Fox, Lea Alison2009-09-202009-09-202009-09-20https://hdl.handle.net/1794/9760103 p. A THESIS Presented to the Department of International Studies and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Arts, Spring 2009.The focus of this paper is to explore the transition to participation-based development models as exemplified by the development organization Amigos de las Américas (AMIGOS). Within this transition, AMIGOS has adopted the rhetoric of participatory development, as well as a number of associated practices and methods. However, in other respects, AMIGOS has maintained a number of attitudes, policies, and practices from older development models, creating a partial shift to participatory development. This paper aims to analyze this partial transition. Specifically, this paper examines how policies and practices left over from past models of AMIGOS projects may shape, and in many cases interfere, with the participation and empowerment processes that AMIGOS intends to foster. In critically analyzing AMIGOS' attitudes, policies, and practices as they relate to the transition to participatory development, this paper seeks to contribute to AMIGOS' process of reflexive evaluation and redesign of the organization's work with Latin American communities.en-USCommunity developmentDevelopment organizationsLatin AmericaParticipatory developmentAmigos de las AmericasThesis