Start Date

6-6-2013 1:45 PM

End Date

6-6-2013 2:55 PM

Description

This paper is based on research carried out in August 2012 in Pokhara City, Nepal regarding the impact on the community of a 15-year international service-learning (ISL) program. The program entails a yearly collaboration between Poole Gakuin University, Osaka, Japan and two secondary schools on the outskirts of Pokhara. For three weeks in August and September every year since 1997 twenty to thirty university students from Osaka have travelled to Pokhara with two faculty members. The students are divided into two groups, those who will teach elementary Japanese language and culture and those who will coach baseball. It was through this program that baseball was first introduced to Nepal. This research was designed with the Matrix for Community Assessment described in “Assessing Service-Learning and Civic Engagement, Principles and Techniques” by Sherril B. Gelmon, et al., 2001. The matrix includes concepts related to both the partner organization and the community-university partnership. Although the principle aim of the research was to understand partner perceptions of the impact of the service-learning program on their schools and their community as they celebrated the 15th year of the program, both dimensions of the matrix were considered. Qualitative interviews were carried out with school administrators, faculty, community leaders and school participants. Partner perceptions of impact, corroborated by documented changes in the school and community over the 15 years, exceeded the modest goals of the original partnership and indicate that from the partners’ point of view, their involvement in the ISL program was one of several strategies for tapping into global resources. This case demonstrates how an ISL program can play a small but key role in the development of the local community. In addition this research also contributes to the dearth of literature on community-level concerns and community impacts in the ISL research.

Recommended Citation

Musselwhite, D. (2013, June). Assessing impact on community partner in a 15-year international service learning program, service learning’s role in local community development in Pokhara, Nepal. Paper presented at the 4th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning: Service-Learning as a Bridge from Local to Global: Connected world, Connected future, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China.

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Jun 6th, 1:45 PM Jun 6th, 2:55 PM

Assessing impact on community partner in a 15-year international service learning program, service learning’s role in local community development in Pokhara, Nepal

This paper is based on research carried out in August 2012 in Pokhara City, Nepal regarding the impact on the community of a 15-year international service-learning (ISL) program. The program entails a yearly collaboration between Poole Gakuin University, Osaka, Japan and two secondary schools on the outskirts of Pokhara. For three weeks in August and September every year since 1997 twenty to thirty university students from Osaka have travelled to Pokhara with two faculty members. The students are divided into two groups, those who will teach elementary Japanese language and culture and those who will coach baseball. It was through this program that baseball was first introduced to Nepal. This research was designed with the Matrix for Community Assessment described in “Assessing Service-Learning and Civic Engagement, Principles and Techniques” by Sherril B. Gelmon, et al., 2001. The matrix includes concepts related to both the partner organization and the community-university partnership. Although the principle aim of the research was to understand partner perceptions of the impact of the service-learning program on their schools and their community as they celebrated the 15th year of the program, both dimensions of the matrix were considered. Qualitative interviews were carried out with school administrators, faculty, community leaders and school participants. Partner perceptions of impact, corroborated by documented changes in the school and community over the 15 years, exceeded the modest goals of the original partnership and indicate that from the partners’ point of view, their involvement in the ISL program was one of several strategies for tapping into global resources. This case demonstrates how an ISL program can play a small but key role in the development of the local community. In addition this research also contributes to the dearth of literature on community-level concerns and community impacts in the ISL research.