Aidnography

Hi all, Welcome from Ottawa where I will be working remotely for the coming two months and hopefully be able to catch up with Canadian US East Coast friends and colleagues! This week's review is really eclectic and diverse in the best meaning of the concept! Development news: #AidToo & one very misleading statistic; open letter against Bridge Academies; Apple in the Congo; Saudi Arabia's humanitarian PR exercise in Yemen continues; Mongolia & Kyrgyzstan struggle with the IMF; China & its Africa stereotypes; UK media & #globaldev; things falling apart in Nigeria; the future of photo journalism; Escobar's farewell to development. Our digital lives: Making money on Untrue-Tube; Steven Pinker; impact investing: Rhetoric & realities. Publications: Disempowered women; conflict minerals in the Congo; using Twitter for research. Academia: Race, class & the water crisis in Cape Town. Enjoy! Development news Lies, Damned Lies, and One Very Misleading Sta...

Hi all, Development news: Justin Forsyth, Save The Children & abuse; don't send stuff in humanitarian emergencies! 'Poor, but happy' in India; Chinese monkey suits; blockchain summit; brutally honest answers from non-profits; indigenous activism in Ecuador; art from Kenya; poor Louise Linton! Our digital lives: Nnedi Okorafor short story; networked governance; how to read Steven Pinker. Publications: The complex political economy of urban reconstruction in Syria. Academia: African women in science; decolonizing ICT4D research; performing being a digital ethnographer. Enjoy! New from aidnography After #oxfamscandal: Tough trade-offs ahead for the aid industry But the aid industry is operating in the same mediatized and socio-political environment where other #MeToo moments and movements have been happening. This environment demands quick, visible and clear-cut changes-and anything that has to do with development usually works at a different speed. For substantia...

By the time you read this post my bibliography of the #oxfamscandal will have reached 100 entries. Once the political momentum has slowed down a bit and the bureaucratic realities settle in, some complicated issues will likely emerge-issues that will be tough to implement, tough to enforce, tough to pay for and tough to communicate to various stakeholders and anybody who expected easy fixes. The issues and trade-offs that I am highlighting below should absolutely not be understood in a way that I am against the measures that are discussed right now or that I am in any way defending any perpetrator of abuse. The aid industry will have tough discussions ahead as more and more complexities, nuances and trade-offs emerge. These measures will hopefully lead to more accountability and transparency in the sector, fewer incidences of abuse and more committed aid workers, but they also pose organizational and communication challenges. Addressing broader issues of exploitation and abuse will al...

Hi all, Like most of you I have been following the #oxfamscandal this week. More than 60 entries are now in my curated bibliography and I have learned a lot about the subject of sexual violence in aid work but also how development is communicated; a lot of good reporting and many important reflections have been shared.  Nonetheless, my usual Friday link review is to take a step back from current affairs and focus on 'in other news¨... Development news: Crises off the radar: Mayotte, Venezuela & Eritrea in focus; World Bank's mission; foreign aid does not stop migration; the closing of the International Reporting Project & the future of foreign affairs journalism & journalists; Basmati blues stereotypes; Branson's daughter wants us to do and feel good! Our digital lives: How to write about the rich & powerful? Digital influence in the Philippines. Publications: 'Undoing' research on sexual violence in the DRC? UN Women on gender & big data. A...