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NGOs scared, Think Tanks puzzled, Opposition silenced-What I learned after reading more than 40 articles on the DfID-FCO merger

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There are now more than 40 entries in my curated collection of news articles as well as opinion or think pieces on the proposed merger of UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to establish a new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
The overall tone is clear: It is a bad idea and it will weaken the UK’s development capacities on many levels.
But behind this unified view, disproportionately expressed by white Northern men, it becomes clear that large parts of the UK’s international development establishment are really worried about the decision, because it will most likely have negative implications for their future budget and scope of work.
My post focuses on NGOs, Think Tanks and the party political establishment, with the question in mind how these inevitable changes may affect organizations and the traditional set-up of how development is conceptualized, discussed, financed and implemented in the future.

N…
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Links & Contents I Liked 372

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Hi all,

This is going to be the final link review before my summer break until early August.
I said that last year as well and a week later I wrote a viral post about an organization that wanted to send used bras to Africa...
I will spend my holidays at home (the Swedish hemester or svemester for staycation), read some nice books & think about #globaldev outside the permanent now of social media!

Stay healthy & safe!

My quotes of the week
The filmmaker has given us a wide lens in which to see China’s current strategy. I only ask that you open the lens a little wider and see how one colonial hand opens the door for another to stand back holding the camera, as the cycle continues. (Buddha in Africa)
As we reorganise the ways we live and work, it’s high time to recognise the robots for what they are: a botched hypothesis about what work matters and what can be allowed to disappear. Robots will neither save or destroy us, for they cannot relieve us our own labour of building a …
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Links & Contents I Liked 371

Hi all,

Welcome to what is probably going to be the pen-ultimate #globaldev link review before a well-deserved summer break in July! It has been a busy week on the blog, updating the racism resource post & adding more than 30 resources to a new post about the forthcoming DfID merger with the FCO. And there's other news, of course, from Zanzibar, Congo, Nairobi, Japan and the Philippines, Malawi, the US, WHO and UN @ 75. Important pieces on voluntourism, skin bleaching, gender-based violence, baby formula, philanthrocapitalism & decolonizing research relationships wrap this week's post up!

Enjoy!
My quotes of the week
With the Black Lives Matter movement in mind, I am writing to let you know that we, Zanzibaris, demand better. Leaving out the overwhelming efforts of locals in Zanzibar to combat this pandemic, promotes a white savior complex, whether or not that was the intention of your article. You knew about WAJAMAMA’s efforts. I know this because you spent two hours in my …
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DfID-FCO Merger in the UK-a curated collection

While highly unusual for the content you expect on Aidnography, this post features quite a few men, mostly British, who have been commenting on the announced merger of UK's Department for International Development (DfID) with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) to create a new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

We have seen mergers of development ministries before (e.g. in Canada, Australia & Norway), but as one of the globally most esteemed ministries for #globaldev, this merger has sparked quite a backlash, mainly because it lacks the evidence that DfID has known to champion globally in her work. At this early stage the direction of most of the articles is clear: "Don't do it!".
But so far, very few commentators from outside the Northern hemisphere have chimed in & not many forward-looking discussion have started about the ways we should fund, manage & "do" #globaldev in the 21st century and what roles traditional institution…
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