Archive / Ghana ThinkTank

Initiator(s)

Christopher Robbins, John Ewing, Matey Odonkor and Carmen Montoya (since 2009).

Description

The Ghana ThinkTank is a worldwide network of think tanks creating strategies to resolve local problems in the ‘developed’ world. Ghana ThinkTank collects problems from the developed world, primarily in the US and Europe, and then seeks solutions by working within the communities where the problem originated. The network began with think tanks in Ghana, Cuba and El Salvador, and has since expanded to include Serbia, Mexico and Ethiopia. Some of these actions have produced workable solutions, but others have created intensely awkward situations, as different cultures' assumptions about each other are played out.

Location

Ghana, Cuba, El Salvador, Serbia, Mexico, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iran, Kosovo.

Goals

To collect problems from developed countries and seek solutions from think tanks in developing countries. Solutions are then played out in developed countries.

Beneficial outcomes

Exploration of the friction caused by solutions that are generated in one context and applied elsewhere, while revealing the hidden assumptions that govern cross-cultural interactions.

Maintained by

Ghana ThinkTank staff and participants.

Users

Ghana ThinkTank staff including Christopher Robbins, John Ewing, Matey Odonkor, Carmen Montoya, and citizens.

Links