An Interview with Michelle Eilers, Alice Rowan Swanson Fellow

Michelle in Belen, Chile with Aymara physician Don Basilio and Señora Benita

Michelle Eilers is a senior at Tufts University, where she studies Anthropology and Community Health. In the spring of 2009, Michelle participated on the SIT Study Abroad Chile: Culture, Development, and Social Justice program in Valparaiso. Originally from central Texas, Michelle has worked with Spanish-speaking Mexican immigrants. She became interested in minority-related health disparities when she had an internship and later worked at a small, family-practice clinic in rural central Texas. Michelle was recently awarded the first Alice Rowan Swanson fellowship, which provides grant money for SIT Study Abroad alums to pursue projects relating to human rights. To read more about Alice Rowan Swanson, click here. To learn more about the fellowship guidelines and to download an application, click here.

Why did you decide to do SIT Study Abroad in Chile?

When looking at study abroad programs, I knew that I wanted to study in Chile, and I was attracted to the possibility of working with a community and conducting independent research while abroad, rather than simply taking university classes.  I was attracted to the program theme in Valparaíso and I knew that I did not want to live in a city as large as Santiago, so I chose the program on Culture, Development, and Social Justice.
 
What was your independent study project (ISP) in Chile, and how is that connected to the work you will be doing in Chile this coming January?

A new Aymara birthing room at a hospital in Arica, Chile

My independent study project focused on the pregnancy and birthing practices of indigenous Aymara women, who live in northern Chile, Bolivia, and Peru.  I looked at how the traditional practices have shifted due to Chilean Ministry of Health norms and trends towards increased modernity, as well as the current processes in place to maintain these traditions.  The work I will do in January focuses on a particular program called Utasanjam usuña (which means “to give birth as in our house,”) which was implemented in the northern city of Arica to provide Aymara women with a traditional birthing room that provided the appropriate herbs and treatment from an Aymara doctor within the local hospital, to ensure safe deliveries.  I will work with the organization that implemented the program, PESPI (Special Program for Health and Indigenous Communities) to assess the awareness of the program for the Aymara population, and how it is being received by Western medical professionals and the Aymara community.
 
Why did you decide to apply for this fellowship, and what do you hope to get out of it?
 
Upon return to school this summer, I felt that I was unable to fully assess the situation I had investigated during the ISP period, and I wanted to provide the community with a tangible and useful resource that would facilitate the process of retaining cultural birthing practices.  I was unsure of how to find enough funding to be able to return to Chile, until I read about the Alice Rowan Swanson fellowship, which is an amazing opportunity for an SIT alum to give back to the community where they studied.

 

Michelle with two Aymara physicians

How will this fellowship influence your next steps, and what do you plan to do after you graduate from Tufts?

The fellowship allows me to understand the process of independent research and facilitate my career plans to work with similar communities.  Through my coursework at Tufts and my experience in Chile, I have learned and witnessed firsthand the discrimination that impoverished communities suffer from, and my goal is to make meaningful contributions to such groups to help improve their health status.  I plan to apply for a Fulbright or Rotary Scholarship to work with a maternal health program in South America, and I aspire to attend medical school and complete an MD/MPH, with a focus on international medicine.  Following this, I plan to continue working in international health development in Latin America.

How has SIT Study Abroad shaped the way you look at the world?

SIT Study Abroad provided me with eye-opening experiences that I would likely have never experienced otherwise; I was able to live with families of different social strata and experience life in both a rural and urban setting.  Apart from greater language comprehension, I am now more aware of distinct cultural notions and how to navigate differences in cultures.  Additionally, the program introduced me to the field of international development, through the lens of human rights and social justice, and allowed me to more fully understand global issues and how to think about international concerns of which I was previously unaware.

