I am writing to give you a brief update on the Whole Village Project (http://wholevillage.umn.edu). I hope you find it informative and encourage you to share it with other colleagues and students.
To date, our collaborating partner in Tanzania, Savannas Forever, has collected quantitative and qualitative data from more than 40 villages. We are learning about:
· Food insecurity, nutritional variation, and access to clean water
· Schools that work and schools that fail
· Villages with strong civic engagement and those where leadership lacks transparency
· Agricultural practices and livestock loss
· Pockets of innovation and micro financing growth
· NGOs that come and go with varying reputations
· Natural resource use, wildlife conflict, climate change
· One health, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and health of children under five
· Gender based differences in education, food security and health
Faculty and Student Opportunities for Collaboration
· As a multi-disciplinary project, we are always looking for faculty partnerships across disciplines and sectors for future grant possibilities in Tanzania that partner with local universities and institutions. For faculty just beginning to work internationally, the Whole Village Project data and networks may prove a useful building block for future grants (e.g., Feed the Future, NIH, NSF, and foundations)
· We have an abundance of data available for secondary data analysis for both faculty and students
· Internationalizing the curriculum - looking for ways to integrate "global" data and experiences into your classroom? We can provide guest lectures in your class or student organization or provide sample data for case studies
· Student internships and thesis papers - we have already had multiple graduate student interns working here at the University on data cleaning, analysis and report writing; other students have volunteered time in Tanzania with Savannas Forever or collaborated with them on data collection for their own research projects
· Share with us your ideas for collaboration - as a project, we are just a little over a year old here at the university; let us hear from you and tell us how we can best work together.
We are happy to meet with individuals or groups to provide updates, brainstorm collaboration or share experiences and knowledge. Please contact me for more information and questions.
Kari Hartwig, DrPH
Program Director, Whole Village Project
Email: khartwig@umn.edu
Phone: 612-625-6268
http://wholevillage.umn.edu
The Whole Village Project, a partnership of the University of Minnesota and Savannas Forever Tanzania
