Empowering Developing Countries Through Higher Ed: Academics Without Borders
November 25, 2016 - MacPherson Institute, McMaster University
Academics Without Borders mission is to support developing countries in building capacity in higher education so that they can educate their own experts and conduct research to assist in their development. We fulfill our mission by sending professionals and academics, including staff, faculty, and administrators, both retired, active and on sabbatical, on projects in the developing world. The projects come from and are owned by our developing world partners. They participate not only in designing the projects, but also in funding them by providing our volunteers with housing, and a stipend, if they are able to do so.
AWB It was incorporated in 2007, received Canadian charitable status in 2008 and US charitable status in 2015. It is bi-lingual and does projects in both Anglophone and Francophone countries. It sent out its first volunteer in 2009. Since then, AWB has completed or is in the process of completing over 75 projects in 16 countries with 17 partners: Benin, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Tanzania. AWB works only in the low to medium categories of countries in the United Nations Development Program Development Index.
AWB’s projects have focused on a number of areas, including, health, teaching and learning methodology, various academic disciplines, student services, strategic planning, and back office operations. That is, it is involved in the full range of activities with which universities are engaged.
“The Academics Without Borders Story: Improving Universities in Developing Countries”
Steven Davis
Founder and Executive Director of Academics Without Borders
-Steven Davis is the Founder and Executive Director of Academics Without Borders. He is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Simon Fraser University and Carleton University and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at McGill University and the Université du Montréal. He was also the founder and director, from 2002 to 2007, of the Centre on Values and Ethics at Carleton University and one of the founders of the Cognitive Science Programme at Simon Fraser University. In addition, he was the president of the Canadian Philosophical Association and anglophone editor of its journal, Dialogue. He has edited several collections of essays and published a book and articles in various areas of philosophy, including philosophy of language and mind and normative ethics.
Nepal – Working Together for Rural Medical Education: A Collaboration between the Patan Academy of Health Sciences and Canadian Physicians”
Karl Stobbe
Regional Assistant Dean, Niagara Regional Campus, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine
-Dr. Karl Stobbe practiced as a family doctor in Beamsville for over 20 years. Karl has been faculty at McMaster University since 1992, and has served in several leadership roles for McMaster. Currently he is the Regional Assistant Dean for the Niagara Campus of the McMaster Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. His interests include: ensuring access to healthcare for all, improving the quality of healthcare, and improving the functioning of our healthcare system. Nationally, Karl was president of the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada from 2008-2010. Internationally, Karl is currently involved in projects in Nepal, Philippines and Peru.