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Whilst the use of documentary film to mediate issues of international development and social change is nothing new, the tools of production, media environment, expectations of, and relationships between, audiences and content are evolving at a rapid pace, bringing new approaches and challenges. As INGOs, development agencies and media producers attempt to engage audiences in issues of international development and social change in an increasing saturated media environment, many are looking for more innovative, Web 2.0- native ways of presenting these issues. Interactive web documentary, a format that has emerged from the dynamic and frenetic Web 2.0 media environment, combining digital, interactive and social media with the documentary form, has begun to be used to communicate with and engage audiences in these issues. But how do audiences respond to this format? Within this paper I investigate, through a survey of three audience groups and two case study examples, supplemented by semi-structured qualitative interviews and focus group discussion, how interactive web documentary might affect audience engagement with issues of international development and social change. In so doing I uncover three modes of engagement: active engagement, emotional engagement and critical engagement, which appear to be enhanced by the format. At the same time I discuss barriers to engagement, such as access, audience interest and tensions between discourses of gaming and issues of international development and social change, all of which must be negotiated if the format is to succeed in its aims.

Given the tormented history of development projects around the globe and the fact that global service learning and engineering-for-development often engages students in development interventions, it is critically important to explore the impact of global service learning projects and partnerships not only on student learning, which has received ample attention, but also on the international host communities. Although there is increasing research on student outcomes of participation in service-learning, there is a lack of research focusing on the outcomes related to the community where the service takes place. Research focused on the impact on communities should include the wide range of perspectives that compose the community- participants, organization leaders, residents, and others. This study responds to this need by exploring the community participants’ perspectives in Waslala, Nicaragua about the projects and partnership with Villanova University’s College of Engineering. The two research questions explore the community participants’ perspectives about: (1) outcomes of the projects or partnership, and (2) educational goals. Community participants’ perspectives call for a broader conceptualization of what counts as outcomes and highlight the importance of participation in all phases of the research process. Supporting existing scholarship about host community motivations to serve as co-educators, my findings describe what the community participants want to teach university students. Community participants’ perspectives describe a desired shift in students and a move towards critical global citizenship education. This study highlights the utility of Fraser’s (2009) theory of social justice and Andreotti’s (2006) framework for critical global citizenship education as useful tools to analyze and understand GSL partnerships. / Urban Education

Although decentralization is a common ingredient of the third wave of democracy currently underway in Latin America, few investigations have been conducted on the tools used to prepare local actors for increased responsibility. This study begins to fill that void. It examines the ability of municipal development plans (MDP) to effectively achieve the goals that underlay their formulation and, consequently, promote decentralization within Guatemala. Over the course of my service in the Peace Corps I witnessed and participated in the formulation of various MDPs. This experience provided the foundation for this research. I interviewed representatives of the three organizations most actively involved in the formulation of MDPs and a number of local participants including mayors, community leaders, representatives of community-based organizations, governmental and non-governmental organizations. This research demonstrates that municipal development plans are an effective tool for the promotion of decentralization. Despite this, the research reveals that the short and medium-term relevance of each process employed in the formulation of MDPs depends on which actor groups are focused upon. These findings focus attention on the value of formulating MDPs. Although it is impossible to gauge long-term effectiveness at this time, it is apparent that the process of MDP formulation helps to create higher expectations of government by citizens, increases the capacity of local government to effectively assume increasing levels of responsibility, and enhances governance structures at the local level. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning

This ethnographic study explores the postcolonial presence and shared history of the Dutch in Suriname. Suriname has been colonized by the Dutch for more than 300 years, after which it became independent 49 years ago. This study explores the many ways in which Suriname is still connected to the Netherlands. The research question addresses how Suriname’s postcolonial, transnational and neocolonial relations with the Netherlands are visible in everyday encounters with infrastructures in Suriname, and how these relations influence and get influenced by Dutch development work. Instead of entering the field with a set research question, the research question is the result of relying on local interlocutors' insights. Qualitative research, including fieldwork, participant observation and interviews, is performed to explore colonialism, postcolonialism, transnationalism and development work. The position of the researcher is reflected upon. This study illuminates the ongoing visibility of the Netherlands in Suriname in the infrastructure of the country, especially in the capital city Paramaribo. Different forms of international development work are found to often occur parallel to a problematised notion of help. This research contributes to the field of cultural anthropology by taking a critical stance towards ethnographic methods and showing the importance of contextualizing the field.

