DukeEngage | Duke Center for Civic Engagement

DukeEngage around the World - 2010

The application deadline for our international programs, with the exception of our Study Abroad Hybrid programs (Brazil and Russia) is November 9, 2009.

Details related to any of our group programs are subject to change. 

NEW:  As you consider a group program that may be right for you, check out our newest reference guide to programs: DukeEngage Categories of Service

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DukeEngage international programs are listed alphabetically by nation.

Brazil - Rio de Janeiro  (Study Abroad Hybrid Program)
Program Name:  “Engaging Duke in Brazil”
Program Leader:  Leslie Damasceno
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  Successful completion of a minimum one year of Portuguese, Portuguese 53, "Portuguese as a Second Romance Language" or the equivalent by the beginning of the program.  See program profile for more information.
Group Size:  7
Dates:  July 5 – July 31
NOTE:  Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:   Students who are participating in the "Duke in Brazil" Study Abroad program are eligible to extend their stay in Rio de Janeiro to participate in a 4-week Duke Engage experience. Brazil is at the forefront of innovative programs in cultural activism and social entrepreneurship that open new frontiers of citizenship and participation. Students who participate in the follow-up DukeEngage portion of the program will be able to develop their course projects in active participation with an NGO or cultural center that corresponds to their project interest.    Group meetings, guest lectures and cultural events will complement those done during the academic portion of the program.  Service opportunities will vary according to individual student talents, interests and specific skills and depending on site location needs.  For example, students working in TerrAzul may utilize computer skills in editing NGO programs, develop and teach a course in English for eco-tourism in the Rio rain forrest, or work in community classes on the island site for the NGO.nnThe three basic sites for engagement are designed to accommodate students who wish to volunteer and learn about environmental education, arts and media,  and alternative forms of social entrepreneurship.  Internships more geared toward policy development may be available. Depending on student interest, the 2010 program may offer an additional site location more specifically related to public health concerns.  Learn comprehensive details about the Engaging Duke in Brazil program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

Chile - Santiago
Program Name:  “DukeEngage in Santiago, Chile"
Program Leader:  Antonio Arce, Marlen Jorquera
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  Spanish proficiency
Group Size:  6
Dates:  May 28 –  August 1
NOTE:  Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:  Students will be placed in two or three innovative NGOs focused on economic development at the local level. The fundamental objectives of these organizations include the training of entrepreneurs in areas of scarce resources, promoting self-generating employment, and incorporating young professionals and university students in the fight against poverty. These NGOs are dedicated to the formation and development of small businesses in areas of extreme poverty through a process of training accompanied by the systematic extension of microcredit.  Students will have the opportunity to interact directly with Chileans in low-income neighborhoods working with them to develop small business strategies, marketing plans, focus groups for micro-empresarios to share best practices, developing web sites for products, and many other creative ideas to help create sustainable small businesses.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Santiago, Chile program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Santiago, Chile

China - Beijing
Program Name:  “DukeEngage Beijing: The Dandelion Migrant School Education Project”
Program Leader:  Ralph Litzinger
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  Applicants to this program should have at least one year of Mandarin Chinese and strong speaking skills
Group Size:  6
Dates:  May 18 – July 27
NOTE:  Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:  This DukeEngage program takes students into the everyday life and struggles of migrant workers—the millions of rural residents who have moved to China’s largest cities in the last 20 years.  Often underpaid, with no health or employment benefits, and subjected to a range of discriminatory practices, China’s migrant workers have built the new global cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, among other places, and increasingly provide service labor to China’s emerging urban middle class.  The children of these migrant workers are at the center of our work.  Because migrant families lack the residential permit that grants access to the state education system, as well as the financial resources necessary to pay the steep tuition of private schools, more and more migrant youth now attend the “unofficial” schools that have sprung up in the last 10 years through the extraordinary efforts of Chinese and international education and social activists.  Our program works with one of the more successful of these schools, the Dandelion Middle School (Pugongying Zhongxue), located in Daxing District, Beijing.  Students selected for this program will undertake a wide range of tasks, from teaching English and other subjects, to working with school staff in health, nutrition, life skills, counseling, and study-to-work programs.  You will work daily with teachers and staff at the school, and find yourself surrounded by the high energy of over 600 middle school students.  You will also have the opportunity to do home visits to migrant labor families, visit other schools, and learn about corporate social responsibility and non-governmental programs addressing the social and economic struggles of migrant families and youth in Beijing. This program is for the student passionately interested in issues of education for socially and economically marginalized populations.  You must be able to adjust to the disciplinary structure of everyday school life in China, work well in small group settings, and be both critical and open-minded about issues of social inequality, health disparities, and forms of educational and employment discrimination in contemporary China.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Beijing program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Bejing China Program Overview

