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Full-Text Articles in Business

An Expanding Financial Sector: Continuity And Change Among Dhikur Groups In Lower Mustang, Anna Misenti Oct 2015

An Expanding Financial Sector: Continuity And Change Among Dhikur Groups In Lower Mustang, Anna Misenti

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Thakali people of lower Mustang have a long history of economic success fostered through community systems that function due to cooperation, but are also characterized by competition. One of these traditional systems is dhikur , a system of rotating credit composed of approximately twenty members. This study examines the roles of traditional savings and credit institutions within communities in lower Mustang in the context of the emergence of private financial institutions in Jomsom over the last ten years. My research displayed the strength of these community based organizations in the face of a private financial sector where organizational requirements …


Fair Trade Or Fake Trade? Specialty Coffee Certifications And Development In Uganda, Eliza Cummings Oct 2015

Fair Trade Or Fake Trade? Specialty Coffee Certifications And Development In Uganda, Eliza Cummings

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project examined the relationship between specialty coffee certifications and development. The focus was exploring the local and national implications Fairtrade coffee certifications have in Uganda. Coffee is a critical commodity, accounting for 15 percent of Uganda’s foreign exchange and engaging over one million households in production. Currently, specialty certified coffees including Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, and 4C make up only four percent of total production. However, under Uganda’s 2013 National Coffee Policy, there is a target to expand specialty production to 24 percent. It is therefore imperative to understand how these specialty certifications affect primary producers participating as well as …


The Politics Of Social Entrepreneurship In Cameroon, Aaron Danowski Oct 2015

The Politics Of Social Entrepreneurship In Cameroon, Aaron Danowski

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Social entrepreneurship, a practice that combines nonprofit missions and business principles in pursuit of social impact, is a growing phenomenon that has the potential to empower millions of people around the world through a decentralized approach to social problem solving. In this paper, I examine the state of social entrepreneurship in Cameroon, exploring how social entrepreneurship is defined in the Cameroonian context by local actors, and the ways in which Cameroonian social entrepreneurs interact with macro, meso, and micro level politics and partners to create sustainable social impact. From November 7 through December 7, 2015, I conducted in-person interviews with …


Extractivist Agribusiness Model: Analysis Of Social Resistances Emerging In Response To The Extractivist Agribusiness Model: A Case Study Of The Industrial Belt Of Gran Rosario, Alexa González Apr 2015

Extractivist Agribusiness Model: Analysis Of Social Resistances Emerging In Response To The Extractivist Agribusiness Model: A Case Study Of The Industrial Belt Of Gran Rosario, Alexa González

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In regards to human rights and environmental rights, there is a paradox that exists between the rhetoric and actions of the government regarding agribusiness. While the Argentine government increasingly connects their rhetoric to the promotion of these rights, they have allowed transnational corporations to modify the agricultural model in a way that exploits the land for the production of commodities. People living in fields where biotechnology is operated and urban-industrial zones where the commodities are exported report health problems and deaths in light of the corporations’ presence. Confronted with the degradation of their fundamental rights, those whose lives are being …


Kenya’S Konza Techno City: Utopian Vision Meets Social Reality, Amina Johari Apr 2015

Kenya’S Konza Techno City: Utopian Vision Meets Social Reality, Amina Johari

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper explores Kenya’s ambitious Konza Technology City. In 2008 the Kenyan government unveiled its plan to construct a city from scratch 60 kilometers outside of the nation’s capital, Nairobi. Konza Technology City is a flagship project for Kenya Vision 2030, the country’s development program covering the period 2008 to 2030. The new city is expected to relieve Nairobi of some of its traffic and overcrowding issues, and also support the country’s growing technology sector. Konza City is just one of many proposed city plans all over sub-Saharan Africa reflecting a growing phenomenon. Due to the challenges many African cities …


Sports And Exercise Medicine For Athletes And Footballers: The Case Of Kenya, Monil Patel Apr 2015

Sports And Exercise Medicine For Athletes And Footballers: The Case Of Kenya, Monil Patel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Sports are one of life's greatest gifts. People love watching, discussing and participating in sports. Kenya has a rich and successful history in certain sports, notably in athletics (track and field). Since the 1960's, Kenyans have won several gold medals and numerous world champions. In addition, Kenyans have dominated the world marathons since the 1980's. Kenya has some of the best yet simplest training areas, some of the best coaches, and some of the hardest working athletes in the world. However, people do not realize that many Kenyan athletes only shine for a few years before they vanish in the …


Bringing Flowers Back To The Cité Des Fleurs: A Geographical Study Of The Sôma Beach Development Project In Mahajanga, Elizabeth Isaac-Herzog Apr 2015

Bringing Flowers Back To The Cité Des Fleurs: A Geographical Study Of The Sôma Beach Development Project In Mahajanga, Elizabeth Isaac-Herzog

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Mahajanga, Madagascar is currently watching one of its biggest development efforts unfold. The Sôma Beach project will transform the previously-bustling Village Touristique, degraded over the past decades by the ocean’s waves, into an accessible hotspot for national and international tourists. This study aimed to answer the overarching questions, “How is the Sôma Beach project being carried out?” and “How is it affecting the local population and spatial organization?” Interviews, spatial observation and analysis, and review of relevant documents were used during a month-long period in order to gather information on this topic. The study concluded that space was an influential …


Western Farmers’ Markets In Kathmandu: Vendor Perspectives, Caroline Saunders Apr 2015

Western Farmers’ Markets In Kathmandu: Vendor Perspectives, Caroline Saunders

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study seeks to understand Western farmers’ markets (FMs) in Kathmandu by understanding vendors’ motivations for attending FMs; and further, their perspectives on the purpose and potential for expansion of FMs in Kathmandu’s food economy. In the US and Europe, FMs are often seen in the literature as a component of a social movement (SM) called the ‘alternative food movement’ (AFM) concerned with environmental sustainability and social justice within the processes of food production and consumption (Isenhour 2012). FMs, a type of direct market that offer face-to-face interaction between producers and consumers, are a site for the transmission of values …


El Crecimiento De China Y Su Vinculaciones Con La Industria De Soja En La Argentina / Chinese Growth And Its Connections With The Argentinian Soy Industry, Anita Desai Apr 2015

El Crecimiento De China Y Su Vinculaciones Con La Industria De Soja En La Argentina / Chinese Growth And Its Connections With The Argentinian Soy Industry, Anita Desai

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper analyzes the growth of Chinese influence in Argentina over the course of the last fifteen years, particularly as it relates to the soy export market. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses are used to examine the increasingly important bilateral relationship and its effects on Argentine industries, communities, and opportunities for growth and development. The paper finds that Argentina’s bilateral trade deals in the soy industry have created a dangerous dependence on China, characterized by reprimarization on global value chains, the deterioration of legal restrictions on trade, as well as huge environmental and social risks. Although the increased trade has …