Ecuador: Community Internships in Latin America

Location:
Quito, Ecuador

Sponsor:
Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs

Program:
Participating in a Latin American internship will impact your life by strengthening your insight to human issues. Internship sites include organizations working on health, youth development, gender, human rights, environment, and other issues. Each student also carries out an independent study project on a topic of personal choice, which includes hands-on field research. The program addresses the following central questions: What are the causes of poverty and inequality in Ecuador and Latin America? What actions and solutions do different actors and social movements suggest to combat this inequality? How does work with a community organization test our understanding of social realities and social change movements in Latin America?

Course Offerings:
The Community Internships in Latin America program offers a semester of study and experience with a focus on community participation and social change. A hands-on internship designed to meet your own learning goals is combined with a seminar, independent project, and a home stay for an intensive immersion into Latin American daily life and culture. Models of community participation, organization, development, and social change are compared and contrasted. Students learn first-hand about social problems in Ecuadorian communities and explore ways in which communities are addressing these challenges. HECUA students stay with families while in Quito. Hotels or hostels are used during group field trips. All meals are provided by home-stay families or through food stipend during travel. All students take 16 credits, among which are the following required courses: Community Participation for Social Change Seminar; Internship Placement and Seminar; Field Seminar.

Contact Information:
Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs
2233 University Ave. W, Suite 210
St. Paul, MN 55114 USA
Phone: 651-646-8832 or 800-544-1089 in the US
E-mail:  info@hecua.org
http://www.hecua.org/ecuador.html