Courtney Crumpler, 2013, Anthropology

Courtney Crumpler ’13

In Mozambique this summer, I conducted an independent research project and worked as an intern at Africare, a US-based Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). My goals were to investigate cooperation between Brazil and Mozambique around HIV/AIDS care and treatment, and to learn more about how foreign NGOs operate in ­developing ­countries. I worked part-time with the Country Director for a Africare, ­sitting in on ­meetings, asking questions, and assisting him with program planning and ­management. Outside the ­office, I conducted interviews with professionals working in other NGOs in the ­Mozambican government and in the United States and Brazilian ­foreign ­service. We spoke about health interventions presently being facilitated by ­Brazilians or ­Brazilian-affiliated organizations and about objectives for the future. As an intern, I was exposed to ­realities of aid delivery as well as ­observed the ­challenges and rewards of directing an NGO. Through my ­research, I gained firsthand information about the Brazilian influences in Mozambique that are changing the landscape of healthcare there. As I continue to work on this ­project, I hope to situate all that I learned over the summer within a broad understanding of global health and to learn more through writing my Junior Paper and Senior Thesis in the anthropology department.