Zambia 2018 !!

Initially, it was fairly challenging to understand our topic and the specific interests of our partner organization as our topic of local philanthropy in the context of Zambian Diaspora seemed very nebulous. However, after researching further, we realized that our topic is a macro level approach taken by ZGF to attain sustainable development in Zambia through their philanthropic work. Their current campaign of #shiftthepower ( shift the power) is based on the model of sustainable local development by trying to get Zambians involved in the process of development. This would reduce the dependency on foreign aid and make Zambians both accountable and responsible for the development of Zambia. ZGF believes their goals of innovation and sustainable development can be achieved through engaging the Zambian diaspora with their philanthropic work and linking them to communities or causes they would want to support. 

It was evident from our partner organizations email that they would like us to focus much more on the broader context and identify the diaspora’s philanthropic interests, the causes they would support or are supporting (if any) and if they are how are they doing so. The current question Lexi and I have is the state of resources available to us to contact the diasporas and the current progress they have made on the topic that they have assigned to us. Our in-country plan is to address those questions and hit the ground running as soon as possible. Our current plan is to do a comprehensive literature search on diaspora engagement policies and understand how other countries are doing it. In the grand scheme of things we understand our research is a drop in the bucket, but we hope our drop is a big one. 

In my previous personal learning goals, I never gave much thought about the expectations of me while in Zambia and what it means to be part of this program. Especially, the shared responsibility of representing the best of both Cornell the United States. After talking and learning about Zambia for the past 6 months, Zambia seems like a mystical land that I am about to enter. I am more than excited for my time in Zambia. I hope this new journey allows me to forge meaningful relationships, build memories and experiences that last years to come.