Boren Fellowship: Essay 3

Describe your specific goals for language study, including the proficiency level you hope to attain and how you plan to develop your language skills to that level. Describe your past experience in studying or speaking the language (or another language if relevant), as well as your plans for continuing to study and/or speak the language following your Boren Fellowship. 

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I began studying French during my undergraduate studies in 2009 and earned a minor in French and Francophone Studies in 2012. Over the course of this three-year period, I studied abroad for 8 months, 4 of which were spent between 6 French-speaking countries throughout West Africa, Senegal included. I also participated in a no-credit Wolof class taught by my Senegalese French professor for one semester.

In 2013, I moved to Montreal, Canada in preparation for working in Cameroon, a bilingual country speaking French and English. In Montreal, I took an intensive French course for 8 weeks. In addition to my schedule of 32 lessons a week, my experience was enhanced with an Afro-Canadian homestay. While in Cameroon, I was able to attain working proficiency in Pidgin English, a local language also known as Creole, after just 6 months of immersion. This was done through active listening, participation and complete immersion.

Domestically, I will be attending 8 weeks of French and Wolof. In French, I currently test as a 2+ and a 0 in Wolof according to the ILR scale used by Boren. By the end of my time in Florida, my overall goal is to reach ILR 3/3+ and ILR 1, respectively. In addition to attending every class, I will focus on improving my pronunciation and my vocabulary, specifically verbs and adjectives. I will insure this goal is accomplished by using new vocabulary daily in my language classes and conversations. The 2015 AFLI Summer Intensive Program Schedule shows a 3-hour time slot for conversation, yet only 1 hour is required. I will take advantage of this extra time by having additional conversations.

During my language study in Dakar I will be able to use my new language skills full time. My first goal, which will be accomplished on a day-to-day basis, is to remain an active listener at all times. As mentioned previously, this skill proved highly valuable when learning Pidgin English. In Senegal, I still have several friends from my visit in 2011 who will enable total immersion and active participation with both French and Wolof. My other two daily goals will be speaking only in Wolof and French to my host family and keeping a small notebook with me to write down new words I hear throughout my day. By the end of this 4-month period I will be confident and flowing in my French conversations, rarely hesitating to find vocabulary, ILR 4. My Wolof conversations will have pauses and some errors, but I will be able to hold conversations about topics I am familiar with, ILR 1+/2.

In my final months as a Boren Fellow, working with Tostan and conducting research will enable me to achieve ILR 4+/5 in French and ILR 2+/3 in Wolof. I will be able to conduct qualitative interviews in French with very limited need of a translator.

After the fellowship is complete, I plan to use and improve my language skills during my federal service requirement and throughout my career with the US government. These language skills are ideal as an employee of USAID, Bureau of African Affairs or several other agencies that do work with French and Wolof speaking populations. In addition to the workplace, most mid-sized towns have French groups that meet for conversations and are easily found online. Because of my proficiency level, I will begin to read novels and scholarly journals in French. There are also online newspapers written in Wolof that will not only enable me to keep my proficiency but it will also encourage me to continue learning new vocabulary. Depending on my location, I may be able to locate native Wolof speakers to meet with as well.

 

Boren Fellowship: Essay 2

Describe your proposed study plan in detail. Boren Fellowships support language and other classroom study, overseas research, overseas academic internships, or any combination of these elements. Explain all significant features of your plan, including institutional or other affiliations, if known.

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My proposed study plan will consist of three components: 1) a brief domestic program, 2) a substantial overseas program, and 3) an academic internship with Tostan, a regional non-governmental organization (NGO), and research project with the West African Research Center. I have been in contact with the parties involved and I am confident in my ability to succeed in all three aspects.

The domestic portion will begin June 8, 2015 in Gainesville, Florida where I will attend two months of intensive language and culture training. This part of the program will be hosted by the Center for African Studies of the University of Florida and the Department of Languages, Literatures, & Culture on behalf of the Institute of International Education (IIE). These classes will conclude on July 31, 2015.

West African culture, traditions and politics will be incorporated into my French and Wolof language training both inside and outside of the classroom, making this a unique part of the fellowship. My instructors will be native-speakers, and the instruction will be performance-based and oriented toward oral communication. Over the eight-week period, the classes will meet five days a week for four hours of classroom instruction and an additional one hour of speaking practice each day.

I will meet with a host family every other weekend to strengthen my communicative capacity in the two target languages. According to Dr. Charles Bwenge, AFLI Program Coordinator, this segment of the program is designed to assist students such as myself in reaching functional proficiency in French while gaining basic survival Wolof. This will better prepare me for my move to Senegal for the second and third portions of my proposed plan of study.

