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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 t
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Links & Contents I Liked 410

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Hi all, Welcome to the last weekly review before my annual summer break! I don't need to tell anybody what a long and tiring first half of the year it has been, but I'm also grateful for the digital companionship that the blog provides to engage with your work, writings, books, reflections & more! I will be back in mid-August, probably sharing a book review or two in the meantime, and I wish you a healthy, reinvigorating time, perhaps dismantling the patriarchy, working on decolonization & rethinking #globaldev or reconnecting with family, friends & good books, movies or podcasts. Thanks for feeding my curiosity, learning, thinking & doing! P.S.: And don't forget to apply for our permanent full-time Senior Lecturer in Communication for Development position ! P.P.S.: This is a picture I took at Kåseberga harbour during a short spring break & I look forward to returning next week for Swedish Midsomar celebrations (which is not far from Dag Hammarskjöld
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Should I consider a PhD in International Development Studies?

After the Economist’s piece on the (non-)value of doing a PhD and some comments later (e.g. Prometheus doesn't read the Economist (I like the slightly cynical dichotomy between ‘civilians’ and the ‘academic insiders) or the ' 100 Reasons NOT to Go to Graduate School ' (they are only halfway through so check it out regularly in the future...) I had an interesting conversation with a prospective PhD student a few days ago. This was not the first time that I had been approached about doing a PhD and I always try to be as frank as possible, even playing the ‘devil’s advocate’ when it comes to the complicated ‘should I or shouldn’t I?’ decision-making process. At the end of our conversation I sat down and tried to summarize a few important and generic points from the point of view of doing a PhD in Development Studies and in the UK . I understand that every case is different and involves a range of motives, options and rationales, but there a few important questions and t
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The Good American (book review)

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Imagine if I told you a story about a high school drop-out without any formal credentials who moved into a career with more humanitarian front line work and foreign policy impact than entire NGOs have-chances are that you think that the pandemic got the better of me or that I am talking about the humanitarian Jurassic period of the first half of the 20th century perhaps… But in fact, it is the real story of The Good American-The Epic Life of Bob Gersony, The U.S. Government’s Greatest Humanitarian . I have reviewed a fair share of aid worker memoirs and (auto)biographies during my blogging and Robert Kaplan is a real master in weaving together the life story of Bob Gersony with broader narratives of American foreign policy from the 1970s well into the 2010s with a focus on key humanitarian responses and the institutional politics behind it. It is difficult not to be taken in by the “American dream” that Gersony has built throughout his career: the son of Jewish immigrants who stumbles
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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 , Heal
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