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| Ms. Danielle Resnick (Photo courtesy USAID) |
[5 April 2010] -- Thorough research on the plight of the urban poor in Lusaka, Zambia, combined with practical policy recommendations earned Danielle Resnick, a PhD. candidate in political science at Cornell University, a trip to the World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro.
Ms. Resnick won the grand prize in a competition for original research on topics related to the theme of the 2010 World Urban Forum, “The Right to the City: Bridging the Urban Divide.” She travelled 22-26 March to Brazil as a guest of the International Housing Coalition (IHC).
The competition was sponsored by USAID, IHC, The World Bank, the Woodrow Wilson Center, and Cities Alliance.
Ms. Resnick’s winning entry entitled, “Failing to Capitalize? Urban Service Delivery in Opposition-Controlled African Cities,” looks at why the urban poor in Lusaka are not accessing services.
“Failing to Capitalize” was one of 165 entries submitted by graduate students from a wide variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, including urban planning, architecture, political science, geography, public policy and management, and anthropology. The World Bank plans to publish the top 14 papers in an online document this spring.
Ms. Resnick, originally from Pennsauken, New Jersey, holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics as well as a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. Previously, she has worked as a Research Analyst at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, D.C. as well as a consultant in the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group.
Her research focuses on the political economy of development, comparative democratisation, and decentralisation, with a regional specialisation in sub-Saharan Africa. She has conducted fieldwork in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Zambia and has published in journals such as Development Policy Review, World Development, and Social Movement Studies.
Read the USAID press release “Cornell Student Wins IHC-USAID Policy Contest on Urban Issues”
