Tufts International Development (formerly BUILD Latin America) is a student-led organization that immerses students in the theory and practice of sustainable development in Latin America. Throughout the year, students collaborate with organizations in Latin America that strive to promote sustainable development in the region. TID members serve as year-long student consultants, working with organizations to support their marketing, outreach, website development, and fundraising efforts. This year, each TID member will work with one of our two partner organizations, Libraries Without Borders and Action for Education. This experience will provide TID students with invaluable skills for working in the field of international development while giving them the opportunity to further the goals of our partner organizations in Latin America.
Throughout the year, TID members also engage in group discussions, participate in skill-building workshops, lead presentations, and invite speakers who have experience in the field of international development. Members also have the opportunity to intern with an organization in Latin America during the summer or to go on educational trips during the holidays. In the past, TID members have worked with a variety of organizations in the economic, health, environment, and education sector within Latin America during the summers.
History of TID/BUILD Latin America
For its first six years (2002-2008), TID (at the time, Bridges to Nicaragua) participants spent a semester learning about international development, cross-cultural exchange, and the history and politics of Nicaragua before spending their winter break working in the field in Siuna, Nicaragua, facilitated by an NGO. In 2008, the group shifted its work: it stopped working with an NGO as the facilitator and shifted to working directly with the community of Santa Anita, Guatemala on their concerns, including sustainable agriculture, building and stocking a computer learning center, and developing an eco-tourism plan. Our work in Guatemala culminated in a viable fair-trade social enterprise selling coffee that can be read about at the IGL Archives here. In 2013, we returned to Nicaragua, this time following an internship structure, giving students the opportunity to coordinate their academic interests and capabilities with the various projects implemented by our various NGO partners in the Matagalpa-Jinotega region of Nicaragua. In 2014, we shifted its focus to include all of Latin America. During the year, students enhanced their understanding of development in the region by hosting discussions and inviting speakers, and in the summer students interned with a variety of organizations in Latin America. Beginning in 2015, the group adopted a new model in which members serve as student consultants, working remotely with development organizations in Latin America. In 2017, we changed our name from BUILD Latin America to Tufts International Development, in an effort to both elucidate the focus of our work as well as be inclusive and supportive of all development work.
Our Members
There is no standard profile of a TID student. We integrate undergraduates and graduates from diverse majors within the liberal arts and other schools, combining methodologies and analytical approaches from engineering, anthropological, political, economic, literary, cultural and medical perspectives. Regardless of career path, all TID students are motivated to learn through practice in sustainable development, understand that their work is high stakes, and prepare themselves to use sensitive and innovative methods to effect sustainable growth in the developing world.
To get involved with Tufts International Development, contact one of our group leaders, come to an early-semester general interest meeting, or email us at tuftsintldev@gmail.com.
