Aidnography

Hi all, I thought a lot about Jennifer Lentfer's Tweet in connection with the #WeTheHelpers campaign & discussion: So the question becomes, how do we spend our precious time, energy & resources as communicators? Convincing “the other”? Or building the new world? I don't have an answer ready, but an important debate that deserves more input. In the meantime, there's the rest of our small selection from around the #globaldev world: From FIFA to Lebanon, Syria, Nigeria & Fiji + Suriname; more on decolonization, indigenous identities & the future of large Think Tanks. My quotes of the week After a year of noise and energy we could be edging towards a tipping point where the sector will irrevocably change, I believe for the better. Or it could all dissipate. No doubt some organisations will be hoping that talk of decolonising the sector will just fade away, so that they can continue their work untroubled by discussions about structural racism and power. We mustn’...

Hi all, Our semester kicked off this week and as difficult as things still are I am amazed by how active, curious, resourceful and well-organized most of our students are, keen to write their thesis, discussing readings & making our lives more exciting in the process! Otherwise, enjoy an eclectic #globaldev news, views & readings that have caught my attention this week! My quotes of the week Every night, my mother calls me. She says, “What’s going on Marib? You have to leave, you have to be safe.” I tell them, “It’s ok, I’m ok.” They worry about me. And when there is an airstrike in Sana’a, I call them and tell them to be safe, to leave their house and go further away from the strikes. Every night is like this. They are worried about me, and I am worried about them. (‘I will not leave my family to die here’: A photojournalist in Yemen’s Marib) However, it turns out that forcing your nation’s banks and stores to accept a currency large swaths of the population are unfamiliar wit...

Hi all, Happy New Year! No fancy 2021 reviews or 2022 previews-just returning to interesting #globaldev readings as usual from Denmark, Ethiopia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Canada, Senegal + Clubhouse & a couple of new open access journal articles! Enjoy! My quotes of the week Reparations must be about creating economic and social equality between former colonizer and colonized. It must be about holding injustice to account through legal and political measures initiated by the victims. It cannot just be about paying off people for extreme injustices that the perpetrators still continue to this day. And even if it is about money, it cannot be in the form of aid agreements that employ antiquated and one-sided modalities that benefit the donor more.  (Aid as reparations is misplaced and harmful) We have to bear witness, remember and foster awareness of the consequences of erasing the futures of so many and put our resources and efforts into creative opportunities that not only make these ...

Hi all, This is the final link review for 2021 & Aidnography will be back in the second half of January 2022 (Twenty-Twenty-Too...). Many of us will have a holiday break & I hope it will be a restful & joyful time. This little guy below, Snoopy, has been one of the great gifts in our lives this year and so far he's turning every fiction of Simon's cat into reality :) Stay well, eat well, read well!   Move. Against. Fear. #bellhooks pic.twitter.com/VnJ379D95H — NIKKOLAS (@4NIKKOLAS) December 15, 2021 Development news How are global systems failing? Behind this year’s Emergency Watchlist The International Rescue Committee’s Watchlist is an annual report on the countries most at risk of deteriorating humanitarian crises. This year’s list, which is led by Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen, indicates something more serious than things getting worse. Instead, it reveals what the IRC is calling a “system failure” sweeping institutions from individual governments to organ...

Hi all, The holidays are moving closer-which means that next week will be the last Friday link review of the year! Unfortunately, as we take a look this week at Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka as well as at localization, research partnerships & UN issues, the news are mainly bleak...so perhaps read the post in more than one session & have time + space for recharging your positive #globaldev spirit! My quotes of the week I had to be the bank of information that colleagues could withdraw helpful data from at any given time. My job was to know everything, to be able to find out anything, to remain abreast of any relevant updates on the stories we were following and to have the contact details of everyone on all sides.  (Why I Stopped Writing About Syria) In a country that has seen widespread displacement and contention over land since the beginning of the civil war, deciding on who is ‘local’ means intervening in tough political issues – issues aid...