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Multi-institutional and Multi-country Partnership Will Lead to Improved Environmental Practices and Preservation of Vital Natural Resources
WASHINGTON, DC (December 15, 2009) – The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Higher Education for Development (HED) have awarded a three-year grant to the College of Law at Georgia State University for a partnership with faculties of law at the Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; the Universidad Rafael Landívar (URL) in Guatemala City, Guatemala; and the Universidad Paulo Freire (UPL) in Managua, Nicaragua.
The multi-country and multi-institution partnership will focus on strengthening the teaching and implementation of environmental law in Guatemala, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Partners will collaborate to develop and implement comprehensive environmental law workshops and an environmental law diplomado (certificate program). The inter-disciplinary environmental law diplomado includes clinical and internship/externship features that can be implemented regionally.
“The winning application reflected a high level of inclusiveness and collaboration with a broad range of groups in Central America. This is a key ingredient of successful HED partnerships and will be especially critical for this one because it will encompass higher education institutions in four countries: the United States, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Nicaragua,” noted HED Deputy Executive Director Jeanne-Marie Duval. “We expect that environmental law practitioners and practices will be greatly enhanced, allowing for the increased preservation of land and vital natural resources in these countries.”
For more than 10 years USAID and Higher Education for Development have focused on linking higher education institutions to one another to ensure a true exchange of information and relationship-building that leads to successful and sustainable global development.
HED, funded by a cooperative agreement with USAID, was founded by six presidential U.S. higher education associations to engage U.S. colleges and universities in international development. Those associations are the American Council on Education, the American Association of Community Colleges, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the Association of American Universities, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. For more information about HED, visit www.HEDprogram.org.
The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years. For more information on USAID, visit www.USAID.gov.