Aidnography

Hi all, This week's #globaldev review ends on a paper from 2018 that introduces the concept of 'oxygen of amplification' which seems particularly relevant in the last few days. The focus this week is on Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Kenya & Dominica, but also on harmful loan scams, child protection & voluntourism, loss + damage, a LiveAid musical, Lumumba's legacy & much more! And for the first time in many, many years I joined a new social platform... Bluesky it is for the moment. My quotes of the week As Kimathi sees it, the multinational tech firms