Interdisciplinary Study Away in Ghana
The UGA School of Social Work led an interdisciplinary (FACS/fashion design) StudyAway to Ghana from 2010-2022. The program will run again in 2025. Contact Professor Vivian Burrell at [email protected]
Ghana is a developing country, working to improve self-sufficiency in food, improve health and education, carry out urban redevelopment and historic preservation, stabilize their currency, and reform the legal code. This program will introduce you to how they are doing these things, and provide an opportunity for you to learn through hands-on involvement. Ghana is well-known for its traditional production of kente and other fabrics.
This interdisciplinary program places students at the intersection of Ghana’s social service infrastructure and fashion industry, within the context of Ghana’s history, culture, and contemporary society. We partner with social workers, nonprofits, community leaders, fashion entrepreneurs, creatives, and university faculty to facilitate a unique learning experience for students in social work, nonprofit, fashion, textiles and merchandising, and other disciplines. For example, City of Refuge Ministries (CORM) in the Greater Accra Region empowers single mothers of children at risk for child slavery through psychosocial support and vocational training to enter the fashion industry. During our visit at CORM, social work students may receive lectures from the social work staff about the psychosocial support provided to the children; meanwhile, the fashion students may observe the fashion entrepreneurs provide skills training to the single mothers.
See this video from Madeleine Howell, BSFCS ‘20:
