Overview:
All of us – educators, students and the poor – have a role to play in breaking the self-perpetuating cycle of poverty. As an educator my role is to emotionally engage my students in an effort to end poverty, empower them to act, and prepare them to become effective agents of change. La Ceiba, the course, is an attempt to accomplish those objectives. The course began as an independent study with seven students who joined me in the fall of 2007 in the preparation and implementation of an improved cook-stove program to combat indoor air pollution. It is now a course that is offered every fall at the University of Mary Washington. One of the great things about La Ceiba the course is the diversity of majors that participate – economics, math, philosophy, religion, Spanish, anthropology, biology, international affairs, and geography. Moreover, students have the opportunity to present their work to professionals in the field. La Ceiba students presented the results of our improved cook-stove program and our first round of loans at the Poverty Action Conference. The La Ceiba presentation team received feedback from prestigious discussants like John Hatch (founder of FINCA), Kate Druschel (Grameen Bank) and Anne Hastings (Executive Director – Fonkoze).
Objectives:
1. Students have multiple capabilities when it comes to changing the world for the better. They are talented, passionate, creative, and resourceful. I would also like to add to that list their naivety. For them, nothing is impossible. This is empowering. On the other hand, they lack expertise, resources, and, maybe, more importantly, sufficient opportunities for their coursework to resonate beyond the boundaries of the classroom. La Ceiba empowers students with the expertise, resources, and opportunities to act through its partnership with Students Helping Honduras and by tailoring course assignments to our clients desires and needs.
2. La Ceiba assignments are unique in that students have the responsibility of looking beyond their earned letter grade as the sole measure of success. There are other stakeholders to consider – the communities they work with have the crucial role in defining success. These assignments, necessarily, raise the bar regarding student accountability. Inadequate preparation and mediocre effort may not only adversely impact their grade it may also adversely impact our clients. Taking on and learning how to manage this level of accountability is a valuable life-long lesson.
3. La Ceiba bridges the gap between the high-level concepts of the classroom and reality. For example, in the field, inconsistencies can arise between expected and actual outcomes. While challenging, these moments provide incredible opportunities for students to critically analyze the assumptions and causal chain of reasoning that led us to expect a particular outcome. And, given that I may not have a ready answer to an anomalous outcome, these moments open up a space for students to step in and lead. In these moments, they gain the self-confidence of independent thinking young scholars.
4. In addition to being effective, student engagement with impoverished communities must also be responsible. Engagements with impoverished communities are a disruptive force with the potential for harm. As educators and students we should be cognizant of this potential harm and take the necessary steps to minimize it. Toward this end, La Ceiba asks students to continuously reflect upon their role, if any, in the process of economic development and urges them to approach this role with humility, flexibility, patience, and a readiness to listen to community members.
5. It is our responsibility to take the steps to maximize the lasting benefits of our engagement. Research-oriented student engagement is one way of doing this. Research-oriented student engagement includes working with communities, non-profits, and experts in the implementation of development programs that not only (1) expand economic opportunities and/or (2) improve the everyday living conditions of the targeted community but also make a contribution to the academic literature. Our improved cook-stove program is an example of this.
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