India
University of Georgia students and faculty recently participated in a unique and challenging design process in rural India. During January 2012, members of the University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design (CED) joined Oxford Brookes University in a winter field study led by its Center for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP).
Click the “for more information below” to read a press release about the project.
Global Service Learning
CCDP has been a campus leader in developing and testing global service-learning programs concentrating on issues of sustainability, low impact tourism, erosion control, outdoor recreation and civic leadership.
Our programs have generated long lasting UGA relationships in places like Ghana, Croatia and Thailand.
Former Vice President for Public Service and Outreach Art Dunning says he particularly wants to encourage multidisciplinary collaborations focusing on strengthening the economic and social well being of people in the Southeast and in other parts of the world, including Africa, Asia and Latin America. “We can be in Tifton or Tanzania,“ he says. “We have some rich opportunities to reach out beyond the campus.“
A global focus is evident in several service-learning activities already underway. As one example, students in the College of Environment & Design have worked for several years with local planners and community activists in Ghana to produce sustainable development plans that utilize principles of smart growth, economic restructuring, cultural tourism and environmental planning.
Ghana
Our work in Ghana began with an invitation to deliver two lectures, one at the Cape Coast Castle and another at the National Museum in Accra. We then helped plan and participated in a charrette that produced the Conservation and Tourism Development Plan for Cape Coast. This plan encouraged partnerships with US universities to help promote heritage conservation and develop sustainable tourism plans. This led to the 10 year relationship with several Ghanaian project sponsors, many NGOs and several local governments. The reports from our work there tell the story of the evolution of our global service learning studio.
Thailand
The CCDP lead a team of UGA faculty to Thailand under the direction of the VPPSO’s office to begin a long term partnership with Universities throughout the country. The first year studio was sponsored by the CED and resulted in two Service-Learning Projects, one in the rural north and one in urban Bangkok.
Croatia
The CCDP worked with the Office of International Service Learning and the Center for International Democratic Governance to develop a prototype Service-Learning Program for UGA in Croatia. The work from the initial program participants was developed into the attached report and photographic exhibits.
