Connections — Spring 2009
Letter from the Director
Looking Back...
Paul Collier Lecture Inaugurates Ford Program
The Kellogg Institute formally inaugurated the Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity on September 25, 2008, with a lecture by Paul Collier, one of the world’s leading experts on African economies and the challenges of international development.
Professor of economics and director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford University and former director of development research at the World Bank, Collier is the author of The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It (Oxford University Press, 2007).
Kellogg Interim Director Ted Beatty reminded the standing-room-only crowd of more than 160 that, at the Institute’s inception 25 years ago, it had been charged by Fr. Ted Hesburgh, CSC, “to seek to understand critical problems facing humanity”—exactly the focus of the Ford Program. Fr. Ted was in attendance for the festivities, along with members of the family of Doug and Kathy Ford, the new program’s benefactors.
The Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity, Collier said, “offers an alliance between philanthropy and youth, and that is the alliance that is going to change the world.” The fight against extreme poverty “is not fundamentally our struggle,” he continued. “It’s the struggle by the people in the societies of these countries....our role—a modest one—is to help.” He suggested a Marshall Plan–like model of assistance to include aid, trade, security, and governance, underlining the value of smart policy choices by the US and other nations.
“Values matter!” Collier concluded, pointing out that values are a cutting-edge focus for research in modern economics. “There is a potential marriage between the frontier techniques of social science and the core ethical values that you stand for. Let me not just celebrate your new program but suggest that you have a ready-made subject that matters enormously for Africa.”
At a dinner following the lecture, University Provost Thomas Burish paid tribute to the Ford family’s generosity in endowing the program, and a short video showcased student work in Uganda, where the Ford Program is partnering with local communities to promote human development.
Ford Program Director and Kellogg Faculty Fellow Rev. Robert Dowd, CSC, summed up the celebration’s theme when he said, “Since Notre Dame’s founding, its faculty and students have devoted themselves to making a positive difference in the world through their teaching, research, and service. Now, thanks to the international partnerships being forged through the Ford Program, Notre Dame is poised to make an even greater contribution to human well-being.”
Bringing Uganda Martyrs University to Notre Dame
The partnership between Uganda Martyrs University (UMU) and Notre Dame was strengthened when Dr. Charles Olweny, UMU’s vice chancellor, David Nnyanzi, UMU and Notre Dame’s assistant director for research and outreach, and two UMU undergraduate students visited campus in November 2008.
During his visit, Olweny met with a diverse group of faculty and administrators, including past and current University presidents Rev. Ted Hesburgh, CSC, Rev. Edward Malloy, CSC, and Rev. John Jenkins, CSC. In consultation with the leadership of Notre Dame’s Office of Information Technology and Purdue University’s Discovery Park, Dr. Olweny explored ways to expand UMU’s access to information by improving Internet capacity. The group also discussed ways to introduce appropriate information technology into the rural communities surrounding UMU’s campus, including Nnindye, the Ford Program’s first partner village.
Dr. Olweny also met with science faculty from Notre Dame and Indiana University School of Medicine, South Bend, to discuss a possible medical student exchange program and new research initiatives. Additionally, Executive Director of the Notre Dame Alumni Association Chuck Lennon shared his insights on the functioning of an effective alumni association. Dr. Olweny is keen to organize UMU’s alumni so they can more effectively contribute to the young university’s growth.
Two undergraduate students in their final year of studies, Teddy Etoru and Ivan Nyombi, represented UMU as presenters in the Ford-sponsored human development conference, “Innovation in the Service of Human Dignity.” Etoru and Nyombi had performed collaborative field research with Sean Hoskins (ND ’09) and Michelle Byrne (ND ’09) in Nnindye, Uganda, during summer of 2008. All four students gave impressive presentations on improving agricultural practices and water access and quality. David Nnyanzi moderated the panel.
In addition to making vital connections between Notre Dame and UMU, the group experienced a football Saturday on Notre Dame’s campus, Mass at the Basilica and a visit to the Grotto.
