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Popular posts from this blog

Dear white middle class British women: Please don't send used bras (or anything, really) to Africa

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I am supposed to be on my summer blogging break, but the world of bad development does not seem to take a vacation...

The first time I came across the #SWEDOW (Stuff We Don't Want) debate about what to do with unwanted stuff and whether to send it to 'Africa' was in 2010; in fact, I wrote about a shoe donation project on the blog in 2012.

Fast forward to July 2019 and a local British Women's Institute Facebook page with about 500 page likes is posting a picture of two innocent-looking parcels that has been shared very widely. The vast majority of the 500+ comments under the post are positive and I am sure that both charities will receive quite a few parcels in the next few days.

It seems almost futile and pointing out bad examples of charity and development is not always the best way to communicate, but I anonymize the post as much as possible to avoid simply shaming a particular Women's Institute chapter.

'Rapey men here are the same as rapey men there'
Let…
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Racism in the aid industry and international development-a curated collection

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In addition to my weekly curated #globaldev link collections, I set up special curated collections on Oxfam, Haiti & the aid industry's #MeToo moment and hurricanes Harvey and Maria before.
The current debate about racism in the aid industry is another milestone into how 'development' is perceived, discussed, challenged, dismissed and encouraged to transform. Below is an ongoing collection of media articles and op-eds that I have come across in my digital networks in the last two weeks or so. DevEx and The New Humanitarian have covered the topic continuously (and not just since June 2020) and the diverse female leadership in these discussions is noticeable, but not surprising.
There are already other excellent, comprehensive collections online such as the Resource pack: Educate yourself on racism and #BlackLivesMatter from the 50 Shades of Aid collective, Alyssa Bovell's Resources on addressing racism in development and decolonizing development practice, Healing Soli…
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Links & Contents I Liked 378

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Hi all,

It has been a busy week with quite a few bad news story from inside the #globaldev industry-ranging from WFP, to UNICEF UK, Amnesty & Tearfund-but on a brighter note there's a nice 'culture & development' section at the end of the first part that combines beauty with food for thought, eyes & ears.

Enjoy!

My quotes of the week
Today, many NGOs have full-time proposal-production teams whose jobs depend on “win rates” - the number of successful bids they secure. They don’t need specialized technical expertise or experience because there’s the internet. Skilled writers read between the lines of each “Request for Proposals” to feed back winning language in a process some derisively characterize as “isomorphic mimicry.” That’s biological term for when a butterfly, for example, ends up looking like a moth so it doesn’t get eaten. You want gender? We do gender! You don’t want gender? Forget about it. As a gifted proposal writer once wrote to me about her work:“I f…
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Links & Contents I Liked 379

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Hi all,

Happy Friday!

I don't want to pad myself too much on the back, but I like this week's mixture of content-serious #globaldev industry news, including long-form journalism from DRC, seemingly small stories about Uganda's construction sector that tell a much bigger story, research findings on cash-based aid + nudging the right way, culture & decolonization, podcast recommendations, open access academic readings & much more!

Enjoy!

My quotes of the week
Not only did those who received the money spend fewer days homeless than those in the control group, they had also moved into stable housing after an average of three months, compared to those in the control group, who took an average of five months.
Those who received the money also managed it well over the course of a year.
(A B.C. research project gave homeless people $7,500 each — the results were 'beautifully surprising')

To what extent has social media exacerbated ethno-regional tensions? How much onlin…
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Links & Contents I Liked 380

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Hi all, I will keep the intro short after a busy week with lots of inspiring discussions, a great panel at the DW conference, plus teaching, grading & student mentoring-very grateful I have the paid job that I have :)

My quotes of the week
You forced your civilisation upon us and now look where we are: global pandemic, climate crisis, species extinction and, driving it all, widespread spiritual poverty. In all these years of taking, taking, taking from our lands, you have not had the courage, or the curiosity, or the respect to get to know us. To understand how we see, and think, and feel, and what we know about life on this Earth.
(This is my message to the western world – your civilisation is killing life on Earth)

“I see it as a bit of a missed opportunity because I think organizations like the World Food Programme are fairly well known. They have large budgets. They have ample means to get out their own message,” Bosco said. “The Nobel has the opportunity to highlight organization…
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