Academics Without Boarders

"You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of different you want to make" Jane Goodall

Greg Moran (AWB-USF) & Louise Frechette

     It is humbling to sit in a room of people who have been working internationally for years and realize that you do not know nearly as much as you thought you did. However, it is also empowering to be open about the mistakes you’ve made, the growth you’ve experienced, and the lessons you’ve learned. This was my experience attending the Academics Without Borders (AWB-USF) Conference in Montreal November 5-7, 2018.
 
Academics Without Borders is an non-profit network of Canadian Universities whose mission is to help developing countries improve their universities so that they can train their own experts and conduct research to assist in their countries’ development. AWB-USF held its inaugural conference this year in Montreal, Quebec, and they played host to a diverse group of university senior administrators, staff dedicated to managing international projects and development, faculty members who engage directly with international partners and communities, and representatives from consultancies, funding agencies, and a multitude of other organizations and NGOs. Focused on the theme of Reaching Across Borders, Building a Better World,Keynotes, panelists, and speakers spent two days questioning projects, impacts, funding models, and ways to address the UN SDGs as well as the imbalance of power and impacts between partners in more developed countries (MDC) and less developed countries (LDC).
 
Lousie Frechette, Former Deputy Secretary-General, UN, and Chair, CARE InternationalSupervisory Board & Council and Alex Awitit, Director of the East African Institute, Aga Khan, and Governor with Canada’s IDRC were two of the speakers that stood out for me. Lousie’s review of the Canada’s involvement in International development and her frank review of current affairs was refreshing. She voiced concern over the United States’ current position on the role and value of the United Nations – which tries to provide a set of rules and frameworks for members who acknowledge the interconnected nature of economies, people, and ecosystems. However, she indicated that climate change was the one global issues that keeps her awake at night. Louise noted that there was little evidence of true political will to make tough changes that will require real sacrifice by citizens. She also spoke to the inequity of trying to compare carbon output country to country (e.g., China’s output compared to Canada’s) when a per capita comparison clearly shows how poorly we are doing as Canadians.
 
Alex Awiti’s presentation reinforced my past and current experiences with funded projects. He spoke to research that questioned the value of PhD training programs that result in foreign trained scholars who end up in universities without the resources (funds, library, and research networks) to support ongoing knowledge creation and dissemination. Noting that these scholars also face challenges of role overload (e.g., administrative duties and teaching) and limited skill development related to applying for their own grants, developing research programs, or building research networks. Alex also reinforced the importance of ownership, alignment, and mutual accountability in the success and effectiveness of north-south partnerships: (related resource)

• Ownership: The focus of a project should be driven by the needs and desired outcomes of the university in the LDC.
• Alignment: Partnerships should be formed by ensuring that partners have the necessary skills, knowledge, and values to assist the achievement of the project goals.
• Mutually Accountable: Partners need to have a clear understanding of roles and contributions so that they can hold each other accountable.

 
There were many other international development/internationalization issues that received significant attention at the conference including the: 

1. Commodification of international education as Canadian Universities (and those in other MDCs) becomes more reliant on international students to cover budget shortfalls, 
2. Inherent issues in funding cycles and project structures that do not allow for true relationship development, 
3. Brain drain that continues through traditional strategies of enhancing the skill set of academics in LDCs, 
4. Barriers that prevent the movement of bodies knowledge (e.g., access to journals, conferences, etc) from high concentrations (Global North) to lower concentrations (Global South), and the prejudice that researchers from LDCs face when trying to publish in journals and conferences in MDCs, and 
5. Acknowledgement that Canadian youth/students must be prepared for the changing realities in Canada and beyond by requiring more authentic, well-designed, and purposeful cross-cultural engagement (within and beyond Canadian borders).

 
I came away from the Academics Without Boarders conference with a few conclusions and a renewed recognition of the value of the smaller, community focused work that I do with my students. 

• Large bureaucracies works well with other large bureaucracies and not with applied, community level work. 
• Funding agencies are focused on outputs, outcomes, and Canadian standards of accountability (not necessarily bad things) and don’t have funding mechanism that allow for true relationship building.
• Sustainable projects are those that find ways to survive beyond a funding cycle or to happen without those funds.
• Our actions, no matter how well intentioned, still have numerous unintended consequences that we rarely acknowledge or discuss openly.
• There is an acknowledgement of the problems with sending ill-prepared and relatively unskilled students/volunteers to LDCs but we still do it!

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