Seminars
The class attended the first annual Africa Environment Day, sponsored by the World Bank and the African Union, where the students heard from H. H. Amna Salim Ali, first permanent representative of the African Union to the US, as well as Belinda Auma, chair of the Africa section of the World Bank, Herbert Acquay, Program Coordinator, Environment and Natural Resources Unit of the World Bank, and Walter Lusigi of the bank’s Global Environmental Facility in Africa. They also heard William Godfrey, President of the Environic Foundation International, who talked about helping universities in Africa become more aware of conservation and environmental issues; he was especially pleased to see our class in the audience, almost the only people besides African ambassadors, and a few State Department, IMF, and Bank personnel. Students asked insightful questions at the Q&A, and we were able to lunch informally with panelists and ambassadors, all of them exited to chat with informed and interested students (introducing my Mali student to the ambassador from Mali was a special treat.)
- Our trip to the environmental organization Oceana was of particular note, as the speaker who oriented the class regarding the NGO’s activities is a graduate of the IED program, Simon Mahan. He was able to communicate clearly what the organization focused on, what his job was, and how his biography and education, including WS, prepared him for this work. It was exciting to have a recent graduate show a potential career path for the students.
- The International Monetary Fund provided an engaging visit for the class. With a four person team led by Alfredo Cuevas, the students were exposed to the issues that the Fund deals with in Africa, and it generated lively discussions about debt and the challenges that face the Less Developed Nations.
- An entirely scintillating tour of the Library of Congress, as well as a long and informative visit to Greenpeace, Africa Action, and the Institute for Policy Studies rounds out the visit highlights.
Issues
- Central to the class early in the term was the question of what nations are doing about Global Climate Change, and how both mitigation and adaptation approaches have diverse implications for development world-wide.
- The class also touched on the AFRICOM controversy (if and where the US will put a military HQ in Africa), in class and a number of our visits and speakers.
- Debt Forgiveness in Africa was another large issue we took to the IMF, the World Bank, students read about and heard about in class.
- Bush meat trade, what Newsweek calls the “new blood diamonds” was another issue of timely discussion, as well as the political crisis in Zimbabwe, and in Kenya.
- The shift to a focus on South Africa towards the end of the period under discussion raised many concerns regarding the new South Africa’s efforts to balance old and new concerns, constituencies, and challenges, many of them inherited from the apartheid era. This has raised the level of excitement for the South Africa trip!
Internships
- American Association for the Advancement of Science –
- Science and Human Rights Program
- Action International
- Amazon Alliance for Indigenous and Traditional Peoples
- Antarctica Project
- National Coalition Against Misuse of Pesticides
- Center for Economic Justice – Indigenous Peoples and Globalization Program
- Citizens for Global Solutions
- Citizens Trade Campaign
- Eco Ventures International
- Friends of the Earth
- Hands Along the Nile
- UN International Fund for Agricultural Development
- International Monetary Fund
- National Resources Defense Council
- Ocean Conservancy
- RARE Center for Tropical Conservation
- Save the Children (humanitarian relief and development)
- Sierra Club
- United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Assistance
- World Bank