DukeEngage - Dandelion School Video (Summer 2008)

China - Zhuhai
Program Name:  “Empowerment Through the Arts”
Program Leader:  Hsiao-mei Ku
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  One year of Mandarin Chinese or proficient speaking skills will be given strong preference.
Group Size:  10
Dates:  May 19 – July 19
NOTE:  Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:  The DukeEngage Arts Program will be conducted in No. 9 Middle School (grades 7-9) on the outskirts of Zhuhai, China.  Zhuhai is located 80 miles south of Guangzhou, the nation’s third largest city. The target population of the program will be the children of displaced farmers and fishermen in the surrounding community. Zhuhai was formerly a collection of small farming and fishing villages, urbanized over the past 20 years as part of China’s special economic zone policy. The farmers and fishermen were not consulted before mandatory relocation and have generally been poorly compensated by the government. Many of them have not had post-elementary education; they struggle at the bottom of society. As a result, their limited resources and lack of education have led to deeper financial and social poverty. In addition, although practices such as the binding of women’s feet was officially abandoned almost 100 years ago, women still occupy an inferior social position. Hundreds of Chinese infant girls are abandoned by their parents due to feudal traditions and the nation’s one-child policy. Under social and parental pressures, girls will likely end their formal education in middle school and will settle on low-paying jobs to aid their families.  This program hinges on the development of an art–based educational project in which Duke students will serve as the catalyst for opening the minds of those young Chinese students.  In experimental and integrative classes, Duke students will teach English by using various art forms, drawing, acting, singing, performing, dancing or photography, all of which will integrate the values of leadership, self-confidence, and self-expression. Duke students will also help to develop an after school program involving parents and the surrounding community. The vision of the program is to give students a greater understanding of their self-worth, social awareness, and responsibility through constructive, self-explorative interaction with different art forms. The young Chinese students will be encouraged to see school as a place to gather the tools for a life-long journey—a place where they can expand their boundaries, confront their fears and have the opportunity of a lifetime to engage novel ideas and activities.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Zhuhai program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Zhuhai Program Overview

Colombia – Medellín
Program Name:   “Unveiling Stories of Peace: creating blogs, video & images with communities & youth”
Program Leaders:  Tamera Marko, Jota Samper
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  Spanish proficiency
Group Size:  6
Dates    June 15 – August 12   
NOTE: Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability
      
