Education and Social Justice Project

In early 2010 two Georgetown University Centers—the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service—created the Education and Social Justice Project to engage students and build knowledge about the deep connections between global challenges of poverty and education. Only through better access to education will the world’s poor be able to seize opportunities in an increasingly global economy. While policy analysts have documented the widespread failure of governments to meet this imperative, we still know relatively little about successful local efforts led by religious communities to advance economic and social development through education.

The project provides several students with summer research fellowships to travel abroad for in-depth examinations of innovative initiatives, with a focus on the work of Jesuit secondary and post-secondary institutions. Under faculty supervision, the students gather information through interviews, analyze best practices, and share their reports and conclusions with a wider global audience. Student researchers have investigated institutions in diverse settings ranging from Cambodia and the Philippines to Burkina Faso and Canada.

The Education and Social Justice project is administered by Melody Fox Ahmed of the Berkley Center. Andria Wisler, director of Georgetown's Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching, and Service, and Katherine Marshall of the Berkley Center serve as academic advisors. It was created through the generosity of Rodney Jacob.