Etoru recently shared some impressions from her visit with Ford Program staff:
In the first place I would like to thank the University of Notre Dame and Uganda Martyrs University for providing me the opportunity to gain exposure to the outside world. I also offer my sincere thanks to the Ford family for supporting this program, which gives opportunity to students from various places to share ideas and experiences across many fields.
Being the first of its kind I was so excited about the trip and the fact that I was going to meet my friends again, meet other people, and participate in the development conference. What surprised me was the care and spirit of togetherness shown to us by students of Notre Dame. From the few places I have visited I have never seen a very clean and modern city like what I saw in South Bend and Chicago.
During the trip, I learned so many things, especially during the presentations by different students. Interacting with professors in foreign classrooms was something I will not soon forget. All in all, I thank the organizers for making me have this experience in life. It made a difference in my life that I will always remember and tell others.
Undergraduate Research Conference Draws a Crowd
Judging by the numbers, Ford’s first annual undergraduate research conference, “Innovation in the Service of Human Dignity,” held Nov. 7 and 8, 2008, was a success even before it started: registration had to be closed three days beforehand when it exceeded 250.
With 58 students from 34 colleges presenting original research performed in 25 countries spanning 5 continents, participants were able to explore development successes and challenges across many disciplines and from many perspectives. Clearly, student attendees were eager to hear about their peers’ research and work in the field.
Presentations were divided between 13 panels, each focusing on a major theme in human development studies. Topics included public health, gender, religion, governance and public policy, education, post-conflict reconstruction, the environment, culture, and economics.
According to student organizer Michael Roscitt ’09, “conference presenters succeeded in connecting these topics to the conference’s overarching themes: that all human development efforts should respect and reflect the inherent dignity of each and every person, and that overcoming poverty’s toughest challenges requires innovation by policymakers, academicians, practitioners, and activists.”
Peter McPherson, the president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), a consortium of 218 institutions enrolling 4.7 million students, gave the keynote address. The founding co-chair of the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa, McPherson challenged students to appreciate the complexities of macroeconomic conditions that lead to and perpetuate poverty.
Faculty discussants for conference panels included Amitava Dutt, a Kellogg faculty fellow and professor of economics and policy studies, and Eileen Hunt Botting, the Thomas J. and Robert T. Rolfs Associate Professor of Political Science and director of the University’s Gender Studies Program. Representatives of the Africa Faith and Justice Network, a Catholic educational and advocacy NGO based in Washington, DC, spoke on the relationship between advocacy and development work. Five program directors from the School for International Training (SIT) Study Abroad, which cosponsored the event, also served as panel discussants.
The conference was also cosponsored by Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns. What stands out above all after the conference was the enthusiastic involvement of the students who presented papers and took part in discussion. The future of development looked bright as the next generation of practitioners and researchers proved they are off to an impressive start.
The Ford Program, SIT Study Abroad, and the Center for Social Concerns are teaming up again February 26-27, 2010, to sponsor the next annual student research conference be held once again at the Hesburgh Center for International Studies on Notre Dame’s campus. The call for proposals will be distributed in August 2009 and abstracts will be due in October 2009. Conference organizers are hoping for an even bigger and better event next year. Please contact Tony Pohlen at apohlen@nd.edu for more information.
Notre Dame Alumni Visit the Ford Program in Uganda
Former Indiana governor and South Bend mayor Joe Kernan (ND ’68) and his wife Maggie Kernan visited Uganda with the Ford Program in the fall while Joe Loughrey (ND ’71) and his nephew Galen Loughrey (ND ’05) joined Robert Reilly (ND ’79) and his wife Lindy Reilly (ND ’79) for a weeklong trip in the spring.
Former Indiana governor and South Bend mayor Joe Kernan (ND ’68) and his wife Maggie Kernan visited Uganda in October 2008 with Rev. Robert Dowd, CSC, director of the Ford Program, and Tony Pohlen, assistant director of the Ford Program. As they travelled through Uganda, the Kernans met with representatives of the Ford Program’s institutional partners, interacted with priests and brothers from the East Africa District of the Congregation of Holy Cross, and spent a day with community members in Nnindye.
