The six students who traveled to Cuba analyzed domestic and international impacts on the country’s efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, especially those dealing with sustainable agriculture and climate change, good health and wellbeing, quality education, and gender equality. The workshop included lectures, research opportunities, local trips to analyze factors that influence how Cuba is addressing SDGs, and cultural visits to better understand the local context. Students took turns serving as facilitators and rapporteurs, and each wrote a briefing memo containing prospective policy recommendations for achieving a selected SDG of their choice. They used the memos to orally present their findings, which were provided to the organizations the group worked with throughout the trip.

“Creating policy recommendations on the ground was exciting, as conversations with community leaders made me more intentional in considering policy implementation,” said Mariem Elgendy. “It also made the experience more personal as we gained different perspectives on Cuba's development and learned about people's experiences.”

As a junior, Ovinabo Banerjee had written a paper on Cuba, “so this trip provided me an unbeatable opportunity to re-engage with Cuba as a scholar,” he said, adding that the workshop reminded him that policymaking is often an exercise in balancing trade-offs.

“Our social, political, and economic systems provide us immense opportunity but exacerbate inequality,” Banerjee said. “In Cuba, the opposite can be said. I also learned that policy may look quite ‘successful’ in one regard but vastly unsuccessful in others. For instance, Cuba achieves high levels of literacy and educational attainment. However, when you take a closer look, most schools are severely under-resourced and struggling to maintain themselves.”

Sanchez was grateful for the chance to explore her interests in Latin American studies, immigration, human rights, and international development. She noted an added benefit as well.

“The trip was also brain-stretching,” Sanchez said. “I was constantly working to decipher what was true from what we were told – and getting great Spanish practice.”

A dozen undergraduates traveled to El Salvador on a trip led by Juan Carlos Pinzon, a John L. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs & Co. Visiting Professor and Lecturer, and Academic Advisor Zacharia Ahmed. Their purpose was to analyze first-hand the institutions, agents, and individuals that have been helped the country achieve a notably high level of development in the difficult context of Latin America.

The itinerary included meetings with El Salvador’s ministers of finance, economy, tourism, and security, the president of the country’s largest bank, the chief executive officers of two of the largest private-sector Salvadoran firms, and U.S. Ambassador William Duncan, as well as enriching cultural experiences. The range of activities gave the students a general perspective about the opportunities and challenges that El Salvador faces. They concluded by submitting a policy recommendation report to President Nayib Bukele.

“As someone who has studied El Salvador closely over the past couple of years and is writing my thesis on the country, I was blown away by the experience,” said Theodore Bhatia. “I felt intellectually stimulated and learned a tremendous amount about a part of the world that is so often overlooked by U.S. policymakers.”

Allana Jordan noted the significant drop in El Salvador’s crime rate over just the past five years, citing the country’s “remarkable strides in national security. Like Bhatia, she appreciated the opportunity to engage with leading policymakers and business leaders.

“Through these meetings, we gained invaluable insights into the country’s economic and political landscape as well as deepened our understanding of its progress and priorities for the future,” Jordan said. “I was able to see what policymaking looks like in real-time and the practical applications of what I have learned in the classroom. It was undoubtedly a highlight of my Princeton career.”