Aidnography

I am very excited to host another great guest post! Milasoa Chérel-Robson works for UNCTAD and her reflections on the challenges and trade-offs of combining her international career with family duties highlight many personal insights into bigger debates in gender and development. This is a perfect long-read for the weekend after Mother's Day that spans a historical trajectory from Madagascar and the socialist aspirations of the 1970s to the limits of “leaning in ” in Geneva and contemporary Rwanda where Africa is celebrating a bright economic future. On 21 March 2018, I was in the hall of the Kigali Convention Centre with hundreds of other guests. We were all listening to “hauntingly beautiful songs” throughout the signature ceremony of the establishment of the Agreement for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Taking in the historical dimension of the occasion I told myself: “This is why I made those choices”. I had spent the previous months, thousands of kilom

Hi all, I'm back with another packed reading list for your weekend! Development news: #AidToo updates from African Union, UN & EU; the dirty war in Cameroon; female Afghan coders & the opportunities of digital work; peak hype for insurance & development schemes? Ethnographic documentary from Maputo; will Mayors solve the refugee crisis? Journalists of color to follow; a major conference 'did not consider gender' when planning m/panels-plus tweets & fancy UN PR. Our digital lives: Is the open plan office sexist? Does crypto repeat tech's gender inequalities? Do squatters need discipline? (Yes! to all of those questions!) Publications: RCTs produce biased results (no really!); ICT4D & digital labor; mobile phones in the Pacific. Academia: Powerful essays on depression & graduate studies, indigenizing Canadian academia & the competitive hardship of contemporary ethnographic research; plus, 10 types of meetings you love to hate! Enjoy! New f

I am honored to kick off the week with a powerful guest post by my colleague Ami V. Shah, Assistant Professor of Global Studies & Anthropology at Pacific Lutheran University . We have been discussing many issues around decolonization for a while and I am thrilled that she shares her reflections here on Aidnography ! Ami also tweets as SeenFromAfar . Dear Colonialism, I’m writing a letter to you, because I’m not sure you’ll listen when I talk. You claim that you want to come back to my house, and that in fact, your visit will be good for me. Dear colonialism, I do not agree. Especially since you have yet to leave my house. When you arrived you were uninvited. I do not need to document the tragedies that unfolded under your watch. I do not need to document the painful legacies that you created. Others have done so more eloquently, devastatingly, and, indeed, empirically than I might right now in this short letter. You might want to consult with them. You claim that you have been ign

Hi all, I am back in Sweden again with this week's link review features interesting food for thought in all major sections! Development news: Aid sector dealing with #AidToo; exploitation & abuse of female farm workers across Europe; UN comms & fake news in historical perspective; women empowerment through the gig economy in Pakistan; lessons from advocating against UK tax havens; humanitarian news survey results; business journalism in Africa; how to work with national staff. Our digital lives: Conference swag & plastic garbage; op-eds change minds; the algorithmic future of finding jobs. Academia: Megan Fox & pseudo-archeology on TV; Nepal's largest university is still in ruins after the earthquake; online-only courses may not be that inclusive; how to engage with fragility & injustice in field research. Enjoy! Development news #MeToo sex scandals spur interest in standards for the aid sector Standards in general are not a barrier to new or small N

Hi all, Critical food for thought and uplifting stories from around the #globaldev world from Nepal, Rwanda, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Colombia, the US and the UK and from inside large aid organization - with a little sprinkling of tweet-able insights. Enjoy! Development news Nepal's female masons dig deep to lay foundations for change and renewal “Some people complained that it would take women two months to build it, but we finished it on schedule in a month,” she says. “People acknowledge that we are capable now, even if they do not specifically praise us.” Because of her building work, Ranjana is earning an income for the first time – about £6 a day. “I used to be totally dependent on my husband’s money, but now I can contribute to the children’s expenses. I can stand on my own feet.” Sharmila Tamang has become a contractor, overseeing the building of 12 houses, with three more under way. “I do contracted work as if I was building my own house. People say I work hard. We women h