The IGL Empowers Social Entrepreneurship Research and Internships at Tufts University

IGL News | Posted Apr 28, 2009

NEXUS | The IGL Newsletter | Spring 2009

By Piyali Kundu, A’10

The Empower Program for Social Entrepreneurship of the Institute for Global Leadership was launched last year and has significantly developed its program offerings this academic year.

This April, we selected an outstanding group of students to support in their summer internships and research endeavors related to microfinance, international development and social entrepreneurship. Our first Empower Class of 2009 consists of 27 undergraduates and graduate students from a variety of majors and fields of study. The program is facilitating internships for four groups of undergraduates to work with the social entrepreneurs in The Schwab Foundation for Entrepreneurship’s worldwide network. It will also grant stipends to ten students for their internships with organization such as ACORN International, CARE, Kiva, UNIDO, and Pro Familia. The Empower 2009 Class will be working in locations from Cameroon to Nepal, Colombia to Rwanda, and many more. While conducting their fieldwork, students will stay connected with the Empower program via online blogs and a web forum. They will also present their work and share their experiences with the Tufts community upon their return. The link to their shared blog will be on the IGL website, which will be open to all.

Empower is primarily a grant giving and internship placement program. Thanks to Tufts alumni Javier Macaya and Angelos Metaxa, the Empower Program is growing into a leading campus resource for social entrepreneurship and poverty alleviation initiatives. Its accomplishments in this academic year extend well beyond its grant and internship placement process. They include establishing the business plan for the program, implementing a new application process, institutionalizing external partnerships, and building a network with Boston area social enterprise organizations as well as Tufts student groups. Empower has established partnerships with the group Social Entrepreneurs in Health, which is a collaborative student organization led by graduate students at Harvard, MIT and BU. The program has also begun the process of creating an online database of resources for social entrepreneurship learning at Tufts. The IGL is currently in conversation with its partners to build an inter-school online social network in the coming year. Consistent with its model of promoting student-led initiatives, the IGL has hired a first year Fletcher student, Naomi Spitz, and a third year undergraduate, Piyali Kundu, to spearhead these processes as the Empower coordinators.

Establishing the application process for grants and internship placement has been the main activity for the program this year. Since it was launched at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2007, Empower’s vision has been to offer several parallel types of grants and internship placements for Tufts graduate and undergraduate students. To achieve this goal, Empower has linked with several leading organizations in the field of social entrepreneurship. Starting this summer, students will be placed to work as interns with the social entrepreneurs who are part of The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship’s network. They will also work with ACORN International at their sites around the world, and EDA Capita Connect in India. In addition, Empower has continued to foster its preferential relationships with organizations such as ACCION International, Kiva, Endeavor, and Vision Spring.

In addition, the Empower has hosted a number of successful events, a discussion with Jacqueline Novogratz, the founder and CEO of Acumen Fund and the author of The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World.

Looking to the next semester and the start of new academic year 2009-2010, Empower’s priority is to integrate the first class of grantees after their summer experiences as an active student community. In addition, the program will pilot a mentorship network and database with alumni who volunteered to help guide further grantees. This will be part of a larger process to foster new partnerships and internship opportunities, bringing more alumni into the Empower network as active participants and contributors.

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