This dissertation explores the implications of natural disaster risk for access to financial services, especially credit. Its results show that disasters can dramatically undermine the ability of financial intermediaries (FIs) to lend after an event, increasing the cost of the disaster and delaying recovery. Moreover, the risk of natural disasters discourages investment in vulnerable regions and economic sectors and so slows economic development. Financial risk transfer mechanisms such as insurance can help maintain lending following an event. While many international development projects have targeted disaster insurance markets to households, managing disaster-related credit risk may be done more effectively through insurance products for FIs. Additionally, prudential supervision and the credit risk rating methods of investors in developing and emerging economies are dominated by developed country standards that overlook natural disaster risks. Public and private interests align in the need to tailor such standards and so enhance the effectiveness with which vulnerable FIs manage disaster risk.

This research studies the competencies of International Development (ID) project managers from their perspectives, taking into consideration the contextual factors and the challenges that they face when managing ID projects. The study adopts a constructionist ontological viewpoint and an interpretivist epistemological philosophical assumption. The nature of the research is exploratory with an inductive approach, using qualitative research method. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with experienced project managers in International Development projects. Template analysis strategy was used to analyse the data. The findings show that contextual factors have a significant influence on the challenges that ID project managers face when managing projects. Contextual factors are operating environment, large network of stakeholders and intangible goals of ID projects. Five challenges were identified as the results of the context, namely stakeholder management challenge, beneficiary needs analysis challenge, the challenge of balancing strategic and operational views, capacity building and training challenge and sustainable funding challenge. To overcome these challenges, seven ID project manager competencies were identified management skills, personal qualities, interpersonal skills, stakeholder engagement skills, capacity building skills, and change management skills. These competencies are found to be interrelated and complementary. While the role and responsibilities of ID project managers were also uncovered during the research, the findings on contextual factors, challenges and competencies help to better understand the ID project manager role and responsibilities. This study makes the contributions from both theoretical and practical point of view. With regards to theoretical contribution, our findings expanded on ID project manager competencies as well as relating them to the context and challenges in ID projects. The role and responsibilities of ID project manager is another theoretical contribution in this study. From a practical point of view, this thesis’s findings would be useful for various organizations who deliver ID projects, particularly human resources management. In addition, it can act as knowledge sharing with ID project managers and help in designing and enhancing educational programmes in ID project management. Overall, this could result in better delivery and overcoming the challenges of International Development projects.

Both practitioners and academics have recently begun referring to humanitarian agencies operating within an active 'aid marketplace' in which limited funding pits actors against each other in pursuance of their own projects and wider aims. This thesis seeks to explore how the pressures of a competitive environment impact on the motivations and actions of aid actors at an individual and organizational level. Based on the common saying that aid workers are 'mercenaries, missionaries and misfits', I construct a typology of pressures (interest-based, altruistic, and bureaucratic), which, it is argued, can be used to explain and understand much of this competitive and collaborative behaviour. A particular focus of the thesis is the impact of these various influences on the process and politics of information transfer and discourse creation regarding the process of needs assessment, monitoring and evaluation. I explore all of these issues through the medium of a case study of UNHCR's interventions in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2015, and seek to provide a detailed history of the agency's activities, politics and challenges during this period. In particular I am interested in the motivations driving the agency's actions; the strategies it has employed to achieve its aims; the calculated narratives that it has crafted to justify its interventions and attract greater support; and the very different ways in which it has approached the needs of different categories of displaced people.