This thesis is based on a Minor Field Study (MFS) in a rural village in West Kenya. The data stems from ethnographic research from a Kenyan-Swedish project and Community-Based Organization (CBO) that has built a school for vulnerable children in the village to enable education, health and further growth in the community.

The purpose is to examine the inception of the project to study what development aid looks like on ground, what cultural and international exchanges occur in the ‘global space’, such as in the aid relationship and sustainability processes. This was looked at with the framework of development theories such as development discourse, modernization paradigms, various issues in globalization and through the lens of development aid and sustainability. In this study, the most obvious reflections portrayed in the field stemmed from the essence of cultural exchange in international cooperation, but also from tensions of ‘unseen’ power-dynamics, such as ‘whiteness’ as a marker in a post-colonial setting.

Moreover, from observations, interpretations, semi-structured interviews and personal reflections, the overall result in the space of development exhibited structures and tensions deriving from the ‘after-effect’ from colonial history. This was evident in terms of the perception of the ‘Western Self’ in those contexts, but also the local indication that sought to need outside assistance to tackle poverty issues in the community. In this notion, there is a significance to bring certain inconvenient truths and sensitive conversations to the surface of the academic field of peace and conflict studies, globalization and world order systems, and nevertheless, lessons and understandings in contemporary development aid projects.