The Mission

This is the second post that is not actually about my experiences, but is instead background information about the Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad program (F-H GPA).  It has taken me so long to post this because, frankly, I had know idea what the trip was really about.  I knew the sponsors, I knew I was going, and I knew I had to design a curriculum project.  Beyond that, the trip was ambiguous.  I didn't even know where in India we would be traveling.  In otherwords, it has been very difficult to answer questions about the trip.  I have grown a little older and wiser in the last two months, so now I have a little bit of knowledge about the trip.  Let me begin with information that leads to our mission.

Background of our Mission

In September 2000 at the Millennium Summit, world leaders adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration.  This document committed to a new global partnership in three major areas, human rights, peace keeping, and sustainable development.  It set a series of time bound targets with a deadline of 2015, which have become known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Goal 1:  Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Goal 2:  Achieve universal primary education

Goal 3:  Promote gender equality and empower women

Goal 4:  Reduce child mortality

Goal 5:  Improve maternal health

Goal 6:  Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

Goal 7:  Ensure environmental sustainability

Goal 8:  Develop a global partnership for development

Our Mission

As mentioned in "The Program" blog post, our trip is highly customized for a F-H GPA.  This is because we have 3 different collaborator that came together to propose the grant to Fulbright.  Therefore, our particular trip had charged each Fulbrighter to develop a project around selected Millennium Development Goals.  Our time in India will be spent on MDGs 1, 2, 3, 7, and 8.

My Mission

For anyone interested in my particular cirriculum project, I will be designing digital story-telling lessons surrounding three MDGs in particular (1, 3, and 7).  You may remember that I am an Environmental Science teacher, so it makes sense for me to focus on MGD 7, environmental sustainability.  So, why then am I working with eradicating poverty and hunger, as well as promoting gender equality and empowerment of women?  Here is brief lesson:

Hunger, poverty, and empowerment of women are essential parts of the world population issue.  If India's fertility rate reaches 2.1, then it will have achieved "replacement level."  This means that each generation replaces the previous generation, but the population as a whole is not growing.  Once population is stable, then a nation can really look at the amount of resources they use and begin to get them under control as well.  In essence, I believe population needs to be stable before environmental sustainability can happen.

Okay, so now on to your next question:  What does story-telling have to do with that? 

Background:  I am a big fan of Alan November of November Learning (he is a teacher guru for 21st century skills). He states that American students often lack global empathy, which happens to be one of the most important skills for 21st century workers.  Basically, American's are not so good at being able to see things from the prospective of non-American's.  "We" American's often think our solutions work in every part of the world, and because of that thought process setbacks have occurred in other nations (even though we set out to help with the best of intentions).  

Therefore, I will be working in India to develop opportunities for American's to be able to tell stories from an Indian perspective in a digital setting.  Stories could be things such as a day in the life of a South Indian farmer, a child living in a slum, a politician making decisions, a typical teenage woman, etc.  My hope is that cultural differences and perspectives can begin to be realized through these stories.  Once this global empathy has been reached, then I will introduce MDGs and have students brainstorm strategies that could help meet the MDGs of hunger, poverty, empowerment of women, and environmental sustainability.  In theory, the strategies that students come up with will bear in mind India's culture and practicality for India, not how America would address the MDGs.