The goal of the trip was to allow the Kernans to observe the Ford Program’s ongoing work with local communities in Uganda and experience firsthand both the beautiful spirit of our local partners and the very real challenges they face in their day-to-day lives. Back in Indiana, the Kernans are connecting other Notre Dame alumni and friends with the Ford Program and helping to develop creative ways interested alumni might contribute to its mission in the future. The Kernans have been involved with the work of the Ford Program since 2007.
In March, Joe Loughrey (ND ‘74) and his nephew Galen Loughrey (ND ’05) joined Robert Reilly (ND ’79) and Lindy Reilly (ND ’79), as well as Ford Program staff, on a weeklong trip to Uganda. The group visited the Millennium Villages project (MVp) in southwestern Uganda to observe the great strides the community of Ruhiira has made since the project’s inception in 2006; met with faculty and administration at Uganda Martyrs University; and visited a health clinic, a primary school, an unprotected water source, and several small farms in Nnindye.
Group members noted that the community-driven development initiatives of the MVp in Ruhiira could transfer very well to Nnindye. Impressed by their interaction with local leaders and residents in Nnindye, the alumni group expressed high hopes for the Ford-UMU community engagement efforts, which are to begin this summer.
Joe Loughrey is a member of the Notre Dame College of Arts and Letter Advisory Council. Bob Reilly is the inaugural chairperson of the Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business John Cardinal O’Hara Society as well as a member of the Mendoza College of Business Advisory Council. Lindy Reilly is a member of the Kellogg Institute Advisory Board. The Loughrey and Reilly families have been tremendously supportive of Ford Program initiatives in a variety of ways since 2007.
Visiting the Millennium Villages Project and the AMPATH Project
Lacey Haussamen represented the Ford Program during recent visits to Millennium Villages project (MVp) sites in Uganda and Kenya, as well as to the Kenya headquarters of Indiana University’s Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) project.
In April, Haussamen, a staff member of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives who is working closely with the Ford Program on education and health issues in Uganda, joined a trip to MVp sites in Ruhiira, Uganda, and Sauri, Kenya. The trip was organized by Millennium Promise, which coordinates the operations and funding of the MVp and works closely with the United Nations Development Programme and Columbia’s Earth Institute to oversee MVp implementation.
Haussamen was impressed with the project participants she met in Ruhiira and Sauri, who have created and sustained innovative solutions to common yet debilitating impediments to health, education, enterprise, and agricultural productivity. During the visit, Haussamen and MVp Ruhiira cluster manager John Okorio discussed ways Ford’s community engagement in Nnindye might reflect MVp best practices and lessons learned during the previous three years.
In May, Haussamen travelled to Eldoret, Kenya, to visit a unique program that arose out of a successful partnership between Indiana University and Moi University. Started in 2000, AMPATH (Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare) treats over 70,000 HIV/AIDS positive patients in twenty urban and rural locations in Kenya. Additionally, the project screens and tests thousands for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, facilitates food and income security programs, and reaches out to vulnerable orphans and children by providing school fees, food, and clothing for thousands of at-risk young people. Haussamen accompanied a project doctor conducting rounds in the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, visited an AMPATH rural clinic, and observed the project’s Family Preservation Initiative firsthand.
The IU-Kenya partnership started in 1989 with the goal of developing leaders in health care in both Kenya and Indiana. Haussamen’s visit followed initial conversations between Rev. Robert Dowd, CSC, director of the Ford Program, and leadership of the Indiana University School of Medicine regarding ways Notre Dame and Indiana might collaborate in the future on initiatives that address issues stemming from extreme poverty in East Africa, especially in the area of health.
Notre Dame Students Keen to Discuss Development
This spring, the Ford Program sponsored a series of four academic events, entitled “Discussions on Development,” which addressed pressing topics related to international human development. Drawing crowds of up to 100 participants, the events reflect the high level of interest and enthusiasm for development-related issues among students, faculty, and South Bend community members.
The Ford Program’s goal in organizing this series was to spark more discourse than sometimes allowed by the format of more traditional academic lectures. Several Notre Dame faculty members began each discussion by introducing the topic and linking their knowledge and experience to development or situations of extreme poverty. The final 45 minutes of each evening’s event were reserved for dialogue between and among speakers and participants. (To view videos of the events, click on the hyperlinked discussion titles below.)
