INTERN ABROAD PROGRAM

COMMUNITY HEALTH SYSTEMS (SOUTH AFRICA)

GEI CERTIFICATES IN GLOBAL HEALTH | GLOBAL ENGINEERING | SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT | ENTREPRENEURSHIP

An 8-credit certificate program to develop skills, knowledge, and understanding that prepare you for leadership and engagement in our global society.

AT A GLANCE

  • Certificate Program in Global Health | Global Engineering | Sustainable Development | Entrepreneurship & Social Innovation
  • Disciplinary Tracks: Global Health | Global Engineering | Sustainable Development | Entrepreneurship & Social Innovation
  • Study Abroad Destination: South Africa
  • 2027 Dates: May 30-July 24 (8 weeks)
  • Credit: 8 U.S. credit hours (~ 16 ECTS credits) for eligible university students
  • Eligibility: Any field and level of study

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PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Build community health from the ground up in South Africa
This intensive 8-week, 8-credit residential field internship pairs professional, hands-on work with deep community immersion in South Africa - home to world-class health research and an extensive community health worker network, in a society actively working to extend equitable water, sanitation, and health services to every community. Working as one interdisciplinary cohort, students take a single school through a complete water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) initiative: assessing real conditions, building practical improvements on the ground, and designing and costing the larger works that lie beyond a single summer.

Rather than separate placements, students join GEI's in-country team as contributors to one shared community project, working alongside a local university partner and its students. Weekly cohort colloquia, professional mentorship, and a final digital portfolio guide students to apply their disciplinary lens, develop leadership as global change agents, and leave the host school with a real, lasting result - while self-directed field exploration connects their WASH work to nutrition, school health, and the wider health system.
Program Highlights
  • A complete, real-world WASH project at a single host school - from assessment, to a built improvement, to a costed funding plan
  • One interdisciplinary cohort across public health, nursing and allied health, engineering, sustainability, and social innovation
  • Partnership with a local university, including certified water-quality lab work and collaboration with local student peers
  • Professional mentorship, weekly peer reflection, and a digital portfolio capstone
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ACADEMICS

Program Structure
The Community Health Systems Internship is an intensive, 8-credit program spanning eight weeks over the summer, delivered as a professional field internship rather than a taught course. Students join GEI's in-country team as contributing members of a live community WASH initiative, moving through a deliberate arc that builds from immersion and grounding to hands-on project delivery. This progression ensures that students don't simply learn about community health - they contribute real, professional work in a real-world setting.

The eight weeks follow four phases: a week of immersion in the gateway city of Cape Town, exploring South Africa's health, education, and water systems through expert conversations and site visits; a week of grounding in the host community, meeting the school, the local university partner, and local student peers; five weeks embedded in the WASH project itself - assessment, design, build, and a funding plan for future works; and a final week to synthesize the experience into a portfolio and formally hand the completed work over to the school.
Learning Outcomes
By program's end, students will:
  • Contribute meaningfully and professionally to a real community WASH initiative as part of an interdisciplinary team
  • Conduct community-based WASH assessment - mapping, water-quality testing, and stakeholder engagement - to a professional standard
  • Apply their disciplinary lens (health, engineering, sustainability, or social innovation) to an integrated, co-produced solution design and funding package
  • Explain, through self-directed fieldwork, how water and sanitation connect to nutrition, education, and community health in South African contexts
  • Work effectively across disciplines and cultures, alongside local university students and community members
  • Present a polished digital portfolio documenting their professional fieldwork and growth
Further Details
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YOUR DESTINATION: SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa has emerged from its troubled and turbulent past into a healthy democratic country and the economic powerhouse of the African continent. At the same time, it’s a great place to witness a society going through dynamic changes, as it can still be considered both a developed and an underdeveloped country. South Africans forge a new identity, strongly embracing their unique multicultural character.

UNIQUE EXPERIENCES

Hands-on fieldwork in a real South African school community
Students work directly inside a live WASH initiative - mapping water and sanitation systems, testing water quality with a university laboratory partner, and building practical improvements such as handwashing stations, rainwater harvesting, and safe-water storage - seeing firsthand how community health is built from the ground up.

A complete, community-engaged project
Working as one interdisciplinary team with community members and local students, the cohort takes a single school through the full arc - assessment, a real built improvement, and a costed design and funding plan for the larger works beyond it - leaving a visible, lasting result rather than half-finished work.

Mentored reflection & peer learning
Weekly cohort colloquia led by GEI's in-country team guide students through critical reflection on ethics, cross-cultural engagement, and systems thinking. This structured dialogue, alongside local university peers, supports their growth as community health leaders.

Cultural immersion & weekend exploration
Daily life is woven into learning - students sample local cuisine, visit lively markets, and engage with South Africa's rich cultural diversity through music, food, and everyday interaction, picking up a few words of isiXhosa along the way. Free weekends and organized activities connect them with the country's history (e.g., Robben Island and the District Six Museum) and its landscapes and biodiversity (e.g., Table Mountain, the Cape Peninsula, and safari at a nearby game reserve).

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HOUSING & MEALS

The program includes 8 weeks in South Africa. For this time, GEI South Africa provides housing options depending on availability at the actual project location. These may include:
  • Homestays: Typically single rooms, with shared bathroom, and access to a kitchen and living room
  • Serviced apartments: Single or shared double rooms, with shared bathroom, and access to a kitchen and living room
  • University residence halls at our local partner universities: Shared double rooms, with shared bathroom and no kitchen facilities
  • Simple guesthouses: Shared double rooms, with shared bathroom and no kitchen facilities


Homestay host families typically provide breakfast and dinner. Students in serviced apartments, university residence halls, or guesthouses are usually responsible for all meals outside of core course meals.

You can find additional information in the following blog post: Accommodation – What to expect.

DATES, FEES, AND SCHOLARSHIPS

Program Dates

Application Due Date

Fees

Summer 2027 (8 weeks): May 30-July 24

April 1, 2027

Summer 2027: US $7,950 (8 weeks)

At GEI, we strongly believe in equal access to academic opportunities in study abroad. In order to help eliminate financial barriers, we offer a variety of merit scholarships, trailblazer scholarships, and opportunity scholarships and grants, ranging from $500 to full tuition awards. Each year, GEI is awarding several hundred thousand dollars in scholarships. You can find further information as well as additional resources for external funding opportunities in the following blog post: Scholarships & Grants.

INSTRUCTORS & COORDINATORS

OUR CORE TEAM

All of our staff are highly experienced and resourceful professionals.
Kari Cousins, MA/MSc
Center Director
Mabwe Gwamure, BSc
Program & Student Services Coordinator
Waleed Fatth, MPH
Course Director
Sondra Schreiber, MA
Director, Partnership Development

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