Within days of completing my study in Florida, I will go to Dakar, Senegal and begin my second component. This part of the program will be administered by the American Councils, an international nonprofit that provides educational opportunities to prepare individuals and institutions to operate and succeed in an increasingly globalized and interconnected world. The host institution in Dakar will be the West African Research Center (WARC), an organization that encourages research in West Africa and academic exchange between American and West African scholars.

This portion of my program will run from August 7, 2015 until November 20, 2015 totaling 15 weeks and will continue where the Florida course left off. The American Council’s program includes several parts such as intensive small-group language instruction with individualized lessons five days a week (20 hours a week) in French and Wolof. These individualized lessons will aid in my integration into Senegal and West African life as well as help me to focus on material in which I am less proficient. These lessons will focus on acquainting me with French speech at a variety of levels and settings. For example, “français de la route” is the language used casually between friends in an informal setting as opposed to the style of French that would be used in professional settings. Additionally, as a student of this program, I will be devoting a minimum of four hours a week to speaking with the private language partner provided by the AFLI program.

The program will likewise allow me to gain a greater regional and cultural experience in West Africa and particularly in Senegal. This will be achieved through homestays with local families, peer tutoring, and course work with an emphasis on the culture, history and politics of the region. I will be participating in planned excursions around the country two times each week, and I will have the opportunity to partake in a service-learning project.

As my second component comes to a close at the end of November, I will have approximately five weeks to prepare for the final component of my Boren Fellowship: an academic internship and research project.

Tostan is a non-profit organization working directly with rural communities in West Africa with its headquarters in Dakar. Tostan was founded in 1991 by an American woman who began living and working in Senegal since 1974. Tostan is fascinating to me in part because they work in Senegal and its five bordering countries (Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania and The Gambia). This is an ideal position for me to fine-tune my languages and intercultural competencies that I will be developing throughout my fellowship. Tostan’s method is unique in that it is a rights-based approach and focuses on collective consciousness raising, inclusiveness and long-term community sustainability.

I will begin as a participant in Tostan’s “Africa Volunteer Program” in January 2016 when they hold one of their tri-annual orientations. I will serve the minimum requirement of one year with Tostan. Due to Boren time restrictions, I will only be serving Tostan as a Boren Fellow until August 2016 and spend the remaining five months without affiliation to Boren. Valentina Pomatto, the Volunteer Program Coordinator of Tostan, has explained to me that they are unable to issue me a Letter of Affiliation because I will not be selected until positions for that time frame have been released in Fall 2015. She is confident I will be selected as a volunteer and has been helpful in providing me with what information she can. Seeing that job descriptions for relevant volunteer positions will not be available until Fall 2015, I am only able to describe general details of the work I will be doing.

Tostan’s main component of their projects is their “Community Empowerment Program” which is a non-formal education initiative that covers topics specific for each community. The goal is twofold: 1) promote literacy and numeracy skills as well as 2) empower villagers to run their own development efforts. Tostan has worked in more than 2,600 villages and will be a great platform to launch my research project and delve deeper into languages and Senegalese culture.

At this time, I will be an affiliated researcher at the West African Research Center. My WARC-approved research project will focus on women’s participation in formal and non-formal government and their role as decision makers. More than ever before, Senegalese women are being elected to municipal and national government positions due to the gender parity law. The purpose of this research will be to improve US national security by evaluating how women’s participation in formal and non-formal government has an impact on Senegal’s stable democracy and moderate Islamic practices. I will be able to develop my project in more detail as my time in Senegal passes and I make more connections in the community. This research will also serve as my Capstone Project for the Reflective Practice Phase of my current masters program. At SIT Graduate Institute, I am working towards a degree in Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management and my proposed plan of study as a Boren Fellow will be the final component of my degree. My research advisor and current professor, Kanthie Athukorala, has endorsed my research proposal and will be working with me as my research advisor.

Boren Fellowship: Essay 1

In one integrated essay, give equal attention to each point:

1.     Explain the significance of your proposed country, region, and language to US national security.

2.     Describe how the country, language, and proposed study plan you selected will help you achieve your career goals, including your plans to fulfill the federal service requirement. 

