Thirty-seven students from the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service will travel to 19 countries this summer to complete international public service projects as part of the school’s Master of Public Service (MPS) degree program.
Students will complete projects related to international development, education, health improvement, economic development and social justice, among other causes. Partner organizations include Habitat for Humanity, Heifer International, Barefoot College, Rwanda Trading Company and Children’s Radio Foundation.
“International public service is a unique component of the Clinton School curriculum,” said Skip Rutherford, dean of the Clinton School. “These students are going to take what they’ve learned in the classroom and apply it to real-world situations on meaningful projects. We can’t wait to see the outcomes.”
Three students will be completing projects in two new countries for the Clinton School– Albania and Paraguay – which will bring the total to 71 countries where students have served since the school opened in 2005.
The international service component is one of three projects that make up about 30 percent of the MPS degree program. Students also participate in team-based work throughout Arkansas communities and a final individual project that culminates their Clinton School degree.
The international work exposes the students to unique challenges around the globe and provides immediate and long-term impact for the students and their organizational partners.
Work sites and host organizations are selected collaboratively by Clinton School students and faculty.
2014 International Public Service Projects:
Anna Applebaum – Rwandan Orphans Project (Kigali, Rwanda) – Applebaum will create an evaluation plan to serve as the foundation for the organization’s comprehensive monitoring and evaluation program.
Kent Broughton – Airforce Secondary School (Entebbe, Uganda) – Broughton will conduct a needs-assessment, focusing on Airforce Secondary School’s Information Communication Technology (ICT) initiatives. He will also develop a report providing best practices and recommendations on how to effectively enhance their current ICT initiatives.
Quiana Brown – Peacework & the Belize Ministry of Education (Belize City, Belize) – Brown will work with Peacework in conjunction with the Ministry of Education in Belize to conduct an evaluation of their “Pat the Great Cat” literacy program. This program was piloted in Belize City and will be scaled to all six districts throughout the country.
Brad Cameron – Limited Resource Teacher Training (Bwindi, Uganda) – Cameron will conduct interviews and focus groups with educators who have participated in LRTT’s video-led training pilot. Based on information provided by educators, he will identify what works, what needs improvements, and how the video-led training program has been implemented.
Matt Caston – Nuestra Escuela (San Juan, Puerto Rico) – Caston will develop a guiding framework to help Nuestra Escuela create an effective communications curriculum. The curriculum will be used to increase graduate outcomes in finding and retaining employment.
Paola Cavallari – Adiopizzo (Palermo, Italy) – Cavallari will develop a communication network between Addiopizzo and international partners, such as NGOs, philanthropies, and international media outlets. She will also provide translational assistance for the organization’s marketing and communications efforts.
Ben Croner – Central Methodist Mission & Peace Action (Johannesburg, South Africa) – Croner will develop program procedures and interview protocols to support the work of Peace Action. He will then plan and conduct a series of training workshops to help Peace Action volunteers learn the newly developed techniques.
Ruby DeSantiago – Habitat for Humanity (Asuncion, Paraguay) – DeSantiago will be traveling to Asuncion, Paraguay to work with Habitat for Humanity on developing a sustainability plan.
Matt Devlin – Barefoot College (Tilonia, India) – Devlin will implement a monitoring and evaluation pilot for the Barefoot Solar Initiative, a training program of the Barefoot College that brings solar energy to rural communities across the world. He will determine the social, health and economic impacts of the BSI for 20 partner countries.
Christian Eddings – Habitat for Humanity (Bangkok, Thailand) – Eddings will organize individuals from multiple levels of society to support “Impact Asia”, a resource development campaign. He will also provide on-site support to Habitat’s Resource Development Team during the lead-up to the campaign’s launch.
Mattea Fleischner – Rwanda Trading Company (Kigali, Rwanda) – Fleischner will design a monitoring and evaluation system for RTC’s green coffee agronomy training program. She will design a system to measure whether the trainings successfully provide farmers the knowledge needed to improve the quality and quantity of their coffee harvest.
Haylee Fletcher – Central Methodist Mission & Paballo ya Batho (Johannesburg, South Africa) – Fletcher will support and manage services for indigent homeless refugees by creating a program to manage Paballo ya Batho’s current volunteers. She will develop the programmatic activities needed to prepare volunteers to handle increased responsibilities and strengthen relations with Wits University in Johannesburg.
Dani Folks – Hope North (Bweyale, Uganda) – Folks will work with Hope North, an orphanage and school for children affected by the Ugandan civil war, to implement procedures to improve financial sustainability for the organization.
Luke Frauenthal – Albanian Institute for Public Affairs (Tirana, Albania) – Frauenthal will develop a grant writing toolkit to support the public service programs of the Albanian Institute of Public Affairs.
Elaine Frigon – Entebbe Municipal Council (Entebbe, Uganda) – Frigon will work with the Entebbe Municipal Council to evaluate implementation of the Entebbe Entrepreneurship Project, an initiative created to help Uganda reach the Millennium Development Goals. She will also create a monitoring and evaluation toolkit for the program and conduct focus groups with staff and participants.
Katy Grennier – Sarus (Phnom Penh, Cambodia) – Grennier will work with Sarus to expand its international service learning trips for university students from the Hiroshima Women’s College in Japan. This process will include curriculum enrichment and program design, as well as, implementation of the new program in August.
