Graduate Student, Politics and International Relations
Merton College
Thesis Title: Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers: Now Who Calls the Shots? Evidence from Zambia 1997-2007
Ngaire Woods and Gavin Williams
About
I research the relationship between Africa and the West. I am interested in how donor governments and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) promote their preferred economic and social agendas, and particularly in African responses to these influences.
I am currently involved in three projects:
1. Doctoral research into the impact of Western donor and NGO interventions on Zambian political economy, 1997-2007. This work considers particularly the impact of involvement in developing Zambia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) on both civil society organisations and on the personal ideology of Zambian clergy, women’s activists, trade unionists and development NGO workers.
2. Collaborative research as part of the Global Economic Governance (GEG) Programme’s ‘Negotiating Aid’ project, which assesses the strategies adopted by African governments to wrest control from donors in aid relationships. I have contributed several chapters to a recent volume: 'The Politics of Aid: African Strategies for Negotiating with Donors', Oxford University Press, 2008. The working papers on this site all relate to this project.
3. A research project: ‘For Whom the Windfalls?’ which considers the impacts of privatisation of the copper mining industry in Zambia. I write a regular blog on the website set up to help distribute the report - www.minewatchzambia.com and in September 2008 organised the first MineWatchZambia conference.
If you want to know roughly what I think about aid, the simplest thing to read is the short, 'The false promise of the ownership agenda', in the 'papers' section of this site.
Before coming to Oxford, I worked for seven years for a range of campaign groups, most recently Action for Southern Africa, the successor organisation to the Anti-Apartheid Movement. I researched and lobbied on UK and EU policies towards Southern Africa on aid, trade, debt, HIV-AIDS and mining.
I hold a first class undergraduate degree in Politics from Edinburgh University, and a Masters with distinction in International Relations from London University (SOAS).
Contact Information
Merton College
Oxford
OX1 4JD
+44 7946 496503
skype: alastairfraser
MSN: fraseralastair@hotmail.com