With Discussant
Blake Ratner
Program Leader, Governance, WorldFish Center
Visiting Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute
Hosted by
Kimberly Ann Elliott
Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development
CGD is pleased to announce the first screening of its annual summer film series, Global Development Matters. Winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for a documentary at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, A River Changes Course follows three families living in contemporary Cambodia as they cope with the effects of rapid development and struggle to maintain their traditional ways of life. These families and others like them witness the forests surrounding their rural communities being cleared, land becoming scarce and costly, and fishing stocks rapidly disappearing. No longer able to provide for their families, and often accruing massive debt in the attempt to do so, many Cambodians have been forced to leave their rural lives behind to seek employment in the industrial factories of Phnom Penh. While these changes are part of “development,” they are often more painful than they need to be because of weak institutions and poor governance.
Kimberly Ann Elliott is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and her research interests include the role of the garment sector in development and issues around trade and labor standards. Blake Ratner is the program leader for governance at the WorldFish Center, and visiting senior research fellow at International Food Policy Research Institute. He previously served for five years as regional director, Greater Mekong, based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. An environmental sociologist, his research focuses on natural resource governance, conflict, and cooperation from local to regional scales.
Subscribe
