Studying Community Development Through International Service-Learning: Nicaragua

Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA)

Location:
Granada, Nicaragua

Description (Updated 4/20/04)

This course has a service-learning project component that requires students to travel and live in Nicaragua for 3 weeks Students have opportunities to address one of several professionally challenging projects to support local organizations. Support activities run the gamut of professional activity related to international development. Students may be engaged with community needs assessments, organizational planning, assessment of foreign investment's impact on the community, and other tasks. This project will be supplemented by trips and interviews by all students with a variety of government and nongovernmental organization professionals—local and international. A trip to a coffee cooperative will also be included.

The course readings explore the theory and practice of development in Nicaragua and beyond. Through class discussion, we will examine alternative strategies for approaching the community development task, taking into account the history of development as well as the instruments of policy. Throughout, the course emphasizes ways political analysis can improve policy, especially with regard to decision-making and implementation. Course readings are directed towards the Nicaragua case. Brief information on community partners and proposed projects appears below.

(1) Improving development with a focus on women and public health

Granada, Nicaragua has an active and vibrant Women's Center, whose director is also a member of the National Legislature. This Center provides technical skills classes for women, a walk-in clinic, and supports income-generating and micro-credit projects for women from neighboring rural communities. They would also be the partnering local organization for two possible projects (a) A needs assessment and feasibility study for a women's health service facility in Granada. This offers the opportunity to assess a community's overall health needs. ( b) A feasibility study for obtaining a water supply for four communities outside Granada. Research is needed to clarify possibilities and support any grant applications.

(2) Using the arts as an engine for economic development and rescuing at-risk youth

The Comedy and Mime Troupe provides opportunities to at-risk youth, has gained international recognition in tours in Europe and Central America for the quality of the young people's work, and has attracted artists-in-residence from around the world. Its director wants to build a center in the barrio for performance and instruction, enabling greater outreach to families. The center might also provide a magnet for further development in the area. He seeks a feasibility study of this new center. The Troupe is a project of a local cultural center supported by an Austrian nongovernmental organization.

(3) Assessing the impact of tourism-based development and foreign investment

Granada is a beautiful city with two large fresh-water lakes and volcano-produced mountains. It has attracted both tourists and a large expatriate community. This has provided some capital flows into the community and created some jobs, but it has also affected land prices and local businesses. This project invites students to explore on-the-ground the impact of this development and to find ways that public policy can enlarge its positive influence while minimizing its negative impact.

(4) Nongovernmental Organization Strategic Planning

Building New Hope is a Pittsburgh-based, nonprofit, volunteer run NGO that has been supporting communities in development in Central American for 12 years. It has a full-time volunteer in Granada, and invites assistance in critiquing impact and developing a strategic plan. Its current foci include educational programs for at-risk youth and support of fair trade coffee with a direct relationship with an area coffee cooperative. It also serves as a central hub for international volunteers working in several areas of Granada.

Living conditions:

Granada provides a unique opportunity to experience the developing world and yet live in beauty and relative comfort. Granada is a beautiful city of lakes and volcanic mountains. And while Nicaragua is among the few very poorest countries of the hemisphere, Granada has a city water supply so clean that international visitors can drink water out of the tap!

Course requirements:

Students taking this course will complete assigned readings and papers in advance of meeting as a class in Nicaragua. Papers and other assignments will be posted to a course website to create an electronic community. While in Nicaragua, class discussion will integrate course academic and service goals in the context of the applied intercultural service experience. After the session in Nicaragua ends, students will post summative papers to the course website. All coursework will be concluded by July 16.

Read this article on Building New Hope in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

Details

Instructor: Laura Hastings

Credits: 3

Service-Learning Abroad: June 11 - July 2, 2004

Credits Awarded: Credits for this course are awarded through the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. As such, this is a graduate course, though highly motivated and qualified undergraduates may apply. This course fulfills Special Topics in Public and International Affairs (PIA 2490) for 3 credits.