This thesis looks at the effectiveness of the Big Push Theory in eradicating extreme poverty through the example of the Millennium Village Project. The Millennium
Villages Program is a multi-country, high-profile, development project with the goal of eliminating extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa within five years. The project, created and run by economist Jeffrey Sachs, uses the Big Push Theory as an economic model to allocate large amounts of foreign aid to small populations in developing countries. Over the past ten years the project has become the subject of controversy among the development community for its lack of transparency and disregard for modern evaluation systems. In this thesis all of the regional results for villages are compared to national results for malaria prevention as a way to compare the project’s development. The majority of the thesis is made up of case studies of three of the Millennium villages: Sauri, Kenya; Koraro, Ethiopia; and Potou, Se?ne?gal. Each village is analyzed using annual data from the Millennium Villages Project, as well as data from independent sources. The results of this thesis concludes that the Millennium Villages Project is not an effective program and that for some sectors of development, the villages are improving at a similar rate to the nation. Overall the findings of this thesis suggests that the Big Push Theory as a model for modern development programs is unrealistic.

This thesis would not have been possible without the guidance and expertise of Dr. Marie Hayes, my advisor. In addition to her dedication and hard work I must extend my thanks to Dr. Alan Rosenwasser, Dr. Franc?ois Amar, Dr. Len Kass and Dr. Jordan Labouff for their commitment to helping me produce this thesis to fulfill my Honors curriculum. Their time and energy put into my thesis cannot be repaid with words.
My graduate-level colleague Hira Shrestha, was my primary role-model throughout the thesis process. After spending countless hours with her in the lab during the summer of 2014 coding videos and learning the ropes of the laboratory environment, I am extremely grateful for all of the knowledge she passed on to me. In addition to her guidance I have received a copious amount of assistance from Katrina Daigle, a colleague, throughout my thesis process. There have been many instances where I have needed her immediate help, and she has always come right to my side to help me finish any task I need to complete.
Without the help from Ella Sullinski, another colleague, I know that I would not have been able to complete all of my work. Her help using our statistical software SPSS has been phenomenal and without her help, my results would have been disastrous. I am also thankful for Margaret Stavros and Brooke Kimball for their company and their contribution to the rest of the lab.
My largest thanks goes out to my family, whom have been by my side throughout my whole college career. Without my mother and grandparents I do not think I would be able to complete this thesis or be where I am today. I am forever grateful that I know my family is just a phone call away.
I would like to extend my thanks out to everyone who has made this study possible, if not listed above. Without the commitment of many organizations such as Eastern Maine Medical Center, University of Maine Psychology Department, the Acadia Hospital, and many more, this study would not be as successful as it is today.