Caroline Head – La Chula Sin Fronteras (Tijuana, Mexico) – Head will create a women’s health curriculum and use a “train the trainers” model to develop instructors for the classes she creates.
Brenda Hernandez – Natural Doctors International (Ometepe, Nicaragua) – Hernandez will expand a women’s empowerment program in four to five communities in Ometepe, Nicaragua. By providing training for the trainers, this project will ensure the program’s sustainability in each new community where it is implemented.
Lucas Hunt – Peacework (Belize City, Belize) – Hunt will conduct an evaluation of a team of student volunteers from the University of Arkansas to measure the impact of their volunteer experience while in Belize. He will also evaluate former college volunteers to see whether their involvement with Peacework influenced further service work.
Tiffany Jacob – Children’s Radio Foundation (Cape Town, South Africa) – Jacob will provide an assessment of Children’s Radio Foundation’s capacity to execute essential communications practices. She will also provide recommendations on how to tailor CRF communication materials to its various target audiences.
Traci Johnson – Habitat for Humanity (Dhaka, Bangladesh) – Johnson will develop an advocacy program for Habitat for Humanity Bangladesh. The project will include an assessment of barriers to safe, stable and affordable housing, and identification of the steps and strategies needed to address those barriers through an advocacy program.
Julian Kelly – Legal Resources Foundation Trust (Nairobi, Kenya) – Kelly will work with Legal Resources Foundation Trust (LRFT), a legal advocacy group in Kenya, to document the ways in which civil society organizations participate in local governance. To do this, he will draft a citizen’s participation handbook to be published by LRFT.
Bolton Kirchner – Hope North (Bweyale, Uganda) – Kirchner will build a health and sanitation team and serve as the initial team leader at Hope North. This program implementation builds upon the work of previous Clinton School students and collaborates with school leaders to make Hope North a healthy and safe place for all who live there.
Andy Lovley – JUMP! Foundation (Bangkok, Thailand) – Lovley will partner with the JUMP! Foundation, an experiential education NGO, to conduct a monitoring and evaluation plan. This framework will be introduced through a series of workshops and eventually implemented by the organization to monitor program efficacy and impact.
Thato Masire – Tiger Kloof (Vryburg, South Africa) – Masire will travel to South Africa to develop a leadership curriculum for one of the nation’s most historic schools. He will work under the Office of the Rector to develop a curriculum targeted at college-bound students.
Brandon Matthews – Peacework & Can Tho University (Can Tho City, Vietnam) – Mathews will conduct a health assessment in the village of Hoa An, thereby creating a benchmark for the status of health in the village. He will collaborate with a student from Can Tho University to develop best practices and recommendations to present to village leadership, local clinics, and the Can Tho College of Rural Development.
Allison Meyer – Sarus (Phnom Penh, Cambodia) – Meyer will partner with Sarus, a nonprofit organization that fosters peace and understanding between its participants. She will develop a monitoring and evaluation plan for Sarus’ summer exchange program between Cambodian and Vietnamese students.
Hunter Mullins – PCI Media Impact (Castries, St. Lucia) – Mullins will work with PCI Media Impact to help promote nature conservancy in the Caribbean via educational and entertainment research.
Kristen Raney – Heifer International (Kathmandu, Nepal) – Raney will analyze savings and lending practices of self-help groups in Nepal. After her initial assessment, she will explore the impact of self-help groups as they relate to Heifer’s cornerstones of women’s empowerment, income and asset generation.
Tatiana Riddle – Aceh Climate Change Initiative (Banda Aceh, Indonesia) – Riddle will develop outreach materials to raise awareness of the Aceh Climate Change Initiative’s activities.
Antoinette Schicchi – Albanian Institute of Public Affairs (Tirana, Albania) – Schicchi will design a training booklet and a series of developmental workshops for the Albanian Institute of Public Affairs. Her project will help train civil servants to engage in community dialogue and increase civic participation.
Laetitia Tokplo – Central Methodist Mission & Albert Street School (Johannesburg, South Africa) – Tokplo will develop a life-skills class for the Albert Street School, an educational institution serving orphans and refugees. She will also assist with the sustainability issues that the school currently faces.
Angela Toomer – PCI Media Impact (Belize City, Belize) – Toomer will develop a marketing strategy for the My Island, My Community radio drama, a series of educational episodes that educate the community on issues of resilience to climate change and conservation of biodiversity.
Sylvia Tran – Senhoa (Siem Reap, Cambodia) – Tran will facilitate the creation of goals and objectives for Senhoa’s Afternoon Community Program. She will then develop an improved youth development curriculum that will work toward the afterschool program’s intended outcomes.
Emily Wheat – Limited Resource Teacher Training (Bwindi, Uganda) – Wheat is conducting a monitoring and evaluation report to measure the impact of Limited Resource Teacher Training’s teacher development workshops in local primary and secondary classrooms.
Tshering Yudon – Habitat for Humanity (Phnom Penh, Cambodia) – Yudon will conduct a needs assessment for a landless community facing relocation. The community currently lives along railway lines, which are being rehabilitated to spur economic development in Cambodia.
Rebecca Zimmermann – Search for Common Ground (Dili, East Timor) – Zimmermann will research ways that Search for Common Ground can provide support services to its grantee organizations.
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