2009 SIT Graduate Institute Students Arrive on Campus

Last week 172 graduate students from 33 different countries arrived at the World Learning campus in Brattleboro, Vermont. Students in the SIT Graduate Institute’s incoming class traveled from as far away as Azerbaijan and Zimbabwe, with 26% of all students coming from outside the United States. Twenty seven of the students will enter the MAT program (Master of Arts in Teaching) while the remaining 145 will enter the PIM program (Program in Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management). This year’s incoming class brings with it a wealth of national and international experience, including 26 US students who have participated in the Peace Corps or Americorps-VISTA programs.

On Tuesday, the incoming class attended an opening ceremony with Marge Bruchac, an Abenaki storyteller and anthropologist. Bruchac invited the students to be thoughtfully aware of their place in history, urging them to “be careful about what it is we are taking from the past, and what it is we are passing on to the future.” After her introductory remarks, students and faculty joined hands and danced to Abenaki songs, before breaking into small discussion groups.

To see more photos of the incoming class, click here.

SIT Study Abroad Panama Alum turns field research into education scholarships

In the fall of 2008, Tim Soo traveled to Panama on the SIT Study Abroad Panama: Tropical Ecology, Marine Ecosystems, and Biodiversity Conservation program. Soo, a student at Emory University who plans to become a doctor, spent the summer of 2008 working in a medical lab in Japan before heading directly to Panama. Once in Panama, the stark contrast between his homeland and the research lab in Japan struck him immediately, but the turning point occurred a few months later when his group visited the Comarca Ngobe, a reservation for the Ngobe indigenous group.

Though Soo and his fellow group members spent only one night in the Comarca, the experience was transformative for many of them. The Comarca Ngobe have traditionally been a nomadic people, but recent population growth in Panama has severely limited their movement. As a result, the Ngobe of the Comarca have become isolated in a small reservation in the mountains, virtually unable to produce enough food for survival. Language and cultural barriers only make the situation more severe, and the group receives very little help from the national government.

Soo originally planned to conduct research on medicine, but found the conversations always drifting back towards more basic needs for food and shelter. It was the first time he and the other group members had truly observed extreme poverty, and they decided that they needed to do something about it. “Through various discussions afterwards, we attempted to come up with a solution to escaping this endless cycle of poverty, to escaping these difficulties; we decided the best way was through education,” he says. The group then started “Few for Change,” an organization devoted to raising tuition money for students of the Comarca Ngobe. To date, the group has raised enough money for two scholarships, and has begun working with ASMUNG and Padres Familiares, two local organizations in Panama, who will help to identify scholarship recipients.

The organization is now up and running, and a prime example of the impact that field research can have on SIT Study Abroad students. To learn more about “Few for Change,” visit the organization’s website at: http://www.fewforchange.com/

SIT Graduate Alum Offers Advice on Professional Networking via LinkedIn

Written by Megan McBride, SIT Graduate Student/World Learning Americorps VISTA
 

Laura Beth Barnes, alum of SIT Graduate Institute’s Program in Intercultural Leadership and Management, quips that she first logged on to LinkedIn as a way to avoid working on her capstone, the final project SIT Graduate students complete before finishing the program.  Her results, however, are not a joke: within ten days of creating an account, she received calls from head hunters offering her jobs in her field of sustainability and corporate responsibility.  Now, Laura is honored that the same people whom she regarded as pioneers in her field while she studied at SIT Graduate Institute view her as their peer and contact her with questions.     
 
In November of 2007, Laura signed-up for LinkedIn, an online professional networking site.  At the time, she was skeptical about it and started out by inviting only five people to join her network.  Wanting to keep her personal and professional life separate, she was at first hesitant to invite friends to join her network.  Laura soon realized that having more people in her contact base gave her a larger network and she started to reach out to people in key positions and locations.  From these initial contacts, she received a wide range of invitations from other professionals in her field.   
  
