Aidnography

Hi all, After a little summer flu health break last week, Aidnography is almost back to the usual routines just as the new semester is about to start next week. From plastic waste in Ghana to urbanization in Nigeria, a lot of well-known #globaldev challenges (re)emerge this week, including adoptions from the periphery to the center, UN whistleblowing, exploitations of Jamaican migrant workers in Canada, or the persistence of the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh...and I won't become a fan of Effective Altruism and Longtermism; plus, 5 years ago Madonna helped Malawi... My quotes of the week For Biritwum, littering was a result of poverty and lack of proper housing, not slovenly behavior. Ghana was changing, he went on, because of habits imported from Europe and the United States (...). “We are becoming more throwaway, more takeaway,” he said. “We are becoming more like you.” ( West Africa Is Drowning in Plastic. Who Is Responsible?) “If my minister asks me whether it is safe to spend...

Hi all, It's this strange time of the year when my Swedish academic holidays are coming to an end while most of global academia looks at their calendar and exclaims 'But it's August!' ;). However, it was great to have a break and I basically did not produce anything :) Review no.450 is as eclectic as always, but this time I'm explicitly including readings that I've saved throughout the last weeks. From Effective Altruism to the crisis in Sri Lanka, from ethics to celebrity humanitarianism and heavy metal in Africa there's lots to explore + a good range of new reports! From this week onwards I'll also send out a notification/Email to the Mailchimp newsletter subscribers . Google Blogger discontinued its Email notification system for blog subscribers so I transferred all addresses to Mailchimp . Enough housekeeping for the moment-time to get excited/angry/hopeful/inspired/sad about #globaldev for another 450 weekly posts ;)! My quotes of the week “On a ...

Hi all, This final post before the traditional summer break until early August is filled with interesting stories from around the #globaldev world again! UN whistleblowers, MSF visual communication, racism in UK aid, modern slavery in Haiti, economic collapse in Lebanon & Sri Lanka, digital scams in Myanmar, SDG-bashing, border regimes & the racist roots of Japanese IR-on a lighter note, the archive section features Louise Linton & the worst aid worker biography that was ever written ;) ! Happy Midsomer from Southern Sweden, have a great July & see you back in August with more #globaldev!! New from  aidnography Writing the “perfect” application letter for our MA in Communication for Development–insights from the first 2000 letters As part of our application process for our MA in Communication for Development program we encourage applicants to submit a short application letter together with all the other application documents since 2016. (...) There is probably a big...

As part of our application process for our MA in Communication for Development program we encourage applicants to submit a short application letter together with all the other application documents since 2016. Applications are formally reviewed by Sweden’s University Admission authority and our teaching team only reads and grades the short letters for additional points in the application score. We ask applicants to answer two short questions (about 500 words each) which we call “description of experiences” and “letter of intent” so applicants can write a bit more about their background and why they decided to apply to our program. We receive between 200-300 letters each year and even though we are a team of 6-7 teachers and I have not read each and every letter a few patterns have emerged as to what makes a good, solid letter and what some of the pitfalls are that are best to avoid or address directly. There is probably a bigger lesson to learn here as I think some of the issues not j...

Hi all, I addition to #globaldev news from Ukraine, Oxfam, Japan & Colombia there are a few really great new papers on 'digital famine', the future of development studies & labor organisation in South Africa that are worth bookmarking for your summer reading list! My quote of the week Despite raising significant sums of money in the first days and weeks of the crisis, international organisations could not provide rapid infusions of resources to strengthen and expand the existing local response efforts while they ramped up their own programming. Instead, three months later, most of the money was still unused, sitting with international organisations that are constrained from funding by compliance requirements that are too heavy and time-consuming for small volunteer groups to meet.  (Enabling the local response: Emerging humanitarian priorities in Ukraine March–May 2022) Development news Enabling the local response: Emerging humanitarian priorities in Ukraine March–May 2...