Aidnography

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

Hi all, It's great to be back after wrapping up teaching for the semester & enjoying more than 20 of our MA students presenting their thesis work (some even in person :), participate in our faculty's graduation event & joining us for a dinner of authentic, fantastic Syrian food in Malmö! And than there is your weekly tour-de-force through #globaldev stuff from Ghana to PNG, from nudging to storytelling, from blockchain to the Venice Biennale! Enjoy! My quotes of the week Ultimately, having a digital wallet to manage money cannot solve the root problems of abject poverty and oppression. Responsible, just, and mindful innovation is a matter of understanding people’s concerns, subjectivities, resources, relationships, and choices. Humanitarian agencies and their corporate and government partners promote big data technologies, high-tech infrastructures, and the insights, targeting, and optimization they facilitate. But refugee women workers’ perspectives show that sometimes

Hi all, This week's debate about MSF's use of images in their communication is a important reminder that the industry has barely started to engage with the past, present & future of visual communication-but also that blanked accusations that humanitarian organizations just do it for the fundraising brushes over so many nuances & important work on the ground. Compassion, humanitarian instinct, upstream vs downstream #globaldev, white supremacy & social capital are some of the other big words that we are tackling in this week's post from Romania to Yemen. As I already mentioned in Tuesday's newsletter , it's thesis examination time so there won't be a newsletter next Friday as we are celebrating our students in real life with a Syrian dinner in Malmö! My quotes of the week This research serves as a reminder that Yemenis are interested in more than just the satisfaction of their essential needs (such as water, food, and shelter). It highlights the diver

Hi all, One of your favourite #globaldev newsletters is back-with UK aid, land reform, historical insights into China & Africa, philanthropy, racist professionalism, Marxism & classic photo op where Bono met... ;) Enjoy! My quotes of the week In contrast, grassroots organizations like mine that give out small grants require far less proof of need, just brief stories. Take a widow’s request for money for clothes: We will not ask for pictures of her in old dresses to believe that all she had were old dresses. Nor do we ask for pictures of her wardrobe as evidence of her need, nor ask for her account statement with M-Pesa — a mobile money service — to see how well she’d spent whatever funds we gave her. Philanthropy is about the human in need — if she asks for help, I trust that she needs help. (Philanthropy needs to remember the 'human' in humanitarian) Not only is professionalism a double standard in how it’s applied, but the actual standard itself is grounded in a set

Hi all, It's really not easy to stay positive in the #globaldev universe, is it...'Frustrations', 'held back democracy', 'blame', 'losing faith', 'monetise data' & 'intellectual masturbation' are just some of the phrases from this week's headlines...but these phrases are also an indication of the (constructive) critique, investigative work & critical communication that is necessary to tell the Emperor that they sometimes don't wear clothes... I will be visiting wonderful colleagues at the University of Guelph in Canada next week and will focus my attention 'on the ground'-so no link review next week! My quotes of the week We take back these narratives with hopeful words that bring back the courage that sometimes disappears with everything that has been happening. That we have a hopeful future, that we are succeeding every time we continue sowing, every time we continue protecting life, every time we continue or