Applied Studies in International Development & Aid I

Each student undertook their own project of participatory development during the semester, and presented the outcomes. Due to the limitations in time and resources available, those projects had to be narrowed down in scope, while assuming their longer-term goals. For example, one project aimed at increased recognition of fair-trade products among the members of this class, including the instructor. The student in charge of this project provided the target group, i.e. the class, with background information as well as an opportunity to have bites of several products of fair-trade chocolate. A questionnaire survey after these activities revealed that our perceptions towards, as well as willingness to purchase, fair-trade products had been raised as a result of this project. As such, the class learned how to operate project cycles in highly practical manners, and how those practices relate to theories of participatory development.