The first discussion, entitled “The Meaning and Measure of Development,” featured Amitava Dutt, professor of economics and policy studies, and Carolyn Nordstrom, professor of anthropology. Dutt and Nordstrom addressed the complex and culturally charged questions that surround development’s definition and attempts to quantify and qualify progress towards development. The combination of economic principles and anecdotal tales from field experiences made this lecture an ideal starting point, with Dutt and Nordstrom providing a solid foundation to help frame subsequent discussions in the series.
Liz Lefebvre of The Observer wrote, “While presenting different ways that economists attempt to quantify development, each style had its own pros and cons. Dutt said there is ‘no single indicator’ that signifies a ‘best’ way to achieve development. ‘Our choices may depend on what we are trying to do for what purpose,’ he said. ‘There is nothing fixed about development, as meanings and environments can change.’ Nordstrom said development is a ‘dangerous term’ because it is such a difficult concept. ‘It seems simple, but it becomes slippery the more you look at it,’ she said. ‘If we can't have a single meaning of development, then at least we can try to shed light on why it is a difficult term.’”
The second instalment in the series tackled another complex and often vexing interaction: the effect that religious beliefs and practice have on development and vice versa. Rev. Paul Kollman, CSC, assistant professor of theology, joined R. Scott Appleby, the director of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and a professor of history, in analyzing the interplay between religious beliefs and cultures and human development successes and failures. Faculty participants expanded on the themes tackled during the first discussions as Appleby stated that "development is a far broader and richer category than mere economic and material progress, a cultural and spiritual dimension must be a basis for informing decisions about development."
Mary Ann McDowell, associate professor of biological sciences, and Steve Silliman, professor of civil engineering and geological sciences, shared their research experiences during “Science, Technology, and Development,” the series’ third event. McDowell’s work on the immunobiology of infectious diseases has brought her to field sites in the Middle East and northern Africa while Silliman’s work in groundwater hydrology has led him to spend the past ten years working in Benin. Both stressed the value of endeavouring to understand the local cultural context at research field sites, whether collecting data or introducing new technology into the local community.
McDowell and Silliman also emphasized the importance of fully disclosing the nature of the research to the community. This is especially key, they noted, when research projects are designed with long-term objectives and results may not produce a tangible improvement in the lives of the community where the research is being conducted. Said McDowell. “Up front we tell them that there is no immediate benefit for them. In my case, I am simply drawing blood.” “You have to accept that you can't always get a solution," Silliman elaborated. "It is difficult to walk into a village and know a solution won't be found in twelve months, but we want to put more money into a solution that will make a larger impact."
The final chapter of the “Discussions on Development” series brought together a development economist, an expert in international finance and trade, and a scholar of democracy, political culture, and religion in Africa. Amitava Dutt, back by popular demand, was joined by Jeff Bergstrand, professor of finance, and Rev. Robert Dowd, CSC, assistant professor of political science and the director of the Ford Program, to address, “The Cost of the Crisis: The Outlook for International Development.” The faculty offered initial thoughts and then facilitated a spirited debate during a question and answer session that lasted nearly an hour.
Bergstrand offered this insight, “Development itself, even when things are good, is very difficult...in situations such as this, the developing world often pays a big price. As our economy slows down, we slow down and import less. This begins the transmission that hurts development abroad.”
Dowd talked about the possible impact of the crisis on politics in the global south and how important it is that the world’s wealthiest countries stay constructively engaged with the developing world. He suggested that, left to run its course in the world’s poorest countries, the crisis threatens to result in stalled democratic transitions, the breakdown of democracy, and, worst still, the complete collapse of order. "During times of economic downturns,” he said, “it is tempting for those of us in the wealthiest and most democratic parts of the world to turn inward and ignore the plight of those in the poorest and least democratic parts of the world. While this is understandable, history has taught us that this is neither (morally) right nor smart.”
Happening Now...
