Major
Biological Sciences
Advisor
LeBrun, Roger A.
Advisor Department
Plant Sciences and Entomology
Date
5-2012
Keywords
international development; grassroots; project management; sustainability
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Abstract
As a senior at the University of Rhode Island, it has been my experience that the knowledge that has been most successfully retained within my mind has been that which I gained through active learning. As an international development minor I have taken many courses on how developmental aid is provided around the world, and throughout these courses I have learned that the drive for creating those endeavors came from an understanding of need. In order to best complete my education on international development I created a sustainable developmental aid project which provided education for specific needs in Malawi, Africa.
My personal endeavor became to learn how best to create and manage an international development project so that I may someday delve further into the intricacies of large scale international development. In order to do so I needed to learn how to take an idea from its conception all the way to its physical realization by learning the do’s and don’ts of development work. The project was therefore divided into step by step processes varying in all spectrums from how to make initial connections, where to look for funding, and how to gain support, to whom would I work with in order to gain the best results.
For two semesters I worked to both create and fund an agricultural extension project in Malawi, Africa where farmers learned about the agricultural, nutritional, medicinal and economic benefits of both dairy goat farming and beekeeping. By actively pursuing this endeavor, I was able to coordinate several parties into a product that not only gave me hands on experience in developmental work, but also helped to improve the quality of life of individuals across the globe.