Senegal: Environmental Restoration and sustainable development

DATES: July 7 - July 22, 2012

PROGRAM FEE: $3,890.

HOUSING: 12 nights Hotel (triple occupancy) and 4 nights homestay.

INCLUDES: 4-credit course including tuition, shared housing for duration of program, all meals, all in-country transportation, medical insurance through iNext, pre-departure orientation at GMU, CGE T-shirt.

*International Airfare Not Included*

ELIGIBILITY: Open to undergraduate and graduate students and recent graduates from all universities.

CREDITS: Earn four credits from George Mason University. Seeking approval for students to earn creditin one of the following 4-credit courses:

Undergraduate Credit:

EVPP 396 - Sustainable Development in Senegal.

Graduate Credit:

EVPP 693 - Environmental and Sustainable Development in Senegal.

CONTACT: Gregory Seiler via email by clicking on his name or call him right now at 703.993.2641

CLICK HERE to apply for the Summer 2012 Sustainable Development in Senegal program.

Application deadline: May 1, 2012

Together, the student and faculty on this program create a learning community within a Senegal Ecovillage or indigenous community where remarkable educational environments facilitate real transformative intellectual and personal development.

The acquired knowledge, skills and methods learned in the program are applied during the development and implementation of the student’s individualized research. Throughout the program students will review and familiarize themselves with different learning and research through academic seminars, field-based and experiential learning.

Community
Ndiaye-Ndiaye is one of the most active villages within the network of eco-villages. Partnering organization Senegal Eco-Village Microfinance Fund (SEM-2 Fund) gave its first few micro-loans to groups in Ndiaye-Ndiaye to foster community environmental responsibility and development. The village is one of the few to have a primary and secondary school, which is represented with a 60% literacy rate, considered very high in Senegal especially for a rural village. There also is a small clinic with a nurse in the village and well-equipped hospital right nearby. The main activities within this community are agriculture (peanuts, sorghum, millet, and cassava), horticulture, fishing, and live stock. There also is a strong presence of artisans specializing in blacksmithing and hand-made fabrics. Students will have the opportunity to conduct their action research and participate and a community relevant development projects with the people of Ndiaye-Ndiaye.

Grassroots Development
Students will engage in participatory grassroots community development. Senegal has a very unique system of eco-villages that are established human communities in rural and/or urban settings that, in the process of its development, integrates principals of sustainability. This expedition will help students to envision the means of development from an integrated approach taken by the community as well as cultural, economical, social, and environmental planning. The participants incorporate an ecological dimension in the different aspects of their day-to-day lives: ecologically responsible fishing, sampling of natural resources, preserving traditional cultures, organic agriculture, using renewable resources and energies, constructing durable housing, and implementing democratic management of community resources.

Environmental Issues
The trip will also expose students to the dynamic interplay between human population and environmental issues. They will have the opportunity to meet with local government and community leaders and discuss policies and programs designed to promote and advance environmental awareness, stewardship, restoration, and governance.

1. Issues related to soil erosion
2. Issues related to deforestation
3. Impact of climate change on the area
4. Anthropogenic impacts on land use

Students will also meet with organizations such a National Agency of Ecovillage, USAID, and other key entities that work with environmental restoration and stewardship and sustainable development. They will meet with local people, community managed resource groups, and academics to understand the integrated frameworks of development in Senegal. The faculty will guide students in debriefing and gleaning lessons from the experience throughout the study tour.

Culture Perspective

Students will integrate/immerse themselves in the cultures of people in various local communities that they visit. Part of the goal is to learn other people's ways of life and environmental efforts/initiatives, enhancing in the process students' human interaction and communication skills, as well as their sense of global understanding as a whole. The experience will also give local people the opportunity to learn in terms of the stories and experiences students share during these visits. Sessions on Senegalese history, culture, politics and governance will also be conducted during the entire trip.

Goree Island – In Dakar, student will visit Goree Island a historical site off the coast of Senegal where hundreds of thousands of captured men, women, and children were rounded up in chains to be shipped to servitude in the New World (per UNESCO World Heritage Site).

Bandia Reserve – Located and hour away from Dakar, Bandia Reserve will serve as a cultural and environmental experience for the students. The Bandia reserve floristics are relatively copious as there were more than 100 plan species in 30 families recorded there. Many wild animals were common in the Sahel-Sudanese region. The reserve is now the first working enclosed breeding site for large animals and is led by the Society for Protection of the Environment and Wildlife in Senegal (SPEFS).

Lac Rose – Lac Rose or Pink Lake is named for its pink waters, caused by certain cyanobacteria in the water. The color is particularly visible during the dry season. The lake is also known for its high salt content, which, like that of the Dead Sea, allows people to float easily.

Home Stays – Home stays will provide students with direct contact with locals, allowing them to interact in language and cultural norms.

FAQs

Q: What do I need to apply?

1. Online application and application fee (https://chnm.gmu.edu/globaled/application.php).
2. Submit all supplemental materials:  1 Passport-size photo and copy of passport.
3. For Non-GMU students only: Official Transcripts from home university , VA tuition form.

*CGE reserves the right to make changes to a program in light of currency fluctuations, changing security and safety conditions, or any other unforeseen circumstances.