Ernesto Medina Gomez '06 (Mexico City, Mexico), is spending his second summer as a Levitt Fellow combining his interests in government, economics and public affairs as he researches for a project titled "Have NGOs and anti-globalization activists helped the poor? A study of the impact on the poor of World Bank projects and transnational protest."
Medina Gomez, who is working with Erol Balkan, professor of economics, is doing research to determine the effect of NGO campaigns on the well-being of poor people touched by World Bank Projects and is particularly focusing on the countries of China and Uganda. Within these two nations, Medina Gomez is perusing the case studies of the China Western Poverty Reduction Project and the Bujagali Hydropower Program in Uganda, both of which reflect one type of NGO/activists versus World Bank project disputes and outcomes and their impact on target poor populations.
"These cases are among the Bank's programs that sparked the strongest NGO-led campaigns against the Bank's proceeding, as well as being among those that have been widely covered by reporters, scholars, pressure-group publications, websites, the Bank's internal review bodies and the media," he said.
Last summer, Medina Gomez assisted Judy Owens-Manley, associate director for community research, and he spent his junior year studying abroad at the London School of Economics. He hopes to develop this Levitt project into a senior thesis and plans to apply for a Watson Fellowship so that he may visit the China and Uganda and "figure out for real what the situation is on the ground."
Medina Gomez became interested in studying NGOs and the World Bank after reading a Washington Post column by Sebastian Mallaby and hearing the author speak at a lecture at the London School of Economics.
In addition to reading academic journals and literature produced by the World Bank, Medina Gomez is researching through English-language Chinese and Ugandan newspapers.
Following graduation, Medina Gomez plans on earning a graduate degree in international relations and a law degree or work at a think tank in Washington, D.C.
To enhance student research around issues of public affairs, the Levitt Center funds student-faculty research through its Levitt Research Fellows Program. The program is open to all students who wish to spend the summer working in collaboration with a faculty member on an issue related to public affairs. Students receive a summer stipend and some expense money, and spend 10 weeks in the summer working intensively with a faculty mentor. Those selected for the program are required to provide a written assessment of their work at the completion of the summer, and also give a public presentation of their research findings to the Hamilton community, or local high school classes through the Levitt Scholars program.
-- by Katherine Trainor
Medina Gomez, who is working with Erol Balkan, professor of economics, is doing research to determine the effect of NGO campaigns on the well-being of poor people touched by World Bank Projects and is particularly focusing on the countries of China and Uganda. Within these two nations, Medina Gomez is perusing the case studies of the China Western Poverty Reduction Project and the Bujagali Hydropower Program in Uganda, both of which reflect one type of NGO/activists versus World Bank project disputes and outcomes and their impact on target poor populations.
"These cases are among the Bank's programs that sparked the strongest NGO-led campaigns against the Bank's proceeding, as well as being among those that have been widely covered by reporters, scholars, pressure-group publications, websites, the Bank's internal review bodies and the media," he said.
Last summer, Medina Gomez assisted Judy Owens-Manley, associate director for community research, and he spent his junior year studying abroad at the London School of Economics. He hopes to develop this Levitt project into a senior thesis and plans to apply for a Watson Fellowship so that he may visit the China and Uganda and "figure out for real what the situation is on the ground."
Medina Gomez became interested in studying NGOs and the World Bank after reading a Washington Post column by Sebastian Mallaby and hearing the author speak at a lecture at the London School of Economics.
In addition to reading academic journals and literature produced by the World Bank, Medina Gomez is researching through English-language Chinese and Ugandan newspapers.
Following graduation, Medina Gomez plans on earning a graduate degree in international relations and a law degree or work at a think tank in Washington, D.C.
To enhance student research around issues of public affairs, the Levitt Center funds student-faculty research through its Levitt Research Fellows Program. The program is open to all students who wish to spend the summer working in collaboration with a faculty member on an issue related to public affairs. Students receive a summer stipend and some expense money, and spend 10 weeks in the summer working intensively with a faculty mentor. Those selected for the program are required to provide a written assessment of their work at the completion of the summer, and also give a public presentation of their research findings to the Hamilton community, or local high school classes through the Levitt Scholars program.
-- by Katherine Trainor
