Change We Believe In

Research Topic Brainstorming List By: Jenkins Divo Macedo, Institution: Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts Department: International Development Community and Environment (IDCE) Program: Master of Arts in International Development and Social Change (IDSC) Tentative Research Topics of Interest  The Roles of Non-Governmental Organizations in Development Projects in Ghana and Liberia.  The United Nations Refugee Agency in Ghana: A Case Study of the Social, Economic, Political and Environmental Impacts of Liberian Refugees in Ghana.  From Refugee Camps to the US: The Untold Stories of Liberian Refugees Living in the Diaspora.  The Emerging State of Environmental Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons and Relief Aid: A Case Study of the 2010 Haitian Earthquake and Beyond.  Reconsidering the Past of Development Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Colonialism, Post-Colonialism, and Pan-Africanism in Ghana.  The Environmental and Social Impac...

Over the past fifty years there has been significant shifts in development paradigms throughout the world. The sole intent of these paradigm shifts is to provide humanity with a better system of addressing issues concerning the social, cultural, economic, political and environmental wellbeing of its people. Development practitioners the world over have established several theoretical frameworks upon which development projects and organizations operate sometimes with limited or no connections or contributions from local systems in developing countries to which these development projects target. This essay evaluates the establishment of yet a new theoretical framework within the development discourse such as gender, participation, the rights movements, and how these processes interplay within the context of mainstream development operations building on the ideological framework of "Common Sense" proposed by Gramsci and expanded by Philip McMichael in his work about "Gre...