Aidnography

Hi all, This afternoon I am going to leave the virtual space & join colleagues to explore an exhibition in Malmö on dreams, images & mobile phones . In the meantime, contributions from UN organizations, the Philippines, Pakistan, Syria, Mexico, India, Australia, Somaliland & Sri Lanka will keep you busy. Enjoy! Instead of quotes of the week Development news How the culture of fear and abuse of power ruled UNOPS So, the question that haunts me is: why? Specifically, why did so many senior and respected people of established reputation betray us? Were they greedy? Were they drunk with power? Was it impunity from a sense of over-weening privilege ? Was it arrogance from the perception that they were above the rules? Was it weakness that pushed them to obey their wrong-doing leaders without question? Or was it just contempt for ordinary people like their supposed colleagues, partners, donors, beneficiaries? (...) But answering the basic question of ‘why?” is important becaus

Hi all, There seems to be some kind of sporting event going on in Qatar this week & a settler colonial holiday is celebrated in the US-enjoy if you celebrate ;). Despite all its problems I had a really good discussion on Twitter this week around 'the most effective' #globaldev intervention & the opportunities + risks that come with such a label. A bad week for Caritas Internationalis, UNOPS & UK aid. A hopeful story from India, sceptical ones from Pakistan & El Salvador + bad news from Somalia (still...). And buzzwords from 'localization' to 'longtermism'. And more :) My quotes of the week Loss and damage funding – if indeed the money is forthcoming – is all well and good, but it can only go so far. Unless the government grabs hold of its responsibility to improve baseline development, flood response, and emergency aid, the inevitable disasters of the future will continue to see needless pain and loss of life. (The limits of loss and damage: A c

Hi all, I'll be quick as it's getting a bit late in Sweden on this dark & cold Friday afternoon...this week we start with the meltdown of FTX, SBF & EA & move into Nepal, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Europe, Pakistan, China & explore many other places! Enjoy! My quotes of the week But this cash infusion only reached a minority of those affected and was a one-off payment. Sustained relief and recovery aid is needed for basic income support for people who have lost livelihoods, to prevent secondary impacts of the disaster such as waterborne illness and outbreaks partly caused by the disruption of vaccination programmes, to enable continued safe return for displaced people, and to avert a significant upsurge in poverty. ( Floods in Pakistan: Rethinking the humanitarian role) As with the cooptation of any subculture, it can no longer be called a protest against the “system” if it is the system. There’s nothing inherent in the technology that makes it resistant to being assim

Hi all, I enjoyed my short break in Berlin, including a first meeting with the advisory board of Engineers Without Borders Germany. I'm keeping this review #COP27 free, because there is already so much going on in the #globaldev-osphere... Sweden, Norway, UK, Somalia, Myanmar, Namibia & India made it into this review & there's also a substantial academic reading list from Danish businesses & the SDGs to the discourse of the 'Global South'! My quotes of the week Twitter is where you can get perspectives on events and issues in African countries without the filters and gatekeeping lenses of Western media or academia. Its potency on the continent isn't so much in the number of its users, but its ability to reverberate across ecosystems. (Chris Olaoluwa Ògúnmọ́dẹdé on Twitter ) The analysis finds that most companies view the SDGs as a platform for achieving rather conventional business goals such as mitigating risk, saving costs, and differentiating product

Hi all, Yesterday and today about 50 of our students in 11 groups presented the results of their 8 week-long #globaldev blogging projects so I'm still a bit dizzy from all the great content that they shared and we discussed. I still managed to compile my own weekly post, and even though I usually avoid content with explicit trigger warnings, the story about child marriage from Afghanistan is an incredibly difficult, heart-breaking read. Stories from Nigeria, Ireland, Egypt & Syria are also not very encouraging about the state of the world; MSF Sweden steps up with an interesting story of how they communicate looming famines & both Human Rights Watch & Nature tackle the issue of racism. I'm not losing hope, seeing how passionately students communicate #globaldev issues & thinking about the prospects of how this will influence their work, actions & dedication to a better future. I will be in Berlin next week for board meetings with great organizations so the