3.   Describe how the skills you will gain during your Boren program of study, including linguistic and cultural competencies will help you help you fulfill the federal service requirement

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The significance of learning French and Wolof in Senegal to US national security is multifaceted. While the world is dealing with circumstances fueled by extremist religious and militant organizations, the Senegalese have mastered a constitutional democracy and pluralistic society that demonstrates political stability and an absence of extremist groups. This begs the question, what is so exceptional about Senegal? What can be done to ensure continued stability and how can these methods be reproduced in other countries suffering from political instability, non-democratic governments and/or Islamic extremism? A Boren Fellowship in conjunction with the African Flagship Language Initiative will allow me to broaden and strengthen my linguistic competencies and build upon my cultural awareness and sensitivity. In addition to language classes, I will also have an academic internship with a regional NGO (Tostan) and a research project focusing on women’s impact on Senegal’s political stability. These components will lead me to a better understanding of the people of Senegal and West Africa and the problems they face. In turn, my understanding will help my government to apply or replicate Senegal’s successes elsewhere, which will pave the way for heightened US national security and global stability.

In addition to Senegal’s relevance to US national security, I’ve chosen Wolof and French in Senegal because of my long-term interest in the country and region. I have been focused on a career in Sub- Saharan Africa for over 10 years and began French in 2009 precisely because many countries in West and Central Africa are Francophone.

According to the CIA World Factbook, nearly 95% of Senegal’s population practices Islam, and all of its bordering countries are predominantly Muslim. The US has a complicated history with extremist jihadist groups, many of whom have been deemed Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the US Department of State. Al-Qaeda affiliated groups have been emerging in the region, predominantly in Mali and Nigeria. It is intriguing to me that despite Senegal’s proximity to these and other extremes groups, the Senegalese have maintained moderate practices of Islam and a stable, democratic government.

The presence of a constitutional democracy and pluralistic society in Senegal also warrants recognition. The continent of Africa has suffered a host of dictators and overall rampant corruption since independence. Remarkably, Senegal is the only West African country that has never experienced a coup. This is why I believe the US must make strides to understand what is happening in Senegal, as it is unique for its stability.

Since I began higher education, nearly all of my research has concentrated on Sub-Saharan Africa and women. I am currently conducting an independent study with my research advisor focusing on gender and development in preparation for my Boren research project. This research project has already been approved by the West African Research Center in Senegal where I will first taking linguistic classes and then working as an affiliated researcher. As part of this project, I will be assessing women’s participation in formal and non-formal government and how it has an impact on Senegal’s democracy and moderate Islam. Through my academic internship with Tostan, I will be able to make connections throughout the country as the organization focuses on the empowerment of women and girls throughout the region. In light of Senegal’s new gender parity law, women as components to Senegal’s strong democracy and moderate Islamic practices are worthy of deeper examination.

Senegalese women provide an opportunity for researchers such as myself to deliver the US effective counterterrorism measures that could be implemented domestically and around the world. This regional and global stability in light of my research will amplify US national security. Through the discovery of Senegal’s methods from my work, US national security can be magnified and the US government will be better enabled to counteract terrorism and promote democracy in West Africa and around the world.

By having the opportunity to live, learn and interact in Senegal, I will build and gain necessary skills that will directly contribute to my career in the federal government as well US national security. Overall, my career goal is to serve. Since I have lived, worked and studied in West Africa on two different occasions, I feel a personal attachment to and passion for the region. For more than 10 years I have been working toward a career that increases global stability and social justice worldwide; there is no better place to accomplish this than serving with the American government. Proficiency in French and Wolof will give me the ability to effectively communicate while my internship and research project will give me in-depth, first- hand experience evaluating women’s impact on stability in Senegal. These intimate understandings are rare, and when I am an employee of the federal government I will be able to aid my country in its stride for national security.

As a professional, I have demonstrated the ability to build solid relationships domestically and abroad enabling me to not only represent my country in a respectable manner but also bring back cultural expertise of particular regions. This duality gives me the means to act as a liaison bridging cultural and political gaps between my country and others. While abroad for the Boren, I will have the opportunity to build relationships with the Senegalese through language classes, a long-term internship, a research project and day-to-day activates in the city.

I am interested in working for several different government departments and agencies but primarily USAID where I believe that my expertise and zeal would best be utilized. When I am ready to fulfill my federal service requirement and begin my career with the US government, I will have earned my Masters of Arts in Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management with a specialization in Monitoring and Evaluation. I will have spent nearly five years living, working and or/studying in 17 African nations and possess expertise on a very important and unpopular region of the world, West Africa. Additionally, my work with Tostan will give me concrete experience in monitoring and evaluation, project planning, implementation and management. This sort of experience will be invaluable to USAID making me a great fit for a Project or Program Manager/Coordinator as well as an M&E Specialist in West Africa.

USAID is active in the majority of the countries in the West Africa region including Senegal, which would make me a prime candidate for several positions. USAID’s work and employees inherently have a role in US national security as it aims to end extreme poverty, a major contributor to instability around the world.

A Boren fellowship will prepare me with the necessary skills to be an effective employee of the US government and better able to serve my country and her interests both at home and abroad.