Laura currently works as a Responsible Sourcing Manager for Mothercare PLC, a UK-based retailer with stores internationally.  Prior to joining Mothercare in July 2009, she procured several short and long term consulting jobs through her connections on LinkedIn.  Laura comments that jobs in the professional fields that SIT prepares students for are difficult to find and usually not advertised on online job sites such as Monster or Yahoo Jobs.   She notes that using LinkedIn has not only introduced her to a wide net of people in her field but has also helped her stay in touch with those she meets at conferences and helps them to remember her and to understand her field of work. 

Laura observes that LinkedIn is like Google in that you can search for profiles containing certain key words.  She utilizes key terms from her field in her profile and recommends finding a balance between business and non-profit terminology to gain the broadest search results.

Laura cautions online networking site users to be vigilant with all their profiles, whether on professional sites or the more social sites such as Facebook.  She guards her online presence and is aware that her reputation is at stake when she forwards a contact invitation from a colleague to a person in her online network.   

Like a resume, Laura advises keeping profiles up-to-date with current information and accomplishments and she recommends updating profiles at least every two months.  When a person updates his or her profile on LinkedIn, all contacts are automatically sent an update.  Laura regards this as a perfect way to “stay on the radar” of other professionals in her field.  She warns that one can not simply create a profile, leave it untouched and expect results. She strongly encourages other World Learning alums to take advantage of the global connections they have via World Learning’s LinkedIn site.

SIT Graduate Institute Sees Rise in Applications from Sponsored Students

Applications for 2009 received through Fulbright, Ford, Rotary dramatically increase.  INTERLINK Fellowship applications triple.

By Marshall Brewer, SIT Graduate Institute, Admissions Counselor for Language Teacher Education

BRATTLEBORO, VT (February 25, 2009) – Applications to SIT Graduate Institute from sponsoring organizations have dramatically increased for 2009 programs.  Dossiers received from applicants sponsored by the Fulbright Program, the International Fellowships Program of the Ford Foundation, and the Rotary International have jumped significantly over previous years.  In addition, applications to the innovative SIT INTERLINK Fellowship have more than doubled for 2009.

While sponsorship of SIT graduate students has long been welcomed and successful, the dramatic increase in this year’s applications signals two compelling conditions. 

Certainly, the world economic crisis is a motivating factor for many would-be international students desiring US graduate degrees.  Sponsored applicants for SIT’s 2009 programs come from these countries:

• Angola
• Indonesia
• Ivory Coast
• Kenya
• Japan
• Jordan
• Madagascar
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• Russia
• South Africa
• Turkmenistan

Another factor believed to contribute to the current rise in application rates is the quality of learning derived from previous sponsored students.  Juan Rostrán of Nicaragua said of his 2007-08 SIT experience.

I am not only strengthening my teaching skills, but also developing intercultural understanding. [SIT’s] focus on experiential learning makes it rare… [Being] in a classroom with colleagues from all around the world enriches the intercultural adventure.

The SIT INTERLINK Fellowship begins its second year in June.  In this unusual program, highly qualified English teachers receive a fifty percent tuition scholarship and a two-year teaching contract through INTERLINK Language Centers at Al-Yamamah University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  Drawing heavy interest from all continents, English teachers have deluged Fellowship offices with inquiries.  Unlike other options, this is a non-competitive fellowship; acceptance is offered to all who are qualified.  More than twice as many fellows are expected to begin in 2009 than a year ago.

While many decisions about 2009 students have yet to be made, the increase in sponsored students this year is a strong indication of SIT Graduate Institute’s reputation and the world’s need for intercultural leaders.

Promoting Social Justice Through Documentary-making, Academic Director Ismael Saavedra Engages SIT Study Abroad Students in Bolivia

Written by Megan McBride, SIT Graduate student/ World Learning VISTA-Americorp

Ismael Saavedra, Academic Director of SIT Study Abroad’s Bolivia: Lens on Latin America and Bolivia: Culture and Development programs, found his passion for documentaries in a matter of minutes.  While viewing a short Cuban documentary on racism and discrimination, he was struck by the film’s ability to reflect the reality of the situation on the ground in Cuba. 

