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College students Spend Spring Break Engaged on Sustainable Growth Initiatives in Rwanda
This semester, the Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Growth supplied a brand new course, Sustainable Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring Rwanda. Satisfying the capstone requirement for majors in this system, this course provides college students the chance to discover what sustainable growth means within the context of sub-Saharan Africa.
Forward of touring to Rwanda, college students discovered concerning the historical past and present sustainable growth efforts in sub-Saharan Africa. They partnered with College of Rwanda college students to start work on two native tasks: one which expands entry to digital waste (e-waste) recycling, and one which helps the creation of improved cookstoves to be used in rural areas.
Throughout spring break, the category traveled to Rwanda. Based mostly within the capital metropolis of Kigali, the mixed group — 10 Columbia college students and 10 College of Rwanda college students — spent some days finding out on campus and a few touring outdoors of the city core to study extra about their tasks and develop suggestions for native companions. One of many days was reserved for a full day go to to Akagera Nationwide Park, the place the category loved a guided wildlife driving tour. Not solely did the category get to watch rural life whereas driving via distant areas of the nation, the safari additionally gave college students a possibility to see elephants, zebras, hippos, rhinos, antelopes, and plenty of species of birds.
On Friday, the final day of the journey week, each mission groups introduced their work to at least one one other and their shoppers. The e-waste recycling crew had cast beneficial contacts at 4 totally different universities in Kigali, every of which is a possible location for brand spanking new e-waste assortment websites. The cookstoves crew had begun to quantify the numerous advantages of the brand new cookstoves, together with diminished emissions and better effectivity, a calculation that can be utilized to market and promote the brand new merchandise.
Pupil Matthew Capuano-Rizzo defined, “One of many elements I favored most was that this system was in partnership with the College of Rwanda. All the college students had been doing very fascinating thesis tasks reminiscent of mapping urbanization in Kigali utilizing ArcGIS, creating an app to display screen for diabetes, and creating a web site to attach younger entrepreneurs to authorities sources. Connecting with the College of Rwanda college students allowed us to essentially see what sustainable growth seems to be like on the bottom and what college students our age are doing to make actual change. The journey additionally served as a hub for Columbia college students from many various packages, as college students from the Enterprise Faculty and Human Rights division had been additionally in Kigali similtaneously us. Assembly them at varied spots all through town and exchanging primarily based on what we discovered was additionally a beneficial facet of the journey. I’m extraordinarily grateful to the Sustainable Growth division for funding this program and making these distinctive experiences accessible to all college students.”
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