WATER in Benin Field School in Porto-Novo, Benin
Summer 2012: July 1 to August 9 (tentative dates)
Program Location
 The Songhai Center is a United Nations Center of Excellence for sustainable development in Africa. The Songhai Center has a small health clinic and has specifically asked University partners to assist them in designing and facilitating a new state of the art working health clinic on their campus in Porto-Novo, Benin. This clinic will be used as a model throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Songhai staff have extensive experience working with appropriate technologies and they have resources for fabrication and communication with the project team members.
Benin is a small underdeveloped country in West Africa. The people of Benin are kind and beautiful, although they lack access to basic services such as education, health care and water. We will work with the Songhai Center and other NGOs in Benin to help improve access to these services. We will also travel to see the lasting influence of colonialism and the slave trade upon west Africa and UN Heritage sites located throughout the country.
Academic Program
The W.A.T.E.R. (Water for Africa, Technology, Education and Reciprocity) program is a partnership in education, health, engineering, and sustainable development between James Madison University, Gonzaga University, the Songhai Center for Sustainable Development and Centre Afrika Obota.
Each year the project partners work together, providing training, resources, and appropriate technology that together improve access to clean water, education, and knowledge about the importance of clean water to human health.
Instructional methods include lectures, guided tours, field work, and journal assignment and/or papers.
Tentative course offerings:
ENGR 369--WATER (4)
ENGR 280--Projects in Engineering - Internship (2)
ENGR 472--Biological Treatment Processes (3)
HHS 490--Special Topics in HHS (3)
Accommodations
Students will reside in residence halls. Group meals will be provided.
Program Costs
For the current projected costs for this program, please click on the following link to the Fees for JMU Study Abroad Programs page.
Application
For more detailed instructions and to download the application, please click on the following link to the Applications and Forms section for JMU Short-Term Programs.
Interested students should submit an essay explaining their interest in participating in this program.
For More Information
For additional information about the WATER program in Benin, please visit this web site and contact the program directors:
Bradley Striebig
Associate Professor
School of Engineering
E-mail: striebba@jmu.edu
Tel: 540-568-8895
Adebayo Ogundipe
Assistant Professor
School of Engineering
E-mail: ogundiaa@jmu.edu
Tel: 540-568-4964
Emily Akerson
Associate Director
Institute for Innovations in Health and Human Services
E-mail: akersoek@jmu.edu
Tel:
540-568-6120
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