IDSG

International Development Study Group Main Links

These pages are for the collaborative work of the International Development Study Group at Gonzaga University. The purpose of the group is described below.

• IDSG Bibliography
• IDSG Background

5 Successes, 5 Failures, 5 Programs

5 Successes

• Global Giving Touted by Easterly as part of a new "market" for program delivery, I'd like to think this might be a successful model for micro-philanthropy. Alfino 17:28, 5 March 2007 (PST)
• FINCA] international -micro finance group. From Blair Adornato
• [KIVA] an Internet based loan source, somewhat like global giving on the wiki page. (Blair has user experience with this one.) From Blair Adornato
• [Green Microfinance] they work to promote environmentally sound projects while simultaneously using the micro finance model. From Blair Adornato
• The story of Leonard Wantchekon, from Benin, strikes me as both a personal success story and as a success story that invites us to think about the connection between education and development. This brief excerpt Media:Easterlyexerpt.PDF makes me curious about the school at Zagnanado that Wantchekon came from. It also makes me think about the potential value of having inbound international students from developing countries.

5 Failures

• In our discussion at our first meeting, mention was made of the failure of an anti-malaria bed-netting program. I find myself coming back to that kind of failure in thinking about problems to avoid in our own future programs. Alfino 07:15, 20 March 2007 (PDT)
• I think we also had a collective concern at our first meeting that we avoid program involvements that do not involve authentic community development. At some point, we should clarify this concern.Alfino 07:20, 20 March 2007 (PDT)

5 Programs

• Seattle University's International Development Internship. Please explore this sister-institution program. It gives a good example of tight curriculum integration and profound experiential learning in a diversity of well-organized credit-based placement locations.

April 20th Readings

• Chinua Achebe, " The African writer and the English Language," from Morning Yet on Creation Day, 1976.

• Thiong'o, The Language of African Literature, from Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature, 1986.

• Kwasi Wiredu, " How Not to Compare African Thought with Western Thought," (from Albert Mosley, African Philosophy, Prentice Hall, 1995.)

• Jay Ciaffa, " Postcolonial African Philosophy: Reflections on Tradition and Modernization," Gonzaga Peace Conference, March 30-31, Spokane, Washington.