Exploring Sustainable Development in Rwanda and Bangladesh – State of the Planet

This past March, two separate groups of students from the Office of Undergraduate Programs at the Columbia Climate School traveled to Rwanda and Bangladesh as part of their coursework in sustainable development. Their trips focused on exploring what sustainability means in the context of sub-Saharan Africa and on a tectonically active delta, respectively.

The Sustainable Development in Rwanda class (SDEV 4400) has been offered to sustainable development students to provide them with hands-on experience in understanding the history and current sustainability efforts in sub-Saharan Africa. In collaboration with the University of Rwanda (UR), students partner with Rwandan organizations throughout the semester. During spring break, Columbia and UR students meet in Rwanda to collaborate on their projects and develop recommendations for local partners.

This year, the two projects included a joint effort with KOKO Networks, a climate technology company offering improved bioethanol cookstoves that operate through a fully digitized system, and One Child One Tree, a research project created as a vehicle for improving psychosocial well-being among young people in local primary schools.

Gabriel Najum Spratt, a senior majoring in anthropology, prepared a meal using charcoal cookstoves for an assignment, which offered a sobering reality into how the stoves negatively impact the populations who rely on them. The experience also gave him real-world context for the problem his team was addressing in the class.

“The course was a needed shift from the global scale of climate change and sustainability to a smaller, more influenceable setting. Being able to contribute directly to a practical solution to a serious sustainable development crisis cultivated a great deal of self-efficacy for me,” he said.

The course, which satisfies the capstone requirement for students majoring in sustainable development, combines preliminary literature review, field research, presentations to the client on the UR campus and final deliverables at Columbia.

Helen Yibrah, a junior majoring in sustainable development, said the course helped her sharpen her organizational, public speaking and communication skills because of the high-level final presentations, while also encouraging a critical perspective on sustainability.

“I feel empowered to further understand how climate change action and sustainability efforts can be implemented without significant economic tradeoffs,” she said.

The class aims to help students understand Rwanda’s unique history and current development challenges by analyzing how climate change complicates sustainable development in the Global South, while engaging in cultural exchange and gaining insights from local communities.

Lisa Dale, the course instructor and director of the M.A. in Climate and Society at the Climate School said that for her, bringing together Columbia and UR students is just as important as the projects those teams conduct. “Cross-cultural understanding is essential for sustainable development, and this class lets us build friendships across the world at the same time as we contribute to real solutions on the ground,” she said.

Ashley Young, a junior majoring in sustainable development, shared that the course allowed her and her peers to witness firsthand the profound impacts of seemingly “small-scale” projects. By fostering connections with Rwandan students, engaging with companies like Green Starz and influencing the lives of children, she hopes their efforts will be felt locally and, one day, globally.

“The course brings sustainability to life through real people, real projects and real impact. It has proven how sustainability efforts, no matter how ‘small’ they may seem, can ripple outward in ways that are truly limitless. I am forever inspired to never stop creating these ripples,” she said.

At the same time, 3,600 miles away, a group of 10 Columbia students and 10 Dhaka University students learned about Earth science, environmental issues and their intersection with the human population in Bangladesh, as part of SDEV 3350: Bangladesh Workshop.

This course gives students the opportunity to work in groups to study climate extremes and migration in the Bangladeshi Delta, as well as the impact of heat stress adaptation in the country. Mike Steckler, the instructor, has studied and traveled to Bangladesh for over 20 years. This trip was especially meaningful to him, as it marked his 25th visit to the country, accompanied by his daughter.

“It is exciting to share my knowledge with a new group of students. Bangladesh is a place where not just the climate is changing, but the very landscape is in flux; land is uplifting and subsiding, rivers and islands are shifting, coasts and riverbanks are both eroding and growing,” said Steckler, who is a geophysicist and Lamont research professor at Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Michelle Ueltschi, a senior studying sustainable development, said the course helped her see the real-life applications of the concepts she’s learned in the classroom and added a new layer to her understanding of sustainable development by showing her the people directly impacted. “Nothing can replace the on-the-ground-experience of meeting the people who are being most affected by their environment changing in real time,” she said.

Students started their journey in Dhaka and later traveled to various villages for interviews. During their time in the Sundarbans forest, they observed wild boars, birds and monkeys, and heard a tiger growl from the river bank. “This time was definitely a highlight for me,” said Ueltschi, who also reflected on her experience in her personal blog.

For students like Jinhao Bai, a junior in sustainable development, the class offered tailored knowledge on the broad and complex subject of sustainability.

“I usually find it hard to grasp knowledge by merely reciting bullet points from lecture slides. This course really showed me that climate change is not a slogan on the paper, but a phenomenon that shapes the earth’s landscape and people’s lives,” he said.

After an intense and rewarding spring break visiting Rwanda and Bangladesh, students in both courses returned to Columbia, where they will soon give their final presentations and reflect on their deepened understanding of sustainable development.

“No amount of research can compare to the depth of understanding that comes from real, lived experience,” said Young.