The documentary on Cuba encouraged Ismael to assess the political, economic and social situation in his native Bolivia.  Ismael felt compelled to record that reality through the medium of film and to share his films with the public to encourage discussion and action.  Ismael became convinced that film has the potential to give voice to the problems he was observing in his own country and around the globe.  This was more than 30 years ago.

Today, Ismael is busy helping SIT students find their own voices through film-making.  “I want my students to realize the importance and potential of working with the language of the 21st century and, in doing so, I want them to learn and produce quality and moving short documentaries as a result of their research.”  
          
SIT’s Bolivia: Lens on Latin America program offers students the chance to partner with a Bolivian film student and to research and create their own documentary film.  Students take classes on production and have access to the program’s media lab for editing. Ismael’s goal is “to have the students understand the importance, in research, of images and sounds, and to learn to apply the principles and techniques of visual anthropology.” 

Ismael, who has worked as an academic director with SIT in Bolivia since 1999, encourages students to create films offering insights into contemporary Bolivian reality.  Today, the program has an archive of over 50 student-made films on topics ranging from the Bolivia-U.S. relationship in the “war on drugs” to female soccer teams. One recent film by program alumnus Aaron Naar, entitled ‘Los hombres del lago,’ focuses on the history and pollution of a local lake and uses shots of water and mounds of fish and narration by a local fisherman. 

Ismael points out that the strength of SIT’s Lens on Latin America program lies in the minimal equipment that students use.  Students create their documentary using only a small video camera, a laptop and an external hard drive.  These three pieces of equipment easily fit inside a small back-pack, teaching students that “with this small baggage, (they are) ready to go anywhere in the world and make a brilliant, well researched, independent documentary.” 

The importance of these films does not end with the completion of the student’s projects.  As Ismael notes, the documentaries offer a way to “extend the duration of the experience and the possibility to reflect and deepen their research.”  Students regularly share their project with family, friends and colleagues once they return home and their films continue to generate discussion about social concerns in Bolivia.  If they so choose, students also get involved with social action movements that concentrate on the issues addressed in their documentary. 

Ismael worked on a number of ethnographic documentaries before becoming an academic director for SIT.  His works include Deception (Academy Award, 1992), Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Academy Award nomination, 1984), Chuquiago (a classic Bolivian ethnographic film, 1976), and Landscapes of Memory (prizes at Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals, 1997). 

When asked why he works with students to help them create their own documentaries, he states, “I think that one of the best ways that students have to record their experiences, investigations and findings is through documentary films.”  Given the powerful images and topics shown in students’ projects, the strength of their research and of Ismael’s teaching is evident.  “I want my students to realize their potential and to exercise their capabilities to conduct profound investigations, (and to) record and publicize their results in order to educate more people about their own and other cultures.”

Ismael Saavedra serves as the co-Academic Director for SIT Study Abroad’s Boliva: Culture and Development program with Heidi Baer-Postigo. Students on the semester program also have the opportunity to produce an entho-graphic video documentary for their independent study project. For more information about SIT Study Abroad’s Bolivia: Lens on Latin America or Bolivia: Culture and Development programs, please visit the SIT Study Abroad Find a Program webpage.

Watch the YouTube videos of SIT Study Abroad Bolivia students.

SIT in NYC

by Susal Stebbins, SIT Graduate student

In these first few weeks of 2009, SIT grad students can be found trekking merrily through the streets of Manhattan, chatting about micro-enterprise in Haiti, fresh water wells in Liberia, the desirability of a United Nations decade for interfaith dialogue, a possible internship with the International Girl Scouts… not to mention our friend playing Mongolian music in a bar in Brooklyn Tuesday night and what’s showing on Broadway this week.

We are here for our Organizational Behavior II class, examining recipes for effective organizations from perspectives of systems thinking, organizational structures, human resources, politics, and culture. We gather direct experience (and networking opportunities) by visiting the physical spaces and leaders of a myriad of United Nations institutions and International NGOs. The class is a partnership between SIT and the Levin Instititute for International Relations and Commerce, based in the heart of Manhattan (and founded in honor of Neil D. Levin, Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who perished in the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001).

