Guantánamo – PhD. Rosi Smith, Professor of Educational Studies at De Montfort University in the United Kingdom, has a working relationship with the Municipal University Center of San Antonio del Sur, in Guantánamo, which impacts the local development of this territory with great agricultural potential in the province of Guantánamo.
After Hurricane Oscar devastated San Antonio del Sur in 2024, the University’s Information Center lost all its data base and computer equipment, which was swept away by the floodwaters. Dr. Smith and her colleagues from the Montfort University donated 12 laptops for the center’s work and also funded several community projects.
She said that she is observing them and bringing this experience back to the UK as a connection between the university and the community.
PhD. Smith highlighted 12 projects that comprise the portfolio of the comprehensive capacity-building system for local development in San Antonio del Sur, such as the production of dark-coated pigs, the cattle breeding, and organic honey production.
The Professor Smith leads modules addressing inclusion, learning disabilities, disability, and neurodiversity. She has researched education and participation in Cuba since 2009. She is currently the principal investigator of the AHRC exchange project “Cultures of Participation for Equitable Development in Cuba and the United Kingdom.”
