challenges to name a few. Of all the countries where the U.S.
Agency for International Development (USAID) maintains
a large and active mission, Haiti is one of the most illustrative of the possibilities and challenges of development
assistance. As one student stated, "a beautiful island with
beautiful people deserves much more."
The class visited some of the U.S. and international assistance successes, while also highlighting less successful
projects, in order to discuss in situ how development can
and should work, and how it sometimes flounders under
local conditions.
The focus of the trip was on the intersection of USAID’s
development assistance and that of the U.S. military’s
assistance in Haiti. The students examined how two “Ds,”
defense and development, dovetail with the third D – diplomacy – by meeting with officials at the U.S. Embassy in
Port-au-Prince. "The trip brought International Development to life. It took the learning from the classroom into a
multi-dimensional opportunity to see defense, diplomacy,
and development in action" stated student Rebecca VanNess.
The ambitious itinerary, squeezing roughly three days’
worth of visits and briefings into one-and-a-half. In addition to visiting USAID projects, the students met with
representatives of local non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), visited the United Nations Stabilization Mission in
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Haiti (MINUSTAH), and participated in discussions at U.S.
Embassy Port-au-Prince. One of the many highlights of the
trip was meeting with U.S. Ambassador Peter F. Mulrean,
who discussed the complexities of working in Haiti.
"Learning that takes place in the classroom can be super
reinforced by inserting students in real world situations"
says Professor Mark White, a USAID senior Foreign Service
officer who has lived and worked in over