Global Development Substacks I Like

The other day a friend asked me about recommendations for development-themed Substacks and rather than responding to him directly, I decided to share my favorite "blogs-send-out-as-newsletters" resources on the blog...

For many years a group of German media entrepreneurs has been awarding the Goldenen Blogger and one category they had for many year was "bloggers without a blog"-this is a bit how I feel about Substack and the concept of (mostly) long newsletters instead of traditional blogs.

So which are some of my favorite writers and concepts then?

UPDATE 30 MARCH 2025 

Tomorrow Is Possible
Frederik Matthys is a prolific development thinker working on the "future of development" (and we recently invited him to one of our MA Communication for Development classes which led to great discussions with the students...)

Blue Helmets, Red Tape
Eugene Chen's writing on the UN system, particularly its peacekeeping operations, is a go-to place for connoisseurs of the international organization and its inner workings in New York City. 

The Dark Side of Development
Freelance journalist David Whitehouse with interesting stories from the "dark side" when aid is not working properly...at least for local people... 

the Africa Project
W. Gyude Moore, a Liberian government minister turned development researcher takes a regular look at the continent.

Global Developments
Oliver Kim's reflections on global developments have slowed down a bit recently, but even the archive is worth exploring...

Global Currents
Political economist Jostein Hauge focuses on industrial policy and global development in his new-ish project. 

Robert Kappel
German professor emeritus Robert Kappel already had quite an interesting blog on development policy & more and recently took up substacking...

Tim Schwab's Substack
The author of the "Bill Gates Problem" has a Substack where he writes about more problems with Bill Gates and the foundation. 

(As great as these Substacks are I realize that they are all written by men, mostly based in the Global North...so broadening my perspective Substack-wise will be one of my next tasks...)

The original list:

An Africanist Perspective
Ken Opalo is a towering figure in the #globaldev Substack community-his posts, fully developed essays really, set the standard for long-form post-blogging...

Disability Debrief
I am so grateful to learn every week something new about (dis)ability & development thanks to Peter Torres Fremlin's newsletter!

Suvojit's Newsletter
"I currently live in Nairobi, and write regularly on issues of global development, public policy, and politics in India", Suvojit's writes & I have been following his writings for many years now!

The Great Gender Divergence
No list of #globaldev anything is complete without Alice Evans' writings!

Global Developments
Oliver Kim should write more regularly on the history of economic development! His posts are great!

This Week in Africa
Not really a "blog-send-out-as-newsletter, but my favorite weekly curation about politics, research & daily live in/on the continent. 

The Continent
One of Africa's most exciting journalism projects has moved to Substack and shares individual articles.

Development Sweden
This is a paid newsletter-but well worth the money to complement Global Bar's excellent journalism on all developments in Swedish #globaldev!

How to Substack
Here's Read Max with a useful primer & reflections in case you are planning to venture out with your own blogged newsletter!

This list needs more suggestions-so why not connect on BlueSky & share them with me ?!? :)


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