditions and guide them on how to seek medical support, especially after moving into a new place.
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Support for day-to-day tasks: We acknowledge that people with disabilities might need mobility support, and accessibility can be hard. We want to promote the use of disability-friendly information on the website. Also, accompany students in how to get this support in the process. For instance, if a person comes along with a caregiver, how to provide them with information and a safe environment?
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Disability support in Geneva: To provide an access guide for students on which disability support is available.
IHEID Disability Support Service: https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/students/wellbeing-and-support/disability-support-service
Menstrual Products Campaign
In past boards, the Welfare Committee has organized a menstrual cup workshop with Dr. Tanaya Narendra, organized in collaboration with GISA, SIA, Environmental Committee, Feminist Collective, and Global Health Initiative, and distributed free menstrual cups at the various Student Residences in association with Paint It Red.
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Currently, the Welfare Committee, the Environmental Committee, and the Global Health Initiative are collaborating on the Menstrual Products Campaign to end period poverty on campus.
Objectives
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Increasing the number of bathrooms at the Geneva Graduate Institute offering sustainable and reusable menstrual products to menstruating people.
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Reminding the academic community of the existence of a bathroom offering menstrual products and other similar alternatives within the Institute.
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Creating new boxes with menstrual products donated by students (such as in the bathroom in PCR) to equip other bathrooms at the Institute.
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Reaching out to external partners to offer free or price-reduced eco-friendly alternatives to students.
We kindly ask all menstruating students to fill out this short anonymous survey to understand the extent of the Institute's student population needing free menstrual products that could potentially benefit from this initiative.
Please visit the Institute’s website for more information on where to find free menstrual products on campus.
Let’s collaborate together to end period poverty at the Institute!
Contact
We're here to support you and always excited for students to get involved!