This summer I worked for PLAID at the Institute for the Theory and Practice of International Relations. I spent most of the time helping to build a database of all the development projects that have been funded by governments and multilateral donors since 1970.In the process I realized how important this data is to a vast range of issues in development. Throughout the summer I and other PLAID research assistants met with numerous people from every aspect of the development community who wanted to use PLAID data for different projects. For example, while we met with researchers from universities across the nation who wanted to use the data, we also met with different organizations like ONE and discussed how PLAID contributes to aid transparency. I am also using PLAID data in my own research project about aid cutoffs. In September I will have the opportunity to present my preliminary findings in Washington D.C.. Meanwhile, Through all of these different facets the work and research that I am doing with PLAID is creating a greater understanding of how international aid works, which is critical if international aid is going to have an impact on the lives of the people it aims to help.
My experiences outside the classroom and abroad have definitely made my experience as Weingartner fellow and PLAID researcher more meaningful.
While I was volunteering in Nicaragua I saw the importance of aid transparency and coordination. One of the biggest obstacles the group I was with faced was explaining who we were and what we wanted to do and then coordinating with other international groups working in the community. I went on this trip as a member of the group Students for Healthy Communities which travels to Nicaragua every year during Spring Break to host a medical clinic and conduct research. Our goal is to design a sustainable project that will continue to help the community even after we’re gone. This group is made up of fifteen students of all years and majors, and throughout the school year we take a class about the concepts of community building and the ethics of volunteering to prepare us for our trip. While a William and Mary professor facilitates the classes, they are primarily student led and designed. Because of the diversity of the students in the group we incorporate ideas and lessons from many areas like sociology, economics, government, linguistics, and Hispanic studies as well as pre-medicine in our discussions and projects. Together we are trying to build a new model for volunteering and development which we can share with the rapidly expanding volunteering community within William and Mary and other colleges.
My time in Nicaragua inspired me to spend more time volunteering and learning abroad, and so I decided to spend my fall semester working with a British organization in Madagascar. For ten weeks I will be living and working on environmental, health, and education assignments in the south-east part of the island with twenty other students from the United Kingdom, Western Europe, and Australia. During this time we’ll learn about how development projects unfold on the ground and share ideas about how young people can solve some of the most pressing issues facing poor people all over the world. After we return we will continue to raise awareness to get other people interested in these problems and their solutions.
As a Weingartner fellow I see all of these different ventures as opportunities to work and build connections with people interested and involved in improving the world through development. Together we are building a network of people- students, academics, and policy-makers- who can talk and work together to address the biggest challenges facing the world today.