SIT Professor Ken Williams supplies seemingly endless theories and inspiring and instructive stories – for example about the organic formation of a children’s rights hotline which connects street children in more than 20 cities in India with all the services they need, empowers young people to serve each other, and trains police and health care workers to understand and address children’s needs. He checks in with the class every day – what are we learning, what do we need, who will we meet with, how will we get there?

Levin Institute Provost Lynne Rosansky contributes lectures and conducts a simulation of  management structure functions, assigning students to roles as international president; heads of European, North American, and Asian operations; design and production managers and workers, with real life scenarios that get us thinking about strategies for communication, motivation, division of labor, etc. The European division cheerfully and obliviously churns out a bumper crop of faulty products, suddenly our red ink is declared toxic, and we nearly have a company meltdown, but quick consultation on new quality guidelines and flexible production staff save the day. 

Mary Alice Mazzara, Levin Institute’s Dean of Students, has combed through her vast network of contacts to arrange our visits with various international institutions. With each interchange – two to five per day – an SIT student serves as host and time is allowed for thought-provoking questions and lively dialogue.  I am delighted to meet SIT alumna Venkatesh (Venky) Raghavendra, now Senior Philanthropic Director of American India Foundation, hear so many insights from him, and then discover that he has not only worked with my dear former colleague Anil Chitrakar from Nepal, but they are close friends. Similar old and new connections are being uncovered and forged every day by my classmates.

I am building my own collection of memories of New York – stumbling across Carnegie Hall and the lions of the New York Public Library, finding new Tibetan friends at Columbus Circle, losing myself in the colors of Monet and Rodin’s luminous bodies emerging from white marble at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and standing shoulder to shoulder with my classmates in the sculpture garden of the United Nations.

Susal Stebbins is a PIM student (Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management degree). She calls Minneapolis, Minnesota and Kathmandu, Nepal home and has had a rich life experience with many strands of writing, photography, social activism, music, and teaching.

World Learning Co-Sponsors Second Annual Fostering Global Citizenship Conference

By Megan McBride, Americorps VISTA World Learning Post-Program/Re-entry Coordinator

Not just a buzz word, global citizenship is a topic on the mind of many institutions of higher education. For World Learning, global citizenship is a key component of our mission.  We proudly co-sponsored the Second Annual Fostering Global Citizenship Conference and supported six members of our administration and staff in their successful presentations.  On November 10th and 11th, university administrators, staff, and faculty gathered in Burlington to share effective approaches for developing global citizenship in students and to discuss strategies for further work.

Drawing 160 participants from 40 institutions and 14 states, the conference opened with an overview of global citizenship in the keynote address from the President of World Learning, Carol Bellamy.  Her speech, entitled “Shaping the Future: The Need for Global Citizens,” was “an excellent reminder to view ‘global citizenship’ not such as a skill set but as a mind set,” according to one attendant.  Carol underscored the need for active participation of citizens in world issues and the need for institutions of higher education to be agents of change for these global participants. 

Following the keynote speech, Adam Weinberg, World Learning’s Executive Vice President and Provost, facilitated a working session “Defining a Global Citizen for your Campus.”  During this workshop, participants collaborated with other member of their university to identify areas of success on their campuses and areas that need development.  “I never would have found the time on campus to discuss at such great lengths global citizenship with my colleagues,” responded one participant. 

In the afternoon, participants attended two workshop blocks on more specific topics such as U.S. students, gender identity, and service-learning.  David Shallenberger, Linda Gobbo, and Richard Rodman, faculty members of the department of Intercultural Service Leadership and Management at SIT Graduate Institute, presented on assessment and evaluation.  On the second day of the conference, Rebecca Hovey, our Globally Engaged Scholar, led one of two day-long institutes on curriculum development in collaboration with communities.  Highlights of the institute included dynamic presentations by panelists with extensive experience creating and managing undergraduate intercultural experiences.  One participant noted that, “hopefully we will use their models as a conversation starter on campus.”   

