Aidnography

Hi all,  My highlight of this week was definitely an opportunity to deliver a short keynote and participate as a judge in the annual challenge of Engineers Without Borders Germany where the shortlisted submissions from 1200 engineering students from 9 universities were presented; I was really impressed how reflexive, participatory & thoughtful the finalists had engaged with the challenges that community forest management in Nepal poses and how they embraced a lot of good #globaldev thinking rather than presenting simple technological 'fixes'! Now it's time for your weekly #globaldev readings-everything from Third World history, to celebrity fails & great insights from Bangladesh to DRC, South Africa, Nigeria & Kenya, extractive tourism, the IFC & new publications! Enjoy! My quotes of the week They've been photographing me and using me since the time I was a baby in a refugee camp. I remember getting those headshots taken and it made me feel, it's ver

Hi all, I usually don't start my review with a warning, but this week's edition contains a lot of important readings on sexual violence & the aid industry; this is also why my quotes of the week feature powerful women who can inspire us & remind us of the positive change we want to see! My quotes of the week “I think something we have to realize is half of the world population is under 30 right now,” she said. “So you would want a leader who knows what it’s like to be in that age group to be suffering, not having the economic freedom to do everything you want, not having the ability to get the opportunities that you deserve. If you want to see different results, you have to do things differently.” (A Millennial UN Staffer Who Is Daring to Run Against Secretary-General António Guterres ) My vision is that social movements led by women, peasant, and Indigenous and Afro Descendant communities in Latin America continue advancing the struggle against climate change, the str

Hi all, Another week completed-great online teaching seminar with a fantastic group of colleagues from all around Europe, delivered my second newsletter with '3 mid-week links' & I'm enjoying daylight again when I leave the office in the afternoon! Enjoy! My quotes of the week White people, who make up the biggest part of the global development sector, tend to be very sensitive when a rural poor African like me has anything to make of poverty in Africa, e.g. what needs to be done to accelerate the end of poverty, and will therefore try to ensure that people like me aren’t heard anywhere. (...) On the other hand, Africa’s own kinsmen and kinswomen, i.e. black people both in Africa and in the African Diaspora, tend to be very defensive, and very dismissive, upon any mention of the need for the black community to work together and help our motherland, Africa, end poverty. (It is very hard to end poverty in Africa because of white people, and black people) The word “famin

Hi all,  Happy Friday! Inequality, #AidToo, China, UK Aid & climate change/resilience...lots of big-picture #globaldev stuff in this week's review; plus great new research articles on TikTok, WhatsApp & Pinterest! Enjoy! My quotes of the week Blending agriculture with human rights, “Shout A Lot About Democracy” (SALAD), is a flagship program designed to engage American youth in their own idiom, and will station more than 1,000 young African volunteers across America to plant vegetable gardens while teaching Black Lives Matters activists about the American justice system. (African Billionaires and Governments Have a Plan to Save America) Over the past few months, an economic contraction and an increase in unemployment due to the Covid-19 pandemic have led to thousands of Indians turning to online loan apps to meet their day-to-day expenses. These apps often charge interest rates as high as 40% for sums as low as $70. Some are legitimate, regulated businesses, but with gover