Team Peru

This January, a group of 25 students from the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) traveled down to the Sacred Valley to put their semester-long theories into practice. What began as a Policy Analysis course in Monterey with Professor Jeffrey Dayton-Johnson segued into a field course that placed students in Calca, Lares, Choquecancha, and Suyo, Peru, to conduct surveys and interviews in remote rural communities. The research design was created throughout the Fall semester in the Policy class, which focused heavily on the country of Peru and issues of poverty and connectivity. Co-taught by Professors Jeff Dayton-Johnson, Fernando DePaolis, Kent Glenzer, Robert McCleery, and Phil Murphy, the Policy Analysis: Peru course brought together multidisciplinary approaches to learning about and analyzing international development policy.

Great photo of the Lares survey team in action.

The course is an exciting step for the Andean Alliance (AASD), as they have been an important partner in the process since the idea came about in the Spring of 2013. The AASD has collaborated with the class and the professors as key informants on the development landscape in the Sacred Valley as the class shaped the research study from September to December. They have facilitated the entire organization of the winter practica, preparing all the communities for the students’ arrivals, and getting the local governments on board with the research being conducted. The AASD hopes to utilize the data collected in Peru not only to inform their organization and the MIIS community, but to better inform the local and regional government.

Awesome photo of a greenhouse, skillfully taken by J-term participant Maritza Munzon (IEM/MPA)

The partnership between the Andean Alliance has strengthened over the years. The organization has served as learning partners for various MPA class research and evaluation projects, has co-taught the Community Social Change workshop, and has now been a key partner for a research design that could have deep repercussions for both policy informing and policy change at levels in and beyond the Sacred Valley of Peru. We look forward to hearing about the experiences and results of the policy students who spent this winter with the Andean Alliance on this groundbreaking research initiative!

What a great shot! Photo of a community assembly in Choquecancha, skillfully taken by J-term participant Ximena Ospina (IEM/MPA)

~Monica Kelsh