USAID: ODW--Students and Teachers Kick Off Operation Day's Work-USA

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Students and Teachers Kick Off Operation Day's Work-USA

by Elise Storck, LPA
Operation Day's Work is a 35-year old Norwegian program credited by adult Norwegians as having profoundly influenced their understanding of development cooperation. In Operation Day's Work, junior and senior high school students study a developing country using curricula researched and prepared by students; the kids perform community service or part-time jobs to raise funds; and they contribute the funds to a development project selected by students themselves.
On April 17-18, 1998, a group of U.S. students and teachers met in Washington, DC to begin adapting Operation Day's Work to the United States. Delegations from Milwaukee, WI, Minneapolis, MN, Thetford, VT, Grand Forks, ND, and Washington, DC participated in the two-day kick-off meeting sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Royal Norwegian Embassy. The weekend included a tour of the ADRA Global Village on the U.S. Capitol Mall, and a half-day planning meeting at the Royal Norwegian Embassy.
Because students rarely have the opportunity to design their own programs, organizers emphasized that, as in Norway, Operation Day's Work will only succeed if students take the lead in designing and running their own activities. Each delegation discussed how they would carry out Operation Day's Work in their respective schools and communities, and all the participants discussed resources the pilot schools will need from the national level. In an exciting example of student ownership, students from Thetford, VT proposed that, rather than have the pilot schools select the first focus country during the 1998-99 school year, their delegates should select the country now to jump-start planning and promotion. Specifically, they proposed that Haiti be the 1998-99 focus country.
A vote followed, and Haiti it is. Organizers from USAID, the Royal Norwegian Embassy and the growing number of nongovernmental organizations working on ODW are now compiling curriculum and project information on Haiti. If you have resources to suggest, or would like more information on Operation Day's Work-USA, please contact: Elise Storck at USAID at 202-712-4408, or email estorck@usaid.gov.

Last Updated on: November 29, 2000