Since 2015, the Reach Alliance has
steadily scaled its model
The Reach Alliance’s novel, scalable model trains interdisciplinary teams of globally minded students to research overlooked climate, public health and economic challenges. Students identify and analyze the challenges and collaborate with communities and each other on innovative solutions. Each case study requires teams of students to engage in a year of hard work, starting with careful planning to understand the context and problem space, followed by fieldwork (often in remote locations worldwide), analyzing findings and developing reports and other materials.
- Case studies launched
- Researchers
Looking ahead, the Reach Alliance aims to scale up and transform its network with additional university partners, expand its operations around the globe and deepen its impact.
We have identified four priorities
in the coming years:
Goal 1: Driving change ($3 million)
In addition to publishing research, there is an opportunity to ensure more research projects and findings are actionable, accessible and broadly communicated.
- We will increase our research activity and strategically focus our projects and partnerships to support the implementation of solutions featured in our research. This includes synthesizing Reach Alliance research findings to derive new, actionable insights, developing novel approaches to measuring these initiatives’ impact and expanding how we communicate findings.
- We will introduce new opportunities for implementation partnerships and support and look for additional ways to scale impact.
Example
The Reach Alliance aims to pursue a wider range of projects like the Health Ambassador care platform partnership. In this project, Reach partnered with the health services technology start-up Gotcare and Quinte Health, a regional health network in Ontario, Canada. The goal is to improve access to quality care in remote locations by installing AI-enabled triage and health monitoring tools in residents’ homes.
Reach Alliance student researchers are investigating this multi-year project to develop insights for how AI-enabled care platforms can improve health outcomes for geographically remote populations in Ontario and around the world.
Goal 2: Cultivating and supporting talent ($2 million)
Participating students gain extraordinary experience, honing their leadership and problem-solving abilities in unique conditions through interdisciplinary teamwork, coaching and community engagement.
- We will expand professional leadership development training and coaching, skills development workshops, research presentation opportunities and strategic research communications expertise.
- We will help students improve their skills and facilitate access to job prospects and meaningful work.
- We will strengthen our global alumni network and create opportunities for them to continue learning and making an impact throughout their careers.
Example
The Reach Alliance is at the forefront of a global change in sustainable development, shifting the emphasis to reciprocity, collective intelligence, and learning from our local collaborators. Reach actively creates experiences that allow students to gain these culturally relevant leadership skills. Looking ahead, we aim to increase student opportunities to share their invaluable insights with institutions at the forefront of this change–for example, by equipping and supporting our student researchers to present at regional and global convenings.
Goal 3: Providing direct support to community partners ($1 million)
Beyond training future leaders, publishing original research and sharing actionable insights, the Reach Alliance also finds ways to support its community partners directly. These hard-to-reach communities gain problem-solving support, increased visibility and opportunities to develop their leadership, collaboration and communication skills.
- We plan to increase our financial and non-financial support to partner communities and organizations to ensure sustainable long-term impact.
Example
In the report, “Combating childhood obesity through advocacy, policy and education in Barbados,” Reach researchers investigated the implementation of childhood obesity prevention programs in Barbados in collaboration with the local Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Healthy Caribbean Coalition. One Reach researcher later returned to Barbados to provide direct support, translating the Reach research insights into programming for childhood obesity prevention workshops in local schools.
Goal 4: Growing the university network and improving support from home base ($4 million)
The Reach Alliance network brings together nine universities from eight countries around the world — each a leader in its region. We believe our experiential learning approach is of increasing value to students and post-secondary institutions, and we see an opportunity to bring on additional leading university partners.
- We will add at least two new university partners to broaden our global reach and impact and deepen the intercultural and interdisciplinary experience for students and partnering communities.
- We will expand the support from home base with innovative tools and programming initiatives.
- We will bolster the global alumni network and facilitate travel to support cross-university collaboration.
Example
Howard University joined the Reach Alliance in 2024, marking the Reach Alliance’s first American university partner, and will lead the first Reach Alliance research addressing the needs of hard-to-reach communities in the United States.
Reach Alliance research is driving critical, international conversations that are redefining the gold standard for impact across climate, public health and economic challenges.
Selected Partners Spotlight
Thank you for your consideration.
The Reach Alliance team would be delighted to further discuss options for support.
For more information or to support the Reach Alliance, please contact:
Marin MacLeod, MPH
Executive Director, Reach Alliance,
University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy
marin.macleod@utoronto.ca
University Partners