Developing Partnerships
In collaboration with Uganda Martyrs University (UMU), the Ford Program is building an exciting partnership with Purdue University focused on research and community engagement in Uganda.
In collaboration with Uganda Martyrs University (UMU), the Ford Program is building an exciting partnership with Purdue University focused on research and community engagement in Uganda.
Involved in the effort are Professor of Agricultural Economics Jess Lowenberg-DeBoer and Professor of Chemical Engineering Joseph Pekny. Lowenberg-DeBoer, associate dean of the Purdue School of Agriculture, also directs Purdue’s International Programs in Agriculture (IPIA), which facilitates collaborative research and agricultural extension projects with colleagues in 50 countries, many in Africa. Pekny is the director of the e-Enterprise Center, one of 11 leading research centers that make up Purdue’s cutting-edge interdisciplinary research effort, Discovery Park. In July 2008, the two visited UMU and spent three days assessing agriculture and infrastructure in Ford’s partner village of Nnindye.
Since their exploratory trip, Lowenberg-DeBoer and Pekny have brought together more than 15 Purdue faculty members from multiple disciplines who are interested in developing research and community engagement projects in Uganda. Three of these faculty members will travel to Uganda in June 2009 to further explore partnership possibilities in agriculture, women’s studies, and library and information sciences.
Dr. Charles Olweny, vice chancellor of Uganda Martyrs University, recently participated in planning meetings at both Notre Dame and Purdue during a seven-day trip to the Midwest. His presence served to deepen institutional ties with both universities and helped the group move forward several projects to build capacity at UMU. One will boost Internet bandwidth to create a virtual development “bridge” between universities. Another will explore reorganizing the UMU farm so that it can profitably support the university as well as serve as a demonstration farm for the surrounding community.
In October 2008 and April 2009, Maureen Powers, Vice President and Dean of SIT Study Abroad, visited Notre Dame to explore possible collaboration. SIT, a pioneer of experiential field-based study abroad, and the Ford Program are joining forces in a long-term partnership to promote undergraduate research that examines critical development challenges. As they did in November, Ford and SIT will jointly sponsor a student research conference each year, to be held at Notre Dame and feature students and faculty from both institutions. Next year’s conference will be held at Notre Dame February 26-27, 2010.
SIT Study Abroad provides academically rich programs in nearly 50 countries for more than 2,000 undergraduates from over 200 colleges and universities each year. It is an initiative of World Learning, which also encompasses the Experiment in International Living and the SIT Graduate Institute, formerly known as the School for International Training.
The Ford Program is also developing a partnership with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Uganda. Catholic Relief Services was founded in 1943 by the Catholic Bishops of the United States and reaches more than 80 million people in more than 100 countries on five continents. Their mission is to assist impoverished and disadvantaged people overseas, working in the spirit of Catholic Social Teaching to promote the sacredness of human life and the dignity of the human person. More than 100 CRS staff members work in Uganda on projects spanning HIV and AIDS, agriculture, microfinance, water and sanitation, partnership and global solidarity, and emergency preparedness and recovery.
Jack Norman, CRS Uganda country director, recently visited UMU with some of his staff to observe firsthand the areas where the Ford Program and UMU are working. Norman is excited to explore potential ways to partner in community development work as well as in teaching and research at Notre Dame and UMU. This is a natural partnership given the longstanding relationship between CRS and Notre Dame and a shared focus on working with local communities to help people fully realize their full potential.
Ford in the Field: Community Engagement Update
After spending two years building invaluable relationships with individuals and organizations in Uganda and learning about the challenges faced by those living in Nnindye, its partner village, the Ford Program is poised to invest in community-driven development projects in Uganda.
The Ford Program and Uganda Martyrs University (UMU) have established a partnership with the residents of Nnindye parish, which is located 15 km from UMU’s campus in Uganda’s Mpigi District. Nnindye is a rural community of 6,000 people, most of whom derive their livelihood from subsistence farming. The community faces significant challenges to development in such areas as health, education and vocational training, agricultural productivity and market access, small-business enterprise and credit access, and critical water and sanitation infrastructure.
