Dal students get a chance to learn about food security issues in Uganda and Cuba

Dal students majoring in International Development Studies will soon get a chance to learn about food security issues on the ground. The Department of International Development Studies, part of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, has been approved for funding from the Association of Universities and Colleges in Canada (AUCC) to create 20 internships with Dalhousie’s partner organizations in Uganda and Cuba.

Key Points:

This international internships will allow students to get their hands dirty while working in a hands-on way in agricultural projects, urban gardens and on policy development and education.
Graduate students from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Havana in Cuba and from the Faculty of Development Studies at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) in Uganda will be able to go to Dalhousie for a semester.
An Internet-based seminar course will link students at Dalhousie and Mbarara universities. The funding will go to technological upgrades at both universities to make the class possible.
Dalhousie’s connection with both countries are well established. First offered in 1999, the class Cuban Culture and Society offers Dal students an in depth look at Cuba, and includes two weeks of classes in Havana. The Cuba Semester Program is a longer, 13-week program, with classes offered in Spanish at Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Havana.
In Uganda, the East Africa field studies program led by Professor Owen Willis has provided Dal students a cross-cultural experience for many years.

Pull Quotes:

"Our students are always asking for more practical experience so we’re very excited to be able to offer these internships. The first group will leave in January 2012." - John Cameron, chair of the Department of International Development Studies.
"It will be a huge asset to have students from Cuba and Uganda here—they have a unique perspective to bear on development issues. Plus, it’s a chance for us to return the favor and maintain genuinely reciprocal arrangements with our partners in Cuba and Uganda." - John Cameron, chair of the Department of International Development Studies.
"I think it’s an awesome opportunity to have cross-cultural dialogue with students from developing countries,” she says. “It’s invaluable to be able to speak to students who have some on the ground experience with what the realities are in developing countries.” - Katelynn Northam, fourth-year IDS student.