Response to the conference was overwhelmingly positive.  As one participant noted, a high point of the conference was “learning good reflection strategies to integrate into the work we’re already doing to help students make those global connections.”  Vermont Campus Compact, a sponsor of the conference, hosts a webpage of the conference proceedings.  Videos of the keynote address and facilitated group workshop, PowerPoint presentations and documents from other workshops, and resources will be available online.

SIT Study Abroad Partnership Council meets

By Jessica Bashford, Writer/Editor SIT Study Abroad

From December 4-5, the SIT Study Abroad Partnership Council met on the campus of Brandeis University for a spirited and constructive exchange. As SIT Study Abroad’s principle advisory board, the Partnership Council provides vital perspectives and important expertise on the design, delivery, and assessment of SIT programs and their integration into the undergraduate curriculum. The Partnership Council is comprised of 15 deans and directors in the study abroad field from colleges and universities across the US. Present at the December meeting were 10 Council members and senior SIT staff including Adam Weinberg, Executive Vice President and SIT Provost, and Maureen Powers, Vice President and Dean, SIT Study Abroad.

This was the first time a Partnership Council meeting was held at a partner school, and SIT Study Abroad is grateful to Brandeis for hosting what proved to be an excellent and highly interactive discussion. Council members provided specific feedback and helpful recommendations pertaining to critical areas such as how the economy is affecting study abroad; academics and curriculum integration; student affairs issues; and program growth and enrollment.

The meeting also gave SIT Study Abroad the opportunity to share with Council members key improvements SIT is making to further enhance our programs, administration, and staff. These include the addition of new programs such as Chile: Public Health and Community Welfare and Uganda and Rwanda: Post-Conflict Transformation; Web site improvements; streamlining the on-line application process; and the addition of Michael Smallis, SIT Study Abroad’s new Dean of Student Affairs, charged with enhancing student life, safety, and security.

The Partnership Council plays an essential role in strengthening SIT’s relationships with students, faculty, and staff in many of SIT’s most important sending schools. Through open, vigorous discussion, Council members communicate to SIT Study Abroad the perspectives and concerns they encounter on their campuses throughout the year. This productive exchange of ideas improves SIT Study Abroad’s role as a full-service provider of outstanding, experiential study abroad programs for undergraduate students and their home colleges and universities.

SIT Study Abroad is very appreciative of the participation and contributions of the following Partnership Council members at the December 4-5 meeting:

• Dr. Elizabeth Brewer, Director, International Education, Beloit College
• Susan Holme Brick, Director of International Programs, Whitman College
• Kendall Brostuen, Director of International Programs, Associate Dean of the College, Brown University
• Mary Ryan Dando, Director, Study Abroad Programs, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Valerie M. Eastman, Director of Off-Campus Study, Scripps College
• Rob Hallworth, Director of Study Abroad, George Washington University
• Dr. Andrew Law, Assistant Dean for Off-Campus Study, Denison University
• Michael Monahan, Director, International Center, Macalester College
• Dr. Carolyn Sorkin, Director, Office of International Studies, Wesleyan University
• Dr. Ana Maria J. Wiseman, Dean of International Programs, Wofford College

Partnership Council Members who could not be present at last week’s meeting include:

• Mark Beirn, Director of Study Abroad, Tulane University
• Dr. Jeffery W. Cason, Dean of International Programs, Associate Professor of Political Science, Middlebury
• Cori Filson, Director, Office of International Programs, Skidmore College
• Minnie Battle Mayes, Director of International Programs, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University
• Teresa E. Wise, Executive Director, Office of International Affairs, Clemson University

Professor Nikoi Kote-Nikoi: promoting academic excellence and shaping economic policy in Ghana

Written by Susal Stebbins, SIT Graduate student

Like many of his colleagues at SIT Graduate Institute, Economics Professor Nikoi Kote- Nikoi practices what he teaches.  In doing so, he is having a major impact in implementing effective poverty alleviation policies in his home country of Ghana.

