Term Project Critique
The presentations are over! Hurrah!
Now, a moment to reflect on other people’s presentations.
I really enjoyed Byron and Michelle’s presentation on poverty on hunger. They looked at Somalia and how the problem can be improved in such an unstable nation. Broc and I focused on Somalia as well, so it was really interesting for me to see other information about the country. I learned a lot more about the agricultural and social sides of the nation.
The presentation was set up very well. It was well designed and had powerful pictures. I thought the banner that constantly remained on top was great because it created a flow throughout the presentation. It was faded just right so that it was not distracting as well. The images used were obviously carefully chosen and fit well with what Byron and Michelle were trying to get across.
After setting up a background of the country and why exactly people suffer from poverty and hunger, they went into specific case studies of programs that were helping the people. They looked at programs tat helped Africans help themselves. Rather than a program that just gives Somalis food and supplies, they found ways for the community to make decisions together to improve conditions. I especially liked the case study of UN-HABITAT. It is a UN program to maintain socially and environmentally sustainable shelter for all through working with governments and small communities. It helps the communities take action against their problems. I thought the case studies on improving the agricultural problems were also fantastic. Somalia is a dry country. It has seen many droughts and does not grow crops very well, thus limiting the amount of food put out to the people. Working on improving agricultural productivity in the nation itself is the base of improving the hunger situation.
After looking in depth at these case studies, they went on to establish their proposal. It was not a specific list of what they think needs to be done in Somalia. Instead, it was a call for community involvement, the improvement of the government, and the reversing of rural degeneration. I liked that they just had a vague guide of what to do. I think if programs were expanded for Somalis to get started and help themselves, they could pull themselves out of this state of hunger and poverty.
Overall, I think Byron and Michelle did a great job of explaining the problem and establishing a basis for their solution. Yey!