Community-Based Development in the Pearl of Africa
Hi all. I’m Luke Horvath, a Senior Economics Major at the University of Notre Dame. Instead of doing some corporate internship for a boatload of money last summer, I had the awesome opportunity to travel all the way to a rural village in Uganda to do a small research project as part of a Notre Dame development project there.
I had done a bit of traveling before my immersion into Uganda during my semester in Ireland, but none of that prepared me for my immersion into Uganda! The whole semester that I spent gallivanting across Europe I was waiting to be able to travel to Uganda, because there I would get to experience something truly different. Well, after returning home I can truly say that it was a life-changing experience. I learned things I never could have in a classroom. There’s no way of replicating being invited into somebody’s home, a world away, for tea or fruit, and feeling that warmth. It might be a cliche that people talk about after travelling to a “developing” country, but I really saw true happiness in the Ugandans I met. They have rich lives and vibrant traditions.
I’m writing this from my home in Poughkeepsie, NY, and although every person I spoke to in Uganda cannot fathom the luxuries surrounding me, I did not feel as if they were any worse off for it. I wrote in my journal “people have the remarkable ability to be HAPPY in so many different circumstances.” For all of us who worry about tests, or relationships, or any of the other million concerns that take us away from the really elemental aspects of life -- friends, family, food, nature, and being HAPPY -- I’d just like to say that on Uganda time, none of that matters. So sit back with some matoke and enjoy the website I’ve set up for you guys.
Notre Dame partners with Uganda Martyrs University to run what’s called a “Participatory Development” Program called UPFORD (University Partnership for Outreach, Research, and Development). During my time in Uganda I was inspired by participatory development because it encourages local village participation in framing challenges and implementing solutions. I felt like a novice every day conducting my research, and participatory development seemed like a great way to harness local concerns to ensure that money is spent effectively on the ground.
Here's the outline of my website. I have a little background for you on the area of Nnindye and what Notre Dame is trying to do there. Then, feel free to check out my pages describing the philosophy of participatory development programs. I’ve included a couple case studies of programs focusing on economic development and maintaining the land from soil degradation, a huge problem in Uganda and throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Finally, if you’re still intrigued, I’ve included a couple pages on the relationship between Anthropology and Economics, especially in the context of participatory development. I’m an Economics major, and I had a bit of trouble adapting to how Anthropolgists think about development issues at the beginning of this course. I decided to run with that and explore the tensions between these two disciplines in a bit more detail. Although I love Economics, I’ve included a couple of critiques of the way Economists think about international development and explored several ways that Anthropologists can be helpful in exploring the local nature of participatory development programs. I’ve found through this class that looking at issues from the local perspective of an anthropologist can be really helpful, especially for someone used to thinking in abstract, conceptual ways.
Throughout the website I've sprinkled some quotes and vignetters from my journal entries. These "tidbits" just add a bit of color to the issues I was thinking about in Uganda.
I hope you find it interesting!
I had done a bit of traveling before my immersion into Uganda during my semester in Ireland, but none of that prepared me for my immersion into Uganda! The whole semester that I spent gallivanting across Europe I was waiting to be able to travel to Uganda, because there I would get to experience something truly different. Well, after returning home I can truly say that it was a life-changing experience. I learned things I never could have in a classroom. There’s no way of replicating being invited into somebody’s home, a world away, for tea or fruit, and feeling that warmth. It might be a cliche that people talk about after travelling to a “developing” country, but I really saw true happiness in the Ugandans I met. They have rich lives and vibrant traditions.
I’m writing this from my home in Poughkeepsie, NY, and although every person I spoke to in Uganda cannot fathom the luxuries surrounding me, I did not feel as if they were any worse off for it. I wrote in my journal “people have the remarkable ability to be HAPPY in so many different circumstances.” For all of us who worry about tests, or relationships, or any of the other million concerns that take us away from the really elemental aspects of life -- friends, family, food, nature, and being HAPPY -- I’d just like to say that on Uganda time, none of that matters. So sit back with some matoke and enjoy the website I’ve set up for you guys.
Notre Dame partners with Uganda Martyrs University to run what’s called a “Participatory Development” Program called UPFORD (University Partnership for Outreach, Research, and Development). During my time in Uganda I was inspired by participatory development because it encourages local village participation in framing challenges and implementing solutions. I felt like a novice every day conducting my research, and participatory development seemed like a great way to harness local concerns to ensure that money is spent effectively on the ground.
Here's the outline of my website. I have a little background for you on the area of Nnindye and what Notre Dame is trying to do there. Then, feel free to check out my pages describing the philosophy of participatory development programs. I’ve included a couple case studies of programs focusing on economic development and maintaining the land from soil degradation, a huge problem in Uganda and throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Finally, if you’re still intrigued, I’ve included a couple pages on the relationship between Anthropology and Economics, especially in the context of participatory development. I’m an Economics major, and I had a bit of trouble adapting to how Anthropolgists think about development issues at the beginning of this course. I decided to run with that and explore the tensions between these two disciplines in a bit more detail. Although I love Economics, I’ve included a couple of critiques of the way Economists think about international development and explored several ways that Anthropologists can be helpful in exploring the local nature of participatory development programs. I’ve found through this class that looking at issues from the local perspective of an anthropologist can be really helpful, especially for someone used to thinking in abstract, conceptual ways.
Throughout the website I've sprinkled some quotes and vignetters from my journal entries. These "tidbits" just add a bit of color to the issues I was thinking about in Uganda.
I hope you find it interesting!