Program Synopsis:  This project will build on the work of previous DukeEngage Colombia students’ collaboration in art, documentary video and historical memory projects with communities in Medellín for the last two years. This year, for the first time, key community members have asked us to help them design blogs and websites to document their stories in their own communities in their own words and images. The community members include: youth who are hip-hop artists, community television studio founders, and community organizers who live and work in communities that have until the last few years been isolated from the rest of the city and the world. During this isolation, their communities have been vibrant with art projects and everyday life as peace force.  Participants in this program will work in teams comprised of two DukeEngage students; one Colombian university student (art/architecture/history); one Pajarito family or after-school youth group. The DukeEngage Colombia leaders are involved at every step of the project and often accompany teams into the communities. (Though the teams have a lot of creative autonomy). The DukeEngage leaders and university faculty/students teach technology workshops to train DukeEngage students how to do every step of the project.  The finished projects for all of our work with all community members will be debuted in a live exhibition with the community members in one of the state-of-the-art theaters located in the Parques Bibliotecas up in the Andes.  The community-initiated program has two main goals:  One goal is that when DukeEngage Colombia 2010 students return to the U.S., the community members have a completed blog and website that documents their first year at Pajarito & they have the tools they need to continue on with the work and to share it with city officials, media, and other institutions who are fundamental to help them continue building the infrastructure for their new community. The second goals is to show a Colombian and a global audience a living example in Medellín of peace in process through building their homes, bus routes, churches, and community gardens since they first arrived one year ago.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Colombia program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in in Medellín, Colombia Program Overview

DukeEngage in Colombia Poster

Egypt – Cairo
Program Name:  “DukeEngage in Cairo, Egypt”
Program Leaders:  Mbaye Bashir Lo, Kelly Jarrett
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  In addition to, at least, one semester of Arabic, all applicants for the DukeEngage Cairo 2010 program are expected to attend the “Civic Engagement in the Middle East” conference November 13-14, 2009 at 240 John Hope Franklin Center.
Group Size:  12
Dates:  June 1 – August 1
NOTE:  Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:  The Cairo program is an exciting, rigorous civic engagement program committed to strengthening the spirit of social entrepreneurship, humanism and volunteerism among students. Spearheaded by Duke Islamic Studies Center and the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, the program encourages participants to think creatively about understanding and solving real-world problems. 2010 marks DukeEngage’s third summer in Cairo, so it will be building on existing cooperation and collaboration with local NGOs and community partners.  The nature of the program is civic engagement in NGOs whether Western-based organizations or localized Western model of civil society associations. Activities also include regular cultural immersion in socio-historical processes and Arabic practices and instructions. In these contexts, DukeEngage Cairo 2010 will be a continuation of DukeEngage Cairo 2009—geared toward leaning and serving, theory and practice.  We will be working primarily with our partners at St. Andrew’s Refugee Ministry, Kiyan Society, AWTAD and I the Egyptian Organization. These NGOs, despite their different organizational outlooks, forms and rationales, share the goal of providing services to the needy, under-served local population or transiting refugee communities. This shared platform enables DukeEgagers to explore the many ways through which they can foster societal development in a multicultural society as well as in global communities.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Cairo, Egypt program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Cairo, Egypt Program Overview

Guatemala - Antigua
Program Name:   “DukeEngage in Guatemala”  
Program Partner:  Social Entrepreneur Corps
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  Basic Spanish is advantageous but not required.
Group Size:  15
Dates:  May 23 – July 16
NOTE: Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:  Students will serve as social entrepreneurial consultants for businesses, non-profits and local entrepreneurs in the Guatemalan Highlands, consulting organizations and entrepreneurs on improving outcomes and furthering their missions. Students will spend the first two weeks in an orientation program receiving intensive Spanish language instruction, participating in discussions and talks about Guatemalan culture, exploring different development theories as well as receiving hands on technical and programmatic training. The orientation session will be lead by SE Corps leadership in Antigua. Following the orientation, students will break up into teams and travel throughout the western highlands of Guatemala rotating locations every week. Students will travel to field sites via a privately chartered bus in groups of no more than nine accompanied by SEC staff.  Fieldwork will consist of small business and organization consulting, supporting local entrepreneurs and working on individual and group projects. Students work within a modified “Logic Model Framework” to design and implement their projects and will partake in needs analysis, feasibility studies, launching new projects and programs, supporting and evaluating existing programs, and helping to expand into new regions or train new entrepreneurs.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Guatemala program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Guatemala Program Overview

