What better way to learn global leadership than to immerse in a culture different than your own?
Students from the Master of Arts in Global Leadership program travelled to Ecuador this fall and developed skills for tackling emerging complex situations through collaboration, empathy, adaptability, community engagement and systems thinking.
This two-week International Cultural Leadership field trip was led by Dr. George Fedha, World Food Program country director for Namibia and associate faculty member, and Lisa Corak, coordinator of the MAGL program, with support in planning and academic leadership from program head, Dr. Wanda Krause.
From visiting cooperative farms to meeting local leaders and touring historical sites, experiential learning was packed into every minute of this trip.
Check out some highlights
Watching a clay mask making demonstration, a way that the Afro-Ecuadorian community of Mascarilla is reclaiming their culture. Read a blog post about Learning from Afro-Ecuadorians as an Act of Global Leadership.
Meeting with Jambu Mascari, from UNORCAR, an organization that actively works towards creating a fairer and more equitable society. Here students are touring one of the projects, a co-op that makes a nutritious non-fermented corn drink.
Visiting and touring a co-op farm that grows food and distributes seeds to feed and support local families and communities in need, another UNORCAR initiative.
Travelling down the river by canoe to the next destination near Misahualli.
Meeting Auki Tituna, an accomplished leader in Cotacachi, who is recipient of an UNESCO award for reducing illiteracy among his Indigenous communities.
Sampling and learning about locally grown coffee in Mushalakta and meeting with Humans for Abundance. This community is moving away from monoculture and transitioning back to polyculture.
Joining in on pottery making in Tiyu Yaku, a community project focused on regaining and sharing ancestral cultural knowledge.
Joining in on a string weaving workshop in Tiyu Yaku, a community project focused on regaining and sharing ancestral cultural knowledge.
Visiting an Amazon Kichwa community and participating in the festivities while learning about community development along the rivers near Misahualli.
Meeting Juan Carasco, an artist and activist who is working on keyboards to protect and revitalize the endangered Kichwa languages of the Amazon while promoting indigenous public art.
Learning about and sharing meals with Amazon communities including the Shuar and Kichwa.
Stopping on route to Chimborazo, the largest mountain in the world from earth core to top. Since the last trip four years ago, the ice appeared to be half the size it was then.
Visiting Pailon del Diablo or, The Devil’s Cauldron, a branch of the upper Amazon River Basin.
Touring a water diverter project that was built by hand by the locals to create water sustainability for the Nagsiche River Basin community.
Meeting the elders and leaders of Salinas de Bolivar who along with Father Antonio Polo, liberated the community from slavery and into thriving cooperatives in the last sixty years.
Visiting the Basilica in Quito.
Seeing the Cima de Libertad where the battle of Pinchicha took place, freeing the people of Ecuador.
Meeting Crnl. J. Sanchez, Director of Planification for University of the Armed Forces ESPE and being welcomed into their health program classes.
Learning about the food assistance programs and services of the World Food Program Ecuador, one of the field trip hosts.
Learn more about the MA in Global Leadership program or request more information.