Join us for a week in the Andean highlands of Ecuador in May 2026! Global Initatives site for the program

We'll be immersed in a community in Otavalo Canton, Ecuador, staying with host families and working alongside community members on a project. The trip will be with The Tandana Foundation, an Ohio-based non-profit organization that supports community-led development initiatives in Ecuador and Mali.

We'll learn about local approaches to sustainable development by talking with community leaders and through the projects we work on.  We'll observe different business models including local cooperative groups, small entrepreneurial ventures, and large commercial enterprises. From our conversations with community leaders, we'll also learn about local approaches to sustainability, public health, and how Ecuador's legal system recognizes both Indigenous and federal law.

While the exact schedule is still being developed, we'll also:

• visit the largest artisan market in South America;

• stop at the Equator (and cross it! Quito is in the southern hemisphere and Otavalo in the northern);

• hike to a waterfall or around a lake;

• explore the historic center of Quito,  the first capital city in the world to be named an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Five Miami faculty members took a very similar trip in August 2025 to explore the possibility of a study abroad trip. Here's a blog post about their trip and here's a report from one of them.

If you missed our information session in November, we'll have another one in February, but note that the deadline for scholarships from Global Initiatives is January 15. Reach out to either of us any time (email addresses below) and we'd be happy to tell you more!