The Ford Program and UMU are working with the people of Nnindye, as well as other local, national, and international partners to stimulate positive change in response to these challenges through sustainable development practice.
During the past several months, a Ugandan consulting firm performed a baseline assessment in Nnindye and then analyzed its results. The assessment comprised a general household survey, focus group discussions, and individual interviews with local leaders and other key stakeholders. Taken together, the assessment addressed all key areas that the Ford Program hopes to address through its community engagement. Combined with the findings of student research projects and NGO assessments previously conducted in Nnindye, the baseline assessment results provide the people of Nnindye and other stakeholders with a comprehensive picture of the community’s strengths, needs, and priorities.
David Nnyanzi, assistant director of research and community engagement for the Ford Program, is working with UMU community organizers, and local leaders, and government officials to present assessment results to community members in Nnindye. The people of Nnindye have dedicated a significant amount of time to participating in survey exercises; sharing the results with them is a critical next step in Ford’s community engagement strategy.
It is important that all stakeholders have an accurate picture of the needs and priorities in Nnindye prior to investing time and money in development projects. Fact finding in Nnindye will not be complete until community members have the chance to consider and discuss the results of our baseline assessment. This information will aid the community as they endeavour to identify, through a mobilization and action planning process led by local leaders, progressive goals in each of the critical sectors: education, health, livelihood, and infrastructure.
The Ford Program and UMU project leadership will advise local leaders as they work with their constituents to develop projects to achieve their goals. These community projects, or “investments,” will be cooperatively planned and implemented and will involve a sharing of costs between stakeholders. The Ford Program, and to a lesser extent UMU, will fund the majority of short- and medium-term costs of each project.
Over time, invigorated and empowered citizens will work with local government to build on the initial Notre Dame/UMU investments, sustaining progress and initiating further community development.
This planning process is a critical step in the community engagement process if the community is to realize its goals. Look for updates from Nnindye in the next newsletter.
Getting to Know David Nnyanzi
When the Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity was looking for its first staff person to be based in Uganda it is unlikely that anyone on the search committee imagined they would find the match they have in David Nnyanzi.
Raised not far from the program’s Nnindye field site, he has a deep familiarity with the development issues facing local villagers. His doctoral studies in sociology at Boston College makes him uniquely situated to lead a research effort bringing together students and faculty from the University of Notre Dame and Uganda Martyrs University (UMU), Ford’s partner institution in Uganda, where he is a lecturer in the Institute of Ethics and Development. During his recent visit to Notre Dame, Nnyanzi talked about Ford Program efforts in Uganda and his globe-spanning journey to the position he started in April 2008.
What does being assistant director for research and community engagement for the Ford Program entail?
DN—The Ford Program has two major levels of engagement. One is to engage students—at both Notre Dame and Uganda Martyrs—in human development by doing research. We’d also like to encourage faculty members in both institutions to get involved, to work side by side with the students and provide mentoring. Part of my job is to talk with the students at UMU and Notre Dame to let them know this is something they can do to make a difference.
Practical application is a major focus of the research that students do and that we’re encouraging faculty to get engaged in. What we are trying to do is to translate the results of those research projects into real outcomes for people in our partner parish of Nnindye. The other part of my job is mobilizing the people, letting them know, “You have friends that are coming to work with you to develop your households—and so take part, don’t sleep!”
Any research outcomes yet?
DN—The research is just getting started. We are running a baseline assessment survey in Nnindye to identify and prioritize needs, which we think will focus student and faculty research. We would like to work with the people and do research that strikes exactly at their needs.
We do know there are needs in terms of providing clean water and agricultural education. This is a mostly subsistence area so people grow the majority of food they eat. A little bit they sell to purchase goods such as salt, paraffin, and healthcare.
Uganda Martyrs University has been involved in the sub-county for several years, doing research and outreach projects. The Ford Program is concentrating its work in a smaller area, so as to better be able to measure impact.
We are talking about a much more focused faculty research engagement, including opportunities for joint research between faculty at Notre Dame and at Uganda Martyrs.
Tell me more about Uganda Martyrs University and its relationship with the Ford Program.
