Aidnography

Hi all, I think this week's highlight is the 'new reports' section with so many great new readings to discover! There're also links to old men, Sean Penn & peacebuilding done right, but also mining in Kyrgyztan, contractors in Afghanistan & much more! Enjoy! My quotes of the week Reflect on your identity and motivations for working in the sector, and what privileges and ‘baggage’ you bring to your work. Remain humble. Shift access and power to those who don’t have it, in whatever ways you can. Organise and connect to networks and groups that support this agenda. (Time to Decolonise Aid) humanitarian country missions are not required to understand the contexts they work in. They are required to implement. Understanding is a bonus. From a managers’ point of view, having a staff member whose job was to ask difficult questions about the mission was at best a curiosity, at worst a threat. (Not a priority: the lack of contextual understanding in humanitarian missio

Hi all,  When I was compiling this week's post I deleted/excluded more articles than I usually do; a long read on the terrible impact of Assad's air force on civilians, an essay on racism that call center workers in the Philippines encounter & all the notes on the impact that the cuts of the UK's #globaldev budget will have. And there are Colombia, Myanmar or India, of course. I am not ignoring these stories, but I opted for a mix between critical insights, positive stories & including other formats, including architecture from Senegal, a poem from South Sudan & a literary essay focusing on Kenya. There is still space for more musings on decolonization, but also great open access book recommendations on Bulgaria, Finland & global education! Enjoy! My quotes of the week Write that crime novel. Write that romance novel. Write that weird ‘Amos Tutuola-style’ epic that weaves sheng’ or pidgin in with English or French and takes the reader on a fantastic journey

Hi all, From Argentina to Zimbabwe & from Bangladesh to the Philippines this week's review also covers stories from India, Myanmar, Germany, UK and the US. Stay safe & well and enjoy your reading! My quotes of the week The system has not collapsed. The “system” barely existed. The government – this one, as well as the Congress government that preceded it – deliberately dismantled what little medical infrastructure there was. This is what happens when a pandemic hits a country with an almost nonexistent public healthcare system. (...). The resources that remain in the public sector are systematically siphoned into the private sector by a nexus of corrupt administrators and medical practitioners, corrupt referrals and insurance rackets. (‘We are witnessing a crime against humanity’: Arundhati Roy on India’s Covid catastrophe) Most participants said they did not feel engaged in consultations and decision-making processes. Some said only Mahjis or volunteers are cons

Hi all, This week contains a few deja vu moments about aid cuts (UK), conflict & the periphery (Sudan), revolutions & digital tools (Myanmar), child sponsorship (has impact, still not the stuff for 21st century #globaldev...) & even Louise Linton makes a re-appearance...plus lots of food for thought for debates on decolonization & more! Enjoy! My quotes of the week Amid the heartbreak, the sight of a tall, silent man carrying a grimy pink bassinet slung around his neck with tiny twin girls would still bring out the kindness of strangers, even from the ethnicity targeting them. ( 'Look after my babies': In Ethiopia, a Tigray family's quest) What I was unpacking in actuality, was the notion of decoloniality — an aspiration to restore, renew, elevate, rediscover, acknowledge and validate the multiplicity of lives, lived-experiences, culture and knowledge of indigenous people, people of colour, and colonised people as well as to decenter hetere/cis-norm