Haiti - Blanchard, Leogane, Fondwa
Program Name:   “Building and Sustaining Healthy Families”  
Program Leaders:  David Walmer, Kathy Walmer, Sumi Ariely
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  Students accepted into this program are strongly encouraged to take the Duke spring course ‘Healing in the Developing World and Care of the Underserved’ taught by Professor David Walmer and Professor Keith Meador. Haitian Creole language lessons are offered through this class, but can also be arranged independently. French language skills are an advantage, but not a requirement. Students enrolled in the Global Health Certificate Program or students with interest in global health, preventive health, and issues of women and children’s health in low resource countries are encouraged to consider this DukeEngage site.
Group Size:  8
Dates:  June 1 – August 1
NOTE: Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:  This program will provide students with the opportunity to live, learn, and engage with people of Leogane, Haiti by working with Family Health Ministries (FHM). FHM is a Durham-based, non-profit organization dedicated to developing long-term relationships with underserved individuals, families and communities to support their efforts to build and sustain healthy families. Currently most of FHM’s activities encompass the areas of maternal and child health (cervical cancer prevention, nutrition, health education, etc.) in Haiti. In collaboration with local Haitian partners, FHM has been asked to build a health center that will address unmet needs of families. Students will be integrated into existing FHM program needs and will have the opportunity to provide service to the community by working in the cancer prevention program, developing educational materials, providing educational outreach to women, learning data collection and management skills, working on surveys in the community, and working with women’s groups.   Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Haiti program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Haiti Program Overview

Honduras - Las Mercedes
Program Name:   “Sustainable Health Clinic in Rural Honduras”  
Program Leaders:  David Schaad, Linda Lee, Dennis Clements
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  Spanish language skills are a plus, but not required.   See program profile for additional recommendations.
Group Size:  10
Dates:  June 25 – August 22
NOTE: Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:  Our project site is in Las Mercedes, a rural community in the mountains of Honduras. The program will involve participants in the construction of a 4,800-square-feet sustainable health clinic, which will serve approximately 1,800 people within an 8-km radius.  The team will be working alongside locals, providing the opportunity for cultural immersion as well as community involvement.  As a finished product, the health clinic will draw strength from the University's present leadership in global health and civic engagement to satisfy an established need in rural communities with inadequate access to medical care.  This interdisciplinary community development project aims to attract highly motivated students with interests ranging from engineering, appropriate technology, and sustainable development to poverty, health, indigenous rights, Spanish language, and Central American cultures.  Aside from the opportunity to contextualize their classroom and extracurricular studies in a real-world setting, the Duke students who help realize this goal will gain valuable experience in project management, ethical analysis, and cross-cultural communication.  Students will be completing the construction started in 2009 and will be pouring the floor of the facility, installing a front porch, latrine, interior plumbing system, electrical system, stove, etc.  The project is very labor intensive, but extremely rewarding as the team will be working alongside locals, providing the opportunity for cultural immersion as well as community involvement.   Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Honduras program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Honduras Program Overview

India - Hyderabad
Program Name:   “The Loom & the Wheel: Literacy and Livelihood in Hyderabad, India”  
Program Leaders:  Leela Prasad, Baba Prasad
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  None. Spoken language classes (Telugu & Hindi) will be held daily to aid communication with school children.
Group Size:  10
Dates:  June 7 – August 7
NOTE: Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:  In this project, our team will work with elementary school children in economically underprivileged communities of Hyderabad. Hyderabad, with global investment in technology and infrastructure by MNCs in software, banking, pharmaceutical, and printing, is one of the fastest growing cities in India. Alongside the white collar workforce of these companies is a workforce that provides domestic services and labor at expanding construction projects. The two populations remain deeply interdependent and yet starkly disparate particularly in their access to basic resources and rights, such as education. Additionally, despite free education at government schools, the rapidly changing government education policy is completely at odds with available educational infrastructure and mentorship. School children at younger ages are most disadvantaged by these economic conditions and educational policies, and yet, these children are the ones that remain the most motivated group. In partnership with the Association for India’s Development and the Smile for Life Foundation, the Hyderabad DukeEngage team will work with elementary school children on communicative English and storytelling skills, basic science experiments, and visual-art and theater-art projects.We will also develop illustrative resource-material for subjects like geography and history. The aim is to contribute toward making education exciting, meaningful, and transformative for everybody involved in this process.