DN—UMU is a young university, about 15 years old. The Institute of Ethics and Development Studies, which the Ford Program is connected with, has an undergraduate degree and a distance learning master’s degree where most of the students are development professionals already working for internationally funded NGOs.
The understanding of the new vice chancellor of UMU is that the university cannot be strong unless it is working in collaboration with other institutions of higher learning. The Ford Program is a gateway for UMU to connect with the University of Notre Dame. Both institutions and the people in these institutions stand to gain.
At Notre Dame, Fr. Bob Dowd, the Ford Program director, and the Ford staff are talking with faculty members in different departments—this program cuts across all disciplines—and have done a very good job of getting many of them to Uganda. When they return, they take ideas back to their departments. There is a lot of interest, which is very, very energizing for us. It’s even more overwhelming how many students say, “I really want to come and do research in Uganda.”
How did you come to study in the US?
DN—I studied in a seminary high school and then went to a Jesuit college. After college, they gave me a scholarship to finish my theology studies in Detroit. I studied there for a short time in 1999 but I didn’t think I was called to be a priest. I flew back to Uganda and returned the scholarship. Then I came back to the US on my own and went to Boston College, which my bishop recommended. I received Jesuit scholarships to attend and a Jesuit priest in Boston paid my health insurance.
I wanted to become a social scientist so I did a master’s degree in sociology. When I got to the doctoral program, a good advisor told me to look into my life and see what I could pick out that would be of meaning to me. I decided to specialize in the sociology of health and illness.
What drove me to this was mostly the experience I had in 1997, after my undergraduate degree, when I was working to help build self-reliance among young people in a rural district near Kampala.
On my way to meetings in the field, I would often find somebody being carried on a stretcher 15 or 20 miles to the dispensary, either because they had been bitten by a snake or because a pregnant woman trying to give birth locally needed medical help. Because there were no phones, I couldn’t call to tell people I would not be at the meeting. I’d just turn my motorcycle and take the patient to the dispensary, the family following on foot.
I kept interacting with things that were making people sick and die at ages they shouldn’t die. I became interested in the social context in which people live their lives: to what extent does social context decide whether somebody will get sick or somebody else remain healthy?
My dissertation looked at how large-scale structural factors, such as poverty, interacted with individual behavioral factors to cause high rates of HIV infection in Uganda. Such an approach can shed light on strategies for more effective intervention in Uganda and elsewhere in the developing world.
Why did you decide to go back to Uganda after you got your degree?
DN—Right from the beginning I had wanted to go back to Africa. My advisors reinforced this. In her recommendation letters my advisor Jeanne Guillemin would write things like, “Helping David to study is part of the best aid we can give to Africa because this is a social scientist for Africa.”
When the opportunity came to go back to Uganda, I just jumped on it. Doing my part this time is paying my dues to the country that loved me and raised me.
Looking Ahead...
Notre Dame and Purdue Faculty to Visit Uganda
For one week this June, nine members of Notre Dame and Purdue University’s faculty and administration will visit Uganda to observe Ford Program activities, meet with academic and institutional partners, and think critically and creatively about ways to expand the role of research in our community projects.
This trip will be a valuable opportunity for faculty members to think creatively about ways they might incorporate their research interests into ongoing collaborative projects being organized by Notre Dame, Purdue, and Uganda Martyrs University (UMU). Faculty from Notre Dame and Purdue will meet with faculty with similar teaching and research interests from UMU and Makerere University, the major state university of Uganda. Additionally, the group will visit the Millennium Villages project in Ruhiira and meet with its leadership, primary researchers, and participating residents.
Participants from the University of Notre Dame:
- Ted Beatty: Interim Director, Kellogg Institute for International Studies; Associate Professor, History
- Jill Bodensteiner: Associate Vice President and Senior Counsel
- Neil Lobo: Research Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
- Mary Ann McDowell: Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
- John McGreevy: I. A. O'Shaughnessy Dean, College of Arts and Letters; Professor, Department of History
- Carolyn Nordstrom: Professor, Department of Anthropology
Participants from Purdue University
- Alicia Decker: Assistant Professor, History and Women’s Studies
- Stephen Hawkins: Assistant Director, Purdue Agricultural Centers
- Megan Sapp Nelson: Assistant Professor, Department of Library Sciences
Rahul Oka Joins the Ford Program
This fall, as a result of collaboration between the Ford Program, the Kellogg Institute, the Department of Anthropology, and the Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, Rahul Oka will join the Notre Dame faculty as an assistant professor of anthropology.
