Aidnography

This post has been sitting in my draft folder for far too long. I actually do not remember what triggered the first draft, but I seem to remember vaguely that among calls for organizational reforms in higher education or international organizations not enough debate seems to take place on why we need Think Tanks in international affairs & development in their current shape & size... Yes, I typed "Think Tank" into Google Image search... Perhaps the answers to the title of the post are less rhetorical than the title suggests, but I have been wondering lately what the role of Thinks Tanks in the international development industry really is. Don’t get me wrong: Many great colleagues do great work at great thinks tanks and I received my PhD from a prominent institution that works partly as an academic department, partly as a think tank and partly as a consulting firm. But it ’ s 2019 after all and I wonder what would happen if they/many/some weren’t around anymore. H

Hi all,  Busy, satisfying day at work today-so without further delay & a long intro here's this week's link review! Excellent thesis examination day so far! From #Myanmar to #Scotland , #Venezuela , #Sweden & #Chile our students cover amazing #globaldev & #C4D ground! — ComDev Malmö University (@mahcomdev) January 18, 2019 Enjoy! New from aidnography How men fit into the quest for more women leaders in global health “Sitting in the literal back row and listening to female participants is an important role to show the physical presence but at the same time take yourself back and say ‘I’m actually here to listen,’” he said. “Men as listeners is still an important way of showing solidarity, support, and empathy to the issue.” Research has also found that women are less likely to ask questions at a panel discussion if the first person to speak in the audience is a man, Denskus explained. Therefore, making a conscious effort to ensure a woman speaks f

Hi all, Happy New Year! The 2019 blogging year is already in full swing and my first link review is not even attempting to 'catch up' with stuff from the holidays; I included a few interesting pieces from December for good measure, but essentially we are celebrating a new year!   Enjoy! New from aidnography My development blogging year 2018 in review I looked at the top blog posts and book reviews for 2018 and I think that they quite nicely represent some of the bigger debates the #globaldev community grappled with last year. From Hollywood to Holy Wars (book review) In the end, From Hollywood to Holy Wars (despite the slightly cheesy title…) delivers a well-balanced memoir in which Cherie Hart finds a really nice balance between critical reflection on her UN work without descending into snark and sharing an aid worker life with the right dose of work-life balance. Hopefully her easy-going book will inspire more women to write about their experiences ‘in development

I will keep my blogging review of 2018 a bit shorter than in previous years, e.g. 2017 , 2016 or 2015 . That’s mainly because two of my blog posts this year already addressed broader questions of development blogging, writing and curating in more general terms: So is development blogging dead then – and is it about shorter attention spans, the rise of videos or podcasts - or perhaps something about men? I asked in The development blogging crisi s (January 2018). And by-way of celebrating my 300th link review I reflected on My key learnings about #globaldev 20 years after I took my first undergrad course (November 2018). I also looked at the top blog posts and book reviews for 2018 and I think that they quite nicely represent some of the bigger debates the #globaldev community grappled with last year. My top 5 new blog posts in 2018 The Office meets global politics: New sitcom on life inside the United Nations (March 2018) I caught up with the creators of The Mission Marie

I want to kick off the new blogging year with a positive post and reading Cherie Hart’s biography From Hollywood to Holy Wars-Hounding Celebs, Dodging Bullets, Raising a Family Abroad over the holidays left me exactly with those good vibes. As you have probably figured out by now, primarily because I keep mentioning it at the beginning of most of my book reviews, reading autobiographies written by aid workers is part of my research on how development is communicated through energing literary genres, including (non-)fiction works. Cherie Hart’s reflections on her UNDP communications career from about the mid 1980s to about the early 2010s are a breeze of fresh air to my reading list that is dominated by retired male diplomats or UN staff who are usually quite serious about their serious UN business. I really enjoyed getting to know Hart better as a journalist, communicator, UN bureaucrat, woman, wife, mother and expat aid worker as it is usually quite difficult to bring out these di

Christmas Tree in Milan, Italy Source: Wikipedia Hi all, I'm leaving some great readings here for the holidays. Aidnography will take a short break and I'll be back with my #globaldev review of 2018 at the beginning of January! Happy holidays! New from aidnography Don’t let agencies and influencers ru(i)n your development communication! A “quick fix” is not to work with “influencers” that have no sustainable connection to aid work, NGO campaigning & meaningful global engagement. I can’t see any benefit coming from these engagements and generating a few tweets, Insta posts and signatures to an online petition are some kind of development communication plastic engagement that will only pollute an ocean of mediatized engagement and get an innocent sea turtle entangled in your web of single-use campaign fast food waste. I would also urge organizations to be more careful, perhaps even conservative in their approaches of working with agencies. At the end of the day develop