A few recent trips and internships:

Dana Huff (African Studies, Class of ’14)
I spent two weeks in South Africa on an International Development/ African Studies intersession trip. Our trip focused on the development of post-apartheid South Africa, from a variety of lenses – health, social issues, governance, and entrepreneurship. I had a particular focus on youth unemployment, and the possible interventions and solutions that both public and private sectors were utilizing to address the massive unemployment amongst under-skilled youth.

Angie Tyler (African Studies, Class of ’14)
During the January intersession with the support of the African Studies program at SAIS, my field research sought to explore how the global women’s movement, the promotion of women’s rights and gender equality, is perceived in a local context. Through a case study analysis in Dakar, Senegal I conducted interviews with local female religious leaders, women’s rights activists and scholars to identify the major political, religious and cultural debates surrounding women’s rights issues.

In this photo I’m with Cheikh Aby Diagne, a highly regarded, 73-year-old religious leader in the Qadiriya Brotherhood – the only brotherhood in Senegal that allows women to rise to this level of prestige.

Nadia van de Walle (African Studies, class of ‘13)
African Studies funded a research trip I took to Accra, Ghana for January 2011 where I attended conferences and conducted interviews as I researched oil industry development and regulation. I used this research to prepare my capstone paper. Additionally, African Studies supported my travel to Tanzania in the summer of 2012 while I was interning with Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Ben Schelling (African Studies, Class of ‘14)
In January of 2013, I had the opportunity to participate in the SAIS International Development-African Studies intersession trip to South Africa. Over the course of sixteen days and forty-one meetings, our group engaged with a variety of public and private sector actors ranging from the Department of Treasury and Standard Bank, to SPII (Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute) and The Mail and Guardian to learn firsthand the developmental challenges confronting South Africa on a macro and micro level. Upon returning to Washington, each student wrote a short research paper detailing a developmental issue we encountered in South Africa and presented our findings to the SAIS community.

Phil Lovegren (African Studies, Class of ’13)
I interned at Partners Senegal, an NGO which uses citizen-inclusive process to foster reforms in civil-military relations and human security in West Africa, as well as other governance reform projects in Senegal. During my internship, I wrote proposals for a security sector reform initiative and traveled to communities to support a project to bolster fiscal decentralization. During my free time, I explored Senegal and trekked through Guinea.