DukeEngage in Hyderabad, India Program Overview

Hyderabad Program web site

India - Kolkata
Program Name:   “DukeEngage in Kolkata, India”  
Program Leaders:  Katherine Ewing, Baishakhi Taylor
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  None. Students will have the opportunity to learn Bangla or Hindi at the local language institute.
Group Size:  6
Dates:  June 11 – August 8
NOTE: Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:  This project will focus on working with non-profits dedicated to working with under-privileged children and individuals with special needs.  The program will support participants as they learn about management at such organizations in a developing country. The program is intentionally designed to foster understanding of methods and organization of selected NGO’s in Kolkata, India.  It seeks students who are interested in supporting these ideals and willing to reach out these groups. With globalization, the coming decades will force our nation to face global challenges and understand cultural diversity at much greater level than we have tried as a nation. Leaders in political, economic, and social organizations will find that they need to confront the dynamic and evolving issues that escalating global change and social disparity are generating. Therefore, the need to evaluate and manage how we can make positive impact on people across the world will demand increasing attention. Participants in this program will work with organizations that play important roles in protecting, advocating for, and maintaining various aspects of the underserved. Students interested in all aspects of management, poverty, social class and disparities, education and global health studies, and other fields will find this a rare and worthwhile experience.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Kolkata, India program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Kolkata, India

Program Flyer 

Ireland - Dublin
Program Name:   “The Irish Experience of Globalization and Migration:
Refugees and Migrants in Dublin”  
Program Leaders:  Suzanne Shanahan, William Tobin
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  None
Group Size:  10
Dates:  June 11 – August 8
NOTE: Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:  Students will spend two months in Dublin working with communities of refugees and migrants.  DukeEngage students will be placed with one of five different NGOs serving the migrant and refugee community. The objective in each placement is not just to serve but to do something that could not have happened without the Duke students’ leadership and participation.  Student work will be tailored to their particular interests and skills but may include, for example, the development of programs for migrants/refugees that would help them navigate the asylum and social services bureaucracies, summer school modules to help migrants/refugees hone their basic academic skills, the development of community programming to abate mounting xenophobia, or programs that would bring Irish and refugee youth together. Students will also spend 1 day per week working at the programs partner institution, the Geary Institute at the University College Dublin (UCD), on a group project that participants will devise soon after arriving in Dublin.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Dublin program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Ireland Program Overview

Kenya - Muhuru Bay
Program Name:   “The Women’s Institute for Secondary Education and Research (WISER)”  
Program Leader:  Sherryl Broverman
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  None
Group Size:  12
Dates:  June 28 – August 24
NOTE: Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:  The Women in Secondary Education and Research (WISER) is a Kenyan NGO that works in collaboration with Duke University.
WISER’s vision is to create a replicable model for generating gender parity in education, health and community leadership in the global south. WISER’s mission is to improve educational, economic, and health outcomes for girls, particularly those orphaned by AIDS; create gender allies in boys; and promote community-wide enhancements in health and development. Participants in the DukeEngage program will be able to participate in WISER’s programs that provide health education; conduct health research; improve the academic performance of primary or secondary school students; increase entrepreneurship and business opportunities of community partners such as youth or women’s groups; and provide a educational and recreational activities for boys and girls to enhance teamwork, leadership and an understanding of gender and adolescent health issues.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Kenya (WISER) program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Kenya (WISER) Program Overview

Nicaragua (EWH) / Tanzania (EWH)
Program Name:   “Duke-Engineering World Health Summer Institute ”  
Program Leaders:  Robert Malkin, Michelle Garst, Caroline Gamanche
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  Students will receive four weeks of language training in Swahili or Spanish on site.  Applicants must have at least two semesters of physics and two semesters of calculus by May 2010.
Group Sizes:  Africa: 10; Central America: 8
Dates:  Africa: June 2 – July 31; Central America:  June 17 – August 15

NOTE: Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

ALERT: In addition to the DukeEngage application, students must fill out a Duke-EWH application.  This application can be downloaded at ewh.org and must be turned in by November 9.  We recommend that students fill out the Duke-EWH application first, as most of the essays can be recycled for the DukeEngage application. Students should indicate their continent preference on the Duke-EWH application.  Students may apply for only one of the two options.

Program Synopsis:  Students will learn about healthcare technology shortcomings in the developing world and spend time directly intervening to address these challenges.  Students will begin by receiving four weeks of language training in Swahili or Spanish, learning about Tanzanian/Costa Rican culture, living with a home stay, visiting local villages, receiving hands-on training repairing medical equipment, learning to deliver technical training across a linguistic and cultural barrier and taking classes in medical equipment repair and maintenance.  During the next four weeks, students will work in one of our partner hospitals in Tanzania/Nicaragua training the staff to use equipment that has been idled, repairing medical equipment, and conducting extensive interviews on healthcare technology needs.  Learn comprehensive details about the Duke-Engineering World Health Summer Institute by accessing the program overview below.

Duke-Engineering World Health Summer Institute Program Overview

Northern Ireland - Belfast
Program Name:   “The legacy of “The Troubles”: using the past to shape the future in Northern Ireland ”  
Program Leader:  Robin Kirk
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  None
Group Size:  8
Dates:  May 18 – July 14
NOTE: Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:  Duke students will work with Belfast-based NGOs that focus on human rights and post conflict reconciliation in the wake of the “The Troubles.” “The Troubles” is the period from the late 1960s until 1998 when Northern Ireland was riven by violent conflict between the majority Protestant and minority Catholic populations. The groups with which we work are fostering human rights culture, working to lessen sectarian division, implementing stronger human rights reporting and protections, and working at the grassroots level to address how the violent past can be acknowledged and used as a way to construct a more peaceful future.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Belfast, Northern Ireland program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Belfast Northern Ireland Program Overview

Peru - Urubamba
Program Name:   “DukeEngage in Peru”  
Program Partner:  ProWorld: ProPeru Service Corps
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  While Spanish is not required to join the program, having a basic command of the language is preferred.  All volunteers will receive 6 hours of Spanish lessons per week to help facilitate language acquisition.
Group Size:  9
Dates:  May 12 – July 16
NOTE: Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:  ProWorld’s mission is to empower communities, promote social and economic development, conserve the environment, and cultivate educated and compassionate global citizens. We invite you to join the ProWorld mission and make a difference in our host communities through our sustainable development model.  Students will have the option of working on one of the three following projects:  1. installing clean burning stoves; 2. conservation and environmental education; 3. participating in studies and health education surrounding the implementation of ceramic water filtration systems and assisting in rural community health campaigns.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Peru program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Peru Program Overview

 

Russia - St. Petersburg  (Study Abroad Hybrid Program)
Program Name:  “Engaging Duke in Russia”
Program Leader:  Edna Andrews
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  Competency in Russian language is required.
Group Size:  5
Dates:  June 26 – July 17
NOTE:  Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:   In conjunction with the “Duke in Russia” summer study abroad program, DukeEngage students will work in one of two host organizations: the Russian Ministry of Health, Pokrovskaya Hospital where students will provide supervised support in different units; the Russian Society of the Blind, where students will help local sight-impaired persons at the center itself and in their homes with a variety of everyday activities, including shopping, reading aloud, organizing space, and providing other social service assistance.  The group will be located on Vasilievsky Island in St. Petersburg for the duration of the program.  The work sites are on Vasilievsky Island and near the center of town.  The group will travel to Moscow for three days during the third week in June.  Participants will work with organizations that play an important role in quality health care and rehabilitation for the handicapped.  Learn comprehensive details about the Engaging Duke in Russia program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in St. Petersburg, Russia

South Africa - Cape Town
Program Name:  “Documenting & Engagement Movements of Social Change”
Program Leaders:  William Chafe, Robert Korstad
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  None
Group Size:  8
Dates:  May 27 – July 22
NOTE:  Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:   Students will spend six weeks in Cape Town, working with social agencies that are seeking to improve life in townships, document the history of District Six (a neighborhood bulldozed by the apartheid regime because it was a model of multi-racial democracy), and promote health and economic reform in the nation. In the course of this work, students will interact with South Africans who were victims of, and activists against, the rigid system of racial apartheid that ruled South Africa for much of the 20th Century. Students will spend the five days in Johannesburg and Pretoria, immersing themselves in the history of apartheid and the liberation struggle. In the middle of the trip, they will also spend four days in Kwa Zulu Natal, a province where the conflict over apartheid was most intensive. In all locations, they will explore how the stories carried forward about the past help shape policy decisions in the present.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Cape Town, South Africa program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Cape Town, South Africa Program Overview

South Africa - Durban
Program Name:  “Contributing to Community Improvement in Wentworth”
Program Leaders:  Jenni W. Owen, Jean Choudree
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  None
Group Size:  8
Dates:  June 16 – August 16
NOTE:  Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:   Students will spend most of their time in the Wentworth community outside of Durban.  Each student will be matched with non-governmental organizations that are working to improve the lives of Wentworth residents.  The work focuses on social and environmental justice, economic development, women’s and children’s advocacy, student skills-building, and other issues critical to a community that was established as the result of apartheid, the strict system of racial discrimination that ruled South Africa for decades prior to 1994 when Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s president.  Students will immerse themselves in a range of meaningful efforts and activities—meaningful with regard to the students’ world view, educational development and personal growth and meaningful in terms of the contributions the students will make to Wentworth and its citizens.  Students will have the opportunity to learn first-hand about the impact of apartheid from the NGO leaders, community members and others.  Wentworth residents are involved in the work of many of the organizations.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Durban, South Africa program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Durban, South Africa

Tanzania - Arusha (LTP)
Program Name:  “Literacy Through Photography”
Program Leaders:  Katie Hyde, Elena Rue
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  We recommend that students enroll in the course Literacy Through Photography (EDU 144S/DOCST 144S) as preparation for this program.  Students will have on-site training in Kiswahili.
Group Size:  8
Dates:  June 10 – August 6
NOTE:  Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:   The LTP Arusha DukeEngage program is part of an effort to build a locally sustainable Literacy Through Photography program within Arusha, Tanzania schools. LTP is a teaching tool that combines photography and writing and can be used within any area of the curricula to enhance critical thinking and creativity and improve visual, written and cultural literacy. As we work with teachers and children in Arusha we are learning how LTP can best operate within the context of Tanzanian schools—in light of resources, national curricula, and educational reform, such as the call for more participatory teaching methods.  Much of our work in Arusha is devoted to training teachers in LTP’s method of integrating photography and writing, and then collaborating with teachers as they carry out projects in their classrooms. We are also working with teachers to develop visual teaching aides and other curricula. An important part of our work is establishing and growing a Teacher Resource Center that lends cameras, printers, and other photographic and art supplies, books, how-to LTP guides, sample photographs, etc. to participating teachers.
Thus far, we have trained over 150 primary and secondary level teachers, as well as a few professors from teachers’ colleges. During the previous two summers LTP staff and DukeEngage students co-led classroom LTP projects for over 2,000 Arusha students. The LTP Arusha program culminates with a group exhibition and dialogue among DukeEngage students, Arusha teachers and schoolchildren and community members.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Arusha, Tanzania (LTP) program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Tanzania (LTP)

Trinidad & Tobago
Program Name:  “Civic Engagement to Promote Entrepreneurship and Economic Development”
Program Leaders:  Lucy J. Reuben
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  None
Group Size:  6
Dates:  June 4 – August 4
NOTE:  Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:   This project focuses upon working with government agencies and other non-profit groups to promote entrepreneurship and to enhance community and economy development. Duke students will learn skills to help them develop as globally-aware civic leaders who can successfully promote economic and business development in multi-cultural contexts.  Duke students can help alleviate conditions of poverty, social neglect and economic disparity through partnerships and service in the second-largest country in the English-speaking Caribbean and the largest provider of natural gas to the United States. The assignment sites directly address universal goals (1) to broaden access to education, (2) to diversify and expand economic development, and (3) to enhance communities and the lives of community residents.  Duke students will (1) assist economic development divisions of municipal and regional governmental agencies to promote the growth of small businesses (2) help to create programs and activities to motivate and educate disadvantaged youth, and (3) assist newly organized village women in projects related to community improvement - including youth outreach, health and safety, economic development and environmental justice.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Trinidad & Tobago program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Trinidad & Tobago Program Overview

Trinidad & Tobago Flyer 2010

USA - Tucson / Mexico
(See listing under National Programs in menu above)

Uganda - Kashongi
Program Name:  “Progressive Health Partnership in Uganda: Building a More Comprehensive Healthcare System”
Program Leaders:  Jordan Bateisibwa, Alex Cho, Christopher Kigongo, Benon Mugerwa, Joshua Greenberg (Trinity '11), Naima von Ritter (Trinity '11), Haosi "Alex" Sun (Pratt '12), Lauren Weinberger (Trinity '11), Eddie Zhang (Trinity 2011)
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  Although the language spoken in the Mbarara region is Runyankole, students are not expected to be proficient. Informal Runyankole lessons will be provided through interactions with community partners (e.g. MMHF staff, MUST students).
Group Size:  10
Dates:  June 2 – August 5
NOTE:  Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:   In a joint partnership between Progressive Health Partnership (PHP), Mayanja Memorial Hospital (MMH), Mayanja Memorial Hospital Foundation (MMHF), and the Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), this program will unite with the sub-county of Kashongi in Southwestern Uganda to lessen the burden of disease and increase access to healthcare for its community members.  The program will attempt to address some of the most challenging problems Kashongi faces, which include high malaria incidence, poor access to antenatal care, and scarcity of safe water.  The program intends to draw students who care deeply about these issues from both policy and medical perspectives.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Kashongi, Uganda program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Kashongi, Uganda Program Overview

Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City & Rural Vietnam
Program Name:  “DukeEngage in Vietnam”
Program Partner:  CET Academic Programs
Prerequisites/Language Req.:  None, however, students will take intensive Vietnamese classes during orientation.
Group Size:  8
Dates:  June 7 – August 15
NOTE:  Dates are subject to change due to air travel availability

Program Synopsis:   DukeEngage students’ projects aim to serve needy communities through renovating and building infrastructure such as schools, roads, and houses. After an orientation and intensive Vietnamese language training in Ho Chi Minh City, students will travel in two rural areas, one of which is through the Vietnamese Youth League’s Green Summer Campaign. DukeEngage students will participate in the program alongside Vietnamese college students who will also serve as roommates and program partners. By accompanying the students throughout the program, they will help to provide a deeper understanding of contemporary life in Vietnam.  Students will participate in various service projects of building and renovating within needy communities, aiming to improve infrastructure. Last year students focused on two primary construction projects through the Green Summer Campaign: renovating a school and building a house.  Learn comprehensive details about the DukeEngage in Vietnam program by accessing the program overview below.

DukeEngage in Vietnam Program Overview