final project

The major project in this course will be to create a portfolio of the above-mentioned smaller projects, and include the country report discussed below. The main goal of this portfolio is to give you the chance to demonstrate that you’ve acquired new skills for thinking about development ans subsequently applying this critique to a specific case-study. Each assignment you do for this portfolio is a variation on a single task: make connections, find relationships, figure out what fits together for you and what doesn’t. Each assignment must be typed (double-spaced 12pt Times, 1-inch margins) and clearly labeled. When submitting the portfolio at the end of the semester, include all previously-graded assignments (daily in-class reflections, film responses, and current events assignments) in a folder or binder.

Here is a checklist for what your portfolio should include:

☐  10 in-class reponses
☐  2 film responses
☐  2 current events assignments
☐  country report, part 1
☐  country report, part 2
☐  country report, part 3

country report

The country report is the most important part of the portfolio, and is the product of both guided and independent research during the semester. Broadly, you will respond to the following scenario:

Last year, the World Bank, in response to the global economic crisis, announced that, in addition to mobilizing billions of dollars to help developing countries weather the crisis it would also be seeking to grow its “vulnerability fund” in order to supply increased development aid to the world’s poorest countries. Your task is to assume the identity of a development actor from one of the IDA borrowing countries (you choose) and then to write a proposal to the World Bank describing and soliciting funds for a unique project that will contribute to the sustainable development of your country. Your development project should be written from a local perspective (i.e. identify an potential issue in your selected country that a local NGO would engage with). You will have time in class to work on these reports, but I expect that most of your time spent on this report will be outside of class. The report is broken into three sections, with each section due at the end of each week of the semester. See below for an explicit description of each of these three sections.

This project will be graded by section and final product based on: content (quality and detail of the research); writing (clarity of writing, organization, grammar, mechanics); and quality of critical thinking (originality of argument and degree to which it engages critically with material covered in the course). Students will be expected to base their analyses on theoretical and analytical frameworks covered in this course and to clearly reflect their understandings of material from readings and lectures. Organize your writing with good thesis statements, topic sentences, introductions and conclusions. The sections should be double spaced, in 12-pt. Times New Roman with 1 inch margins. The total length of the paper should be between 10-12 pages (max). All papers must be submitted to turnitin.com by 5pm on May 27 (the time that the hard copy of the development portfolio is due).

The web will be a key source of information for this project (the course website is a good place to start), but I expect you to use supplementary journal articles and other library resources. Properly document all of your sources – see http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/about/citing.htm for guidelines. You might consider using RefWorks to make the process easier: http://ucblibraries/how/refworks.htm.

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