Mali: Health, Gender, and Community Empowerment

Please Note:

SIT Study Abroad’s Mali program will be relocated to Senegal for the spring 2013 semester, due to the current political situation in Mali.

While in Senegal, the program will utilize the longstanding networks and resources of SIT’s Senegal program, which include office facilities, lecturers, and language instructors in Dakar. The program will maintain its substantive focus on the themes of gender, health, and community empowerment.

The program will include an extended excursion to Tambacounda, a Bambara-speaking community in the east of Senegal, where students will engage in a health practicum prior to the Independent Study Project. Homestays in Senegal’s capital city, Dakar, and the environs of Tambacounda will provide contrasts in language, settlement patterns, and healthcare approaches in urban and rural settings. Coursework will include two seminars: Gender and Community Empowerment, and Healthcare and Health Policy in West Africa; French for Health and Human Sciences; Topics in Social and Health Research; and the Independent Study Project.

Please contact SIT Study Abroad Admissions at 888 272-7881 (toll-free in the US), 802 258-3212, or studyabroad@sit.edu for additional information regarding this spring 2013 relocation.

Explore the links between health, economic development, and social issues—including gender, religion, and community empowerment—in contemporary Mali.

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Learn more about studying abroad with SIT in Mali through the words of a recent student, Will Ridenour, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

This nation is seen as one of the forerunners among African nations striving to manage complex development issues, and the Malian government has consciously chosen to place high priority on gender and family matters. It does so in a country characterized by distinctive ethnic groups—including the nomadic Tuaregs, the cliff-dwelling Dogon, and the craftsmen and farmers of the Niger River—many of whom continue to practice traditional ways of life rich in art, religion, and community allegiances.

Students will learn about the link between women’s roles, family health, and improvement in development indicators. By showcasing the interconnectedness of these issues, the program provides students with an appreciation of the complexities involved in approaching health as an international development issue.

In-country resources and program partners generally include:

Congratulations to program alumna Sarah Smilkstein (Scripps College) who was awarded a $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace grant for the community education center she worked to establish in the Niamakoro neighborhood of Bamako. Read the Scripps interview in which Sarah describes her experience studying abroad in Mali with SIT.

Browse this program's Independent Study Projects/Undergraduate Research