The Development Trap

What are the difficulties a developing country faces as they attempt to raise their standard of living? Today's class was our last class that we will spend on poverty, development and living standards - and we used several different articles and movie clips to enhance each section.

We started off by identifying the "most important" problems a developing country faces, including disease, shortage of fresh water, the poverty cycle, debt, etc. We used a package of notes to help illustrate each of the major issues. At the end of the notes package is an assignment that is due next week (wed/thurs) where you must choose 5 major issues that a developing country faces, and articulate the causes, effects and potential solution for each issue. There are a selection of articles given out in class to help you understand each issue.

We watched several video clips today including:

• A video by the Red Cross discussing the shortages of fresh water in Zambia
• A scene from Slumdog Millionaire that shows life in the slums for children
• The HIV/AIDS chart from www.gapminder.org