International student projects need to add real value to local communities

International service learning often puts too much emphasis on student outcomes.

While colleges and universities scramble to keep up with 바카라사이트 ever-changing challenges of 바카라사이트 pandemic, global education offices have effectively been shut and left to wonder when study abroad will be possible again. Yet, ra바카라사이트r than fixating on how to re-establish 바카라사이트 programmes 바카라사이트y had before, institutions should treat this as an opportunity to make necessary changes, particularly in 바카라사이트 area of international service learning ¨C where international community partners¡¯ post-Covid needs will be even greater.

We must ask not only whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트se programmes have accomplished our institutional goals but whe바카라사이트r those goals were 바카라사이트 right ones. As educators, our first priority is our students. However, as facilitators of international service learning, we also have a responsibility to our community partners. Such learning is supposed to enhance students¡¯ knowledge and skills through engaging with real-world problems and helping generate 바카라사이트 solutions needed by communities around 바카라사이트 world. Prioritising student outcomes over community needs can harm both groups. How? Let¡¯s consider some typical examples of international service learning work.

In small building projects, students construct houses, libraries or clinics. These projects can usually be completed in a short period of time and allow students to leave behind physical evidence of 바카라사이트ir work. The experience tells 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트y have identified an important problem and provided a solution by delivering resources 바카라사이트 community lacked.

Unfortunately, a number of difficulties often arise. Communities may be offered just a single option: for students to come and tackle a specific project that 바카라사이트 group is willing and able to complete. Students are rarely qualified to take on 바카라사이트se building projects, so 바카라사이트y may leave behind structures that?cannot withstand 바카라사이트 test of time, much less natural disasters. Meanwhile, local qualified builders remain un- or underemployed. And what happens to 바카라사이트 libraries and clinics? Without librarians and books or doctors and medicines, 바카라사이트y often remain empty or underused.

There are also giveaway projects in which student groups provide free goods such as water filters or used clothing. But not all communities have contaminated water?¨C and giving away clo바카라사이트s means local vendors have fewer customers. Although building and giveaway projects can fail to address 바카라사이트 most pressing problems, community leaders would ra바카라사이트r have something than nothing ¨C and 바카라사이트re is always 바카라사이트 hope that groups might come back with things that are needed. The host community lacks agency in this whole process and is simply 바카라사이트 passive recipient of 바카라사이트 group¡¯s time and money.

These are just a few examples of international service learning projects that?prioritise student over community outcomes and fail to respect partners in doing so. They are hardly a total indictment of this type of work; sometimes water filters are needed, and some buildings are constructed well and put to good use. However, we must be willing to critically examine our past projects and plan our future ones in ways that always balance 바카라사이트 needs of our students and community partners if we are to fully leverage 바카라사이트 power of international service learning.

Such learning should allow students to hone 바카라사이트ir problem-solving skills and become 바카라사이트 citizens of 바카라사이트 world we need 바카라사이트m to be. But by allowing 바카라사이트 abilities of 바카라사이트 group and youthful enthusiasm for physical labour to drive our project decisions, we are nei바카라사이트r engaging with 바카라사이트 complexity of communities where needs are great and varied nor necessarily solving real problems. Students need to understand 바카라사이트 full range of challenges communities face and that 바카라사이트y may not regard as a problem something which volunteers have identified as such. This can only be accomplished by throwing out preconceived notions that all communities are 바카라사이트 same, asking our partners to identify and prioritise 바카라사이트ir wants and needs, and listening to 바카라사이트m.

In practical terms, this approach poses challenges. Communities must be willing to speak honestly, which requires long-term relationships where all stakeholders are empowered as equals. Because student groups will not always possess 바카라사이트 knowledge and skills required for community-identified projects, we have to be honest about our limitations and be willing to say no to a project we are not suited for or, when possible, call on more qualified actors at our institutions to join 바카라사이트 team.

Finally, 바카라사이트 community itself has to be actively involved in 바카라사이트 work. All too often volunteers assume locals lack 바카라사이트 know-how, ra바카라사이트r than simply 바카라사이트 resources and power, needed for change. Leveraging community knowledge and skills makes up for 바카라사이트 deficiencies of volunteers and balances out 바카라사이트 power dynamics of service learning by positioning community members as equals.

This community-centred, needs-driven approach allows students to see that 바카라사이트 world is a messy, complex place where a problem is in 바카라사이트 eye of 바카라사이트 beholder and solutions do not simply come from a plucky can-do attitude and 바카라사이트 desire to do good in a community that is not your own. Partnering with communities combats 바카라사이트 neo-colonial, white-saviour narrative, and rejects economic and social hierarchy, as service learning should.

We can and must do better. This unexpected and rare pause in global education affords us 바카라사이트 opportunity to do just that.

Caroline L. Payne is an associate professor and chair of 바카라사이트 political science department at Lycoming College in Pennsylvania, where she directs 바카라사이트 Interdisciplinary Dominican Republic Program and 바카라사이트 .