My PhD research dealt with institutions, adaptability and the
resilience of social-ecological systems, and impacts that
development agency approaches to participation may have on
these. Outputs from this work are available here.
My masters thesis research looked at livelihood security and
grazing land tenure in the Gambia. One of the key
conclusions was that common "grazing land" is of great
importance to the poorest people--people without
livestock. Land tenure reform that restricts their access
would reduce the security of their livelihoods by reducing
access to resources that they rely on especially during tough
times. The thesis is published here.
I directed a participatory action research project on knowledge
about AIDS and attitudes toward AIDS. The project includes
several NGOs and community-based organizations. The goal was
to get information needed for the creation for a holistic
and effective anti-HIV-AIDS program for northern Ghana.
When the Stratford, Ontario office of Women and Rural Economic Development
(WRED)
hired me to do some research for them,
I knew that the work would be interesting. I teamed up
with another consultant,
Susan Rimkus.
WRED wanted us to interview farm women who were running small
businesses. Talking to these creative, industrious
entrepreneurs was a treat.
Our task was to distil their experience down to one or two
pages each and to draw some lessons from their experiences.
We also conducted a more formal market study of the region.
We then assembled all this material into a workbook that WRED
could use for its course for women setting up their own
businesses.
Summary of past contracts