Africa: Serve, Learn, Sustain

Goals

This VIP team will focus on accelerating sustainable development in Africa. As the population rapidly increases (more than 2 billion projected by 2050), there are pressing needs in multiple areas. Students are invited to analyze, assess and discuss efforts to achieve sustainable development in Africa, and contribute projects on sustainable development there. Projects may address the needs of a local community or country in Africa, or adapt ideas that could be successfully implemented in a local context. We also aim to establish collaborative research with our partner institutions in Africa.

Issues Involved or Addressed

We aim to bring selected students to Rwanda for spring break 2025, and will work online with students and faculty at the University of Rwanda or IPRC Kigali on joint projects. The initial phase of this project will work as a general introduction to Africa focusing on the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) and connect students with communities and NGOs in Atlanta and Rwanda. Issues addressed will include environmental (clean water and energy, climate action, sustainable cities and infrastructures) and socio-economic topics. Among them, working for peace, justice and strong institutions as well as better health and education for people, and reducing inequalities including gender-related inequalities, will be prioritized. The Spring 2025 course will focus on Rwanda and other selected countries. Current collaborations and conversations include: ways to improve the resilience of the electric grid, cooking with less biomass, translation of research projects to businesses and development locally; recording testimonies, creating online resources, translating stories and other documents from African languages into English; increasing the participation of women in science, technology, engineering and math; innovations for the biochar production industry. Students are encouraged to contact the two advisors for more details and any VIP course-related questions in general.

Partners/Sponsors

The African Center of Excellence in Energy for Sustainable Development at the University of Rwanda, IPRC Kigali – Rwanda Polytechnic; the West African Research Center in Dakar, Senegal.