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What the German government thinks a “Strategic Partnership for a ‘Digital Africa’” should look like

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It was coincidence that the #HackingTeam story broke while I was drafting this post.
In one way, these two posts are very much unrelated, but in other ways there is a narrative that binds them together: While ‘digital development’, ICT4D and ICT4Bad happen right here and now, the German ministry for development cooperation (BMZ) presents a policy document entitled Strategic Partnership for a ‘Digital Africa’
that is much more a contribution to development discourse bullshit bingo than to innovative digital strategies.

I don’t know whether the fact that the document’s generic language could be used for pretty much any development topic, the one-sided embracement of ‘the private sector’ or the blatant ignorance of ‘digital development’ in Africa are the most striking aspects of this policy document, but it is a very revealing example of how a traditional bilateral agency thinks about ICT4D.

‘Digital Africa’ presumably starts with assembling IT hardware...

The world of words of the BMZ
For s…
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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 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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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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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 topics t…
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