Programs by Country: Dominican Republic
SANTIAGO: CIEE – Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra
Traditional | Santiago, Dominican Republic
Study Abroad Coordinator: Colleen Boyle (c.boyle@neu.edu)
Santiago de los Caballeros, the second largest city in the Dominican Republic, is surrounded by mountains. Places of historical, cultural, and ecological interest are nearby and easy to get to, and it is just a little over an hour's drive to the Atlantic Coast. Known as La Ciudad Corazon (City of the Heart), Santiago is the commercial and cultural center of the fertile Cibao Valley region. Although it is a growing city with a population exceeding 700,000, Santiago retains many features of a small town, and Santiaguero hospitality is known far and wide.
SANTO DOMINGO: CIEE – multiple universities
Traditional | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Study Abroad Coordinator: Colleen Boyle (c.boyle@neu.edu)
Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic, is located on the southern coast of the island. It has a population of two million and is considered to be the main economic and political center of the country. The city, often called the "First City of the New World," is steeped in historical significance. There are numerous plazas and churches throughout the colonial district, which give a distinct flavor to the city. The city is divided by a river, the Rio Ozama, and is close to many beaches.
The CIEE Study Center, established in 1998, gives students the opportunity to enroll in classes at El Bono and INTEC. In addition, FLACSO offers several special courses for CIEE students, focused upon cultural, literary, artistic, political, and social aspects of the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean as a whole. This arrangement permits students to combine the specialized, more personalized "think tank" atmosphere of FLACSO with courses offered through INTEC and El Bono.
The program is suitable for advanced undergraduate students with strong language skills and a background in the social sciences or Latin American studies.
Santo Domingo: Microfinance Field Study & Research (closed)
Dialogue of Civilizations | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Faculty Leaders: Dennis Shaughnessy (d.shaughnessy@neu.edu) and Gordon Adomdza (g.admomdza@neu.edu)
Study Abroad Coordinator: Colleen Boyle (c.boyle@neu.edu)
Summer I
Courses: ENTR 3316 - Microfinance and Economic Development in Latin America & ENTR 3318 - Business, Economics, and History of Hispaniola and Latin America
Description:
The Dominican Republic Microfinance Field Study & Research Program is built on the principles of rural micro-finance, village banking and the Grameen Bank model of solidarity, specific to rural "batey" communities of the Dominican Republic. The academic portion of the program includes daily classes Monday through Friday for two-three weeks with topics of study including social entrepreneurship, micro-enterprise development, micro-finance, business solutions to ending poverty and impact measurement. Students will study at a local institution called INTEC (Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo) with local Dominican students. Classes are supplemented with site visits to social businesses throughout the country, including micro-finance networks, agricultural co-operatives and development organizations.
In the afternoon, students spend at least 3-5 hours "in the field" daily in bateye communities where Haitian refugees work on sugar plantation in the rural farm lands of La Romana and San Pedro de Marcolis. The purpose for this field exercise is to collect metrics for Esperanza International, the University’s field partner in the Dominican Republic. Esperanza is a leading microfinance organization in the island of Hispaniola and is an active Kiva field partner.
In this micro-consulting project, students design a qualitative or quantitative metric tool to assist Esperanza with measuring social impact for the organization's 18,000 active borrowers with a loan portfolio of approximately $20 million USD. Students also create a final presentation or deliverable which includes recommendations to the senior management for best practices in the field of micro-finance. Students will also be given the opportunity to visit Esperanza’s partnerships with public health clinics and programs. The fourth week of the program incorporates a week of service learning, site visits and excursions.
To watch an informational video about the Dominican Republic Field Research Program, please visit: please visit:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA3cWPbY-ZE