The EREV Institute offers university-level courses courses throughout the year with the University of Massachusetts, Amherst through the Living Routes Program and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Our programs are unique because they reach beyond the classroom to provide tangible experience in a cross-cultural environment. Students learn both theoretical principles of appropriate development and work in international teams with community members to develop research projects.
All of our courses are offered in English.
Read about Spring 2010 Program
EREV Programs
Working previously in collaboration with Living Routes and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, EREV now works primarily with the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), but also with other universities and secondary schools to offer these and other similar programs according to the needs and interests of our partners. see UCLA program below:
- Sustainable Development in West Africa Semester Program: Providing classes since 2004, the three months combine a theoretical course in sustainable development and two applied participatory action research courses with a real development project. The project is researched, planned and created by teams of American and Senegalese students, side-by-side with the villagers themselves. It includes French, English and Wolof language classes, facilitation skills and student-led cultural exploration of global citizenship and personal identity. Click here to learn more about the semester program.
- Sustainable Microfinance 3-Week January Program: International and Senegalese students take part in an intensive course on sustainable microcredit. In partnership with the the Senegal Ecovillage Microcredit (SEM) group, the course activities vary depending on the needs of SEM. Students have traveled in teams to villages to assist community members in filling out applications for developmental loans, and researched challenges to repayment. The program increases understanding of sustainable development and ecovillage concepts, and expands the capacity to design microcredit projects that benefit the entire village. Click here to learn more about the J-term program.
Summer Program with UCLA
In collaboration with the International Education Office at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and accredited by the African Studies Department and Institute of the Environment, we offer:
- Participatory Rural Appraisal 8-Week Summer Program: Students will study sustainable technologies in alternative energy, cultural production and local empowerent, women's microfinance asocation, community health, and ecotourism by applying Participatory Rural Appraisal techniques in a rural ecovillage. The course also involves theoretical and practical instruction, coving research methods, sustainability, and critical approaches to development discourse. Click here to learn more about the summer program. Click here to learn more about the summer program.
Professor Ousmane Pame (Academic Director) with Spring 2008 Sustainable Development Semester students; Mbam Eco-village
"Looking at the various layers of my learning in this program and from doing the project, I can definitively say that I learned a lot about everything, from life in general to development."
-American student participant in Sustainable Development semester, Spring 2009