Welcome again to our Georgia Tech Budapest Study Abroad Program blog. We are at the end of our first week on this very exciting journey – the inaugural year of our Hungary/Budapest bound program on social entrepreneurship.
The students gave a good overview of what is going on so far and now allow me to trace back couple months to the beginnings of this experience, when Bob Thomas and I decided to put together a new study abroad program that would be focused around leadership and social entrepreneurship.
Why study abroad? We believe that offering students a comparative and global outlook on the third sector is the value added, something that they wouldn’t be able to get out of taking the same classes on campus, in Atlanta.
Why Hungary? We selected Budapest, Hungary as our headquarters because we both have strong ties here – Bob worked in Eastern Europe with various foundations after the regime change, and I am a native of the region. In addition, thematically, Hungary is an ideal site. The country is located in the heart of Central-East Europe, has a strong and dedicated civil sector, highly innovative entrepreneurs (with the highest number of per capita Nobel laureates), a fascinating history and culture, hospitable people and last, but not least, the best cakes and pastries in the world (the little shops that sell them are called Cukrászda – if you are on a diet close your eyes when you walk by them).
Starting a new program from scratch is not a simple task, but with the support system we have at GT – the Office of International Education (OIE), Amy Henry and her team (with special thanks to Lorie Johnson Paulez) – we were able to get our act together fairly quickly, and after the OK of the Study Abroad Committee we could start planning the day to day details of a six week/9 credits program.
What is the curriculum? The three courses that make up the curriculum all focus on the topic of social entrepreneurship (SE) and leadership in this sector. The subject is explored from a theoretical angle (MGT4161), as well as through the study of its practical applications. The latter is achieved a)through site visits to various social enterprises (SEs) and conversations with practitioners in the field (MGT4191/92, and b) through traineeships with SEs that provide students an up-close insight into how SEs function, and requires them to be contributors to positive social change in the service of these SEs.
What is the practical component? When we first envisioned the practical component of the program – 6 weeks-long volunteer internships with organizations in the social and civil sector (non-profits, civil organizations, NGO’s) it seemed like a proposition that would be easy-to-sell and implement. The mutual benefit – volunteer help from bright and motivated students for the SEs, and the opportunity for practical learning for our students – seemed to be the main requirement for this plan to work. As a wise, old Hungarian saying goes (we have many of these- one to fit every situation, and then one to explain the opposite situation): ‘the plans you have when you leave the house to go to the market (to sell your chicken, pig, horse, etc.- or in modern times, and in this situation – your ideas) will change as soon as you get to the market (where you learn the actual conditions of the desired exchange).’ So we learned, very quickly, that there are many other factors that need to be considered regarding these desired traineeship, some more obvious –like the fact that language is a barrier (although majority of SEs we got in touch with had at least one English speaking member, so this was the least of the obstacles), and the 6-weeks’ time of the involvement, is not long enough to work on complex projects (this is a limitation on our end given the length of the program), but some were less obvious – such that the SE’s that might need help the most, are so busy keeping their operations going that they just simply don’t have the time to accommodate an intern. Being of added value, and not a liability, to our SEs partners was/is one of our main concerns (the other one being that the students have a valuable experience in their internships). Hearing these concerns and considering our limitations were very helpful in selecting and establishing meaningful partnerships.
During this initial search we received tremendous help from influential individuals and organizations (listed on our website) from the Hungarian social sector. They guided our steps, connected us to their network, generously offered their time and expertise, agreed to speak to our students, and invited our group to participate in their events, and to visit their headquarters. We are deeply grateful for their collaboration as we could not have a meaningful program without them.
The four organizations that invited our students to work with them on various projects this year are: Fruit of Care (an SEs that is part of NESsT’s portfolio where the main stake holders are people with disabilities); Rural Workshop Foundation (working for regional development in the Roma populated areas); CEEwebb (an environment and biodiversity advocacy group); and Habitat for Humanity in Hungary (providing housing for the economically disadvantaged). The projects the students were given range from analysis of enterprise scalability; assistance with the English speaking components of the organization’s website; research for scientific evidence in support of the ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change; and planning activities for the annual Outreach Day. The students have their task cut out for them, we, program directors, will advise and provide them feedback, and they will keep you updated of their progress. Students are also required to summarize their learning and recommendations to their host organizations in a presentation at the end of the program.
And now, in closing of this very long blog (this is my first of sorts, so forgive my lack of proper blog etiquette) let me list some of the highlights of my first week in Budapest.
On Friday, June 3, with the invitation of the NESsT Hungary team (whom I personally owe a big thanks for all their help with our program), I was at the first Social Enterprise Day conference in Budapest. It was a wonderfully organized event, with high quality speakers and presentations, hosted in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Here I met a number of wonderful entrepreneurs doing amazing work in addressing pressing social issues, and searching for solutions. At this conference I also met Malcolm Hayday, CEO of Charity Bank in the UK, who kindly accepted my ad-hoc invitation, and came to talk to our students on Monday. On Tuesday we travelled to Etyek to visit the Rural Workshop Foundation (the students posted details on all these so I am merely summarizing here), Wednesday we had a lecture on the European Union and the Hungarian Presidency, and Thursday’s guest speaker talked about the pro’s and con’s of working for a big foundation versus being a self-employed social entrepreneur.
Now we are enjoying a long weekend (Whit Monday is a bank holiday) and will resume classes on Tuesday morning. More to follow…
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