LDR 160-001/010 Leadership Around the World

I’m Dr. Megan Downing, assistant professor in Organizational Leadership. I teach Leadership Around the World, a Global Viewpoints general education course.

Students learn about leadership, global cultural dimensions, implicit bias, worldview, and how the stories and traditions that inform cultures also influence the way those cultures “do” and “accept” leadership.

For our Mayerson Student Philanthropy Project, we research local nonprofits with a global reach, learn about the work the do outside the United States, and consider the preparation and cultural considerations they take into account as they work with those communities.

This year, students researched six organizations and selected two for $1,000 MSPP awards. We would like to thank the Straws Foundation that funded our project and the Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement for making this enriched learning experience possible.

From student Katie Ellison: “I was extremely happy when I heard that Father’s Heart Foundation was chosen for the MSPP grant! Working alongside the organization for this project helped me understand the significance of not only their work, but also the importance of cultural considerations when helping other countries. I’m excited to know the money will be used to help further grow their girl’s sexual abuse program and other children’s programs.”

“We are a grassroots organization, looking for partners, to create orphan care villages -beginning in El Salvador.”

These funds will help provide materials for children's sports and materials (printing, paper, paints, etc.), nutritional snacks, and the Salvadoran psychologist, who is working as our teacher and social worker.

Bill Perry, director of operations:

Thank you and the class for the grant! It will be put to good work.

Since the Covid-19 virus, things have changed greatly around here.

Our biggest challenge now is how to meet together to produce the meals so desperately needed in Eswatini. They also have been hit with one of the largest locust invasion in a long time. There is such a great need right now!

Without being able to meet and produce the meals, we have reached out to a company to produce the meals for us. This has become very expense for us but we have to do what we are called to do. This children in eSwatini don’t have the food they need because of Covid-19 and now the locust invasion. We are committed to produce one million meals next month and mass produce our meals with this packaging company.

You grant is helpful. Every grant or donation will be going to this effort for the month of May. Please, feel free to share our story. The more people know the more people will care.

About: A Child’s Hope International mission is to motivate and mobilize the community to care for the orphans and vulnerable children in distress. This includes children within U.S. foster care, the orphans of the world, and vulnerable children suffering from hunger, thirst and neglect.

One of the countries A Child’s Hope serves in humanitarian relief is the country of eSwatini. We deliver over 5,000 Hope Boxes of over a million high-protein meals yearly for the vulnerable children of eSwatini.