Programs by Country: Dominican Republic + Dialogue of Civilizations
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