Rev. Robert Dowd, CSC, director of the Ford Program, expressed excitement at Rahul’s Oka joining the faculty: “Rahul will significantly boost the Ford Program’s efforts to enhance and expand Notre Dame’s curriculum in the area of international development studies. His extensive field experience will be helpful when mentoring students interested in conducting development-related research.”
An economic anthropologist, Oka’s research interests include the anthropology of urbanism, social network analysis, and the development of complex socioeconomic systems, among others. He focuses on the relationship between trade, urbanism and political infrastructures. Having conducted archaeological excavations in port cities in India and Kenya, archaeometric research on trade in the Indian Ocean region, and ethnohistoric and ethnographic research on trading communities in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America, Oka’s research experience aligns closely with the mission of the Ford Program.
Presently, he is conducting two ethnographic research projects that investigate wartime commerce in northwestern Kenya and southern Sudan, and the effect of globalization on traditional businesses in South Asia. He also continues his ethnographic and archaeological research on the relationship between trade, urbanism, and politics, specifically focusing on the institutionalization of poverty and inequality in past and contemporary societies of South Asia and East Africa.
Duncan Green Returns to Notre Dame to Teach
For two weeks in September 2009, the Ford Program will host Duncan Green when he visits Notre Dame to teach a special short course based on his recent, acclaimed book From Poverty to Power: How Active Citizens and Effective States can Change the World.
From the course’s syllabus:
Ending the scourges of extreme poverty, inequality, and threatened environmental collapse is the greatest global challenge of the twenty-first century. One in six of the world’s people lead lives blighted by poverty, hunger, disease, and anxiety over what tomorrow may bring.
This course sets out a vision of women and men in communities everywhere who are equipped with education, enjoy good health, have rights, dignity, and voice—and are in charge of their own destinies. The course will challenge students to rethink the roles of a wide array of individual and institutional actors at multiple levels of society. It will explore how each has acted and could be acting in addressing issues of extreme poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation.
Green will begin by laying out an analytical framework for how change happens. He will then move through the topics covered in his book:
- NGOs and Advocacy
- How Change Happens
- Power and Politics
- Poverty and Wealth
- Risk and Vulnerability
- The International System
- The Global Economic Crisis
- Causes and Implications
- Climate Change.
Green is the head of research at Oxfam Great Britain, an NGO dedicated to helping people lift themselves out of poverty. He first visited Notre Dame in November 2008 to deliver a lecture for the Ford Program based on his book as part of his book tour, which included stops at Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, and Stanford.
Thank you and best wishes to Tim Lyden!!
Assistant director of the Ford Program moves on after three years of dedicated service to the University of Notre Dame.
Timothy Lyden, assistant director of the Ford Program, is moving on to other endeavors after three years of incredibly dedicated work, first to the Notre Dame Millennium Development Initiative and then to the Ford Program, which he has been instrumental in founding and developing. “It is impossible to explain the progress of the Ford Program without reference to Tim’s keen intellect, warm and friendly personality, and devotion to serving others,” says Rev. Robert Dowd, CSC, the program’s director.
Whether in rural Uganda or on campus, Tim has represented Notre Dame, the Kellogg Institute, and the Ford Program with professionalism, warmth, and an extreme attention to detail. Please join Fr. Bob, and the staff of the Ford Program and the Kellogg Institute, in wishing Tim well as he enrolls this fall at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, in the Master of Public Policy program.
Tim, you will always have a home with the Ford Program, and we will all watch your career with great anticipation of soaring accomplishments. Thanks for all you did to share your talents with the Ford Program and to contribute to Notre Dame’s mission as a place where “learning becomes service to justice.” We will miss you!