Nikoi came from a position as Economist at the World Bank and has been teaching at SIT (and more recently at Smith College, Marlboro College, the University of Ghana, and colleges in Zimbabwe and Bangladesh) on and off since 1989. The off-times – one extended leave-of-absence and one sabattical -  have allowed him to expand his part time business working as an economics consultant, researcher and policy developer in Ghana. 

Nikoi spent two years as Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs in Accra, Ghana.  Based on that experience, Nikoi took the opportunity of his 2003 sabbatical to implement a new model for his own economic think tank. He had discovered that generally “if you’re doing consulting to pay the bills, there’s not much time to do [the] basic research” needed for developing sound long-term policy. Nikoi established the think tank by approaching donors to fund an endowment to support the Center for Policy Priorities.  Nikoi partnered with a researcher at the University of Ghana, and hires appropriate additional researchers (sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists) for specific projects as needed.

The Center for Policy Priorities was established in 2003. Nikoi explains, “We identify ourselves as a private, not-for-profit, non-governmental, public-policy research institution.”  He defines the Center’s focus matter-of-factly: “Our overall goal is poverty alleviation. We do basic research, come up with policy options, and advocate with government to augment existing policy or implement different ones accordingly.” The Center devises a research agenda for two or three sectors of the economy for three-year periods. Areas of concentration have included international trade and labor market issues (wages, job development, etc.).  Once the research is completed, results are published and disseminated to key stakeholders and decision-makers.

 “We do roundtables with primary recipients, who are mainly those in a position to implement the policies we’re advocating, and also with advocacy allies in civil society who are in a position to either apply pressure for implementation or help facilitate the implementation. So we do workshops at the Institute, not only on the outcomes of the research, but on strategies on how we can get them implemented. So right away we’re building a constituency around particular policies.” The institute also uses radio and television and Nikoi writes newspaper columns to build public pressure for policy changes.

The Center’s current strategy is to work on macro-economic policy that affects development outcomes across the country as a whole, by producing evidence-based studies that would help establish a positive environment for micro-level development practice.  Nikoi elaborates on the reasons for this: “Often you can do excellent research at the village level, or at the firm level, and try to implement the right interventions, and then the government will do something that entirely negates your efforts…So we think about what needs to be done at the national level to help this village or firm get its goods to market, or sell them abroad, or secure an uninterrupted flow of inputs at low transactions costs.”

The Center has been focusing on policies to address the developing Ghanaian oil industry. Oil was recently discovered in Ghana, and the Ghanaian government anticipates producing 20,000 barrels of oil a day by 2010, to be gradually increased ten-fold over ten years. Nikoi reflects that everyone in Ghana is concerned about what that would mean for Ghana’s long-term development goals. “If you look at the history of African nations that have discovered oil, it’s not been good… Everyone thinks that oil should be the ticket out of poverty, but in fact the opposite has often happened. So the whole country is interested in not only why that seems to happen to these bonanza economies in Africa, but also what we can do now by way of policy to prevent that from happening to Ghana.”  Nikoi is currently analyzing what happened in neighboring Nigeria and other African countries when oil production took off to see what policy lessons can be gleaned from their experience.

Just as the US conducted its historical 2008 election, Ghana also is having presidential elections in early December.  Nikoi’s institute has been, for the past year, assisting a Ghanaian political party to prepare for the elections by developing economic analysis and positions for their electoral platform.  He is also consulting for them on the current global financial crisis.

SIT graduate students benefit greatly from learning the details of Nikoi Kote-Nikoi’s practical application of economics and advocacy theory to complex real-world situations. Hopefully, they will be able to follow in his footsteps of maintaining a strong connection between academic excellence and making a positive impact on conditions in the world.