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For immediate release
February 3, 2009 |
Washington, D.C. – Georgetown University’s Center for Intercultural Education and Development (CIED) recently received a $50 million award, a five-year cooperative agreement, with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to administer a technical training program, Scholarships for Education and Economic Development (SEED).
The SEED program is designed to support economic and social development throughout Central America and the Caribbean. Students from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua will be able to pursue specific job training in the United States through the certificate program. Georgetown will partner with other U.S. community colleges and universities to design and conduct tailored training programs for the students in various fields critical to the social and economic development of their countries including agriculture, business, economics and trade, education, health, information technologies, manufacturing and resource management.
“This new program will provide critical training and education for students from economically disadvantaged and underserved populations in Central America and the Caribbean,” said Chantal Santelices, director of CIED at Georgetown University. “We are thrilled to have been chosen to administer this important program that will enable SEED students to become leaders in their countries’ development.”
The SEED scholarship model incorporates technical training, leadership skills enhancement and English as a Second Language (ESL) all with a focus on civil society, volunteerism, free-market economy and democratic participation as practiced in the United States. The new program is the successor of CIED and USAID’s Cooperative Association of States for Scholarships (CASS) program, which provided technical and professional training to more than 6,000 low-income and rural students from Central America and the Caribbean.
The SEED program is one of many development initiatives USAID is undertaking in Central America and the Caribbean.
“SEED will build on the substantial achievements of the CASS program, which was able to reach indigenous, rural, and minority populations that other scholarship programs do not. In many cases, SEED participants will be the first from their community to attend college,” says Deborah Kennedy-Iraheta, acting assistant administrator of the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean at USAID. “We believe SEED will complement USAID initiatives in all sectors of development as it educates a new cadre of young leaders and professionals.”
The first group of SEED students will begin their studies in August 2009.
Interested students can apply for the SEED program through Georgetown’s CIED offices in each participating country. The deadline for applications is early March 2009.
About the Center for Intercultural Education and Development
The Center for Intercultural Education and Development (CIED) at Georgetown University plays a fundamental role in fulfilling the university’s commitment to international service. CIED’s mission is to promote greater mutual understanding, strengthen democratic values and support sustainable development that meets individual country needs. CIED programs contribute to the educational development of human capital, strengthening democratic processes and encouraging economic growth. For more information about CIED, visit: http://www.georgetown.edu/cied/.
About the United States Agency for International Development
USAID is an independent federal government agency that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States. For more information, visit www.usaid.gov.
About Georgetown University
Georgetown University is the oldest and largest Catholic and Jesuit university in America, founded in 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll. Georgetown today is a major student-centered, international, research university offering respected undergraduate, graduate and professional programs in Washington, DC, Doha, Qatar and around the world. For more information about Georgetown University, visit www.georgetown.edu.
