 fter Dora Elia García took part in the Programa de Fortalecimiento de Liderazgo, an NGO leadership program sponsored by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), she was inspired to take her studies to the next level. She wanted to pursue a full-time master’s degree, but she found that she was unable to leave her work and family commitments in Mexico for an extended period of time. She and several colleagues from the leadership program came up with the idea for a distance-learning master’s degree in sustainable community development, which would enable individuals like García to pursue graduate degrees in their areas of interest without disrupting the critical work they are doing at home.
The group approached WKKF for support, and in December 2004 the Foundation awarded a grant to LASPAU to establish a distance-learning scholarship program in collaboration with the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica (UNA) and Red de Fondos Ambientales de Latinoamérica y el Caribe (RedLAC). Dora Elia García was one of the proud recipients of the grants.
Now in its third and final year, the Maestría en Desarrollo Sustentable Comunitario Program is training leaders in rural development and food security throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Grantees were drawn primarily from organizations supported by WKKF or affiliated with RedLAC.
The program combines a virtual academic program of six trimesters, using the online classroom software First Class, with a short but intensive introductory seminar held at UNA in Herdia, Costa Rica. Two series of field site visits (pasantías) organized by RedLAC have also taken place. During the pasantías, grantees visited NGOs working in areas related to their individual research projects.
The most recent series of pasantías took place in January and February 2007. One group of students—whose research projects focused on youth organizations, coalitions, and development management—visited SERTA, a rural education organization working with youth in Pernambuco, Brazil.
The second group of students—focused on food security and sustainable development—visited APAEB, a cooperative of small sisal grass growers based in the interior of Bahia, Brazil.
The third group of students—focused on tourism and development—visited the Chiloé Archipelago off the coast of Chile, site of a national park and of various types of agro-tourism, eco-tourism, and ethno-tourism.
The final group—researching systematization and program evaluation—visited the Fundación Solidaridad, an association in Mendoza, Argentina, that supports local development efforts, including agrarian producers, microcredit projects, and youth organizations.
In total, 22 participants hailing from ten countries will receive master’s degrees in the summer of 2007.
For more information, please contact LASPAU Program Officer James Ito-Adler by email (james_ito-adler@harvard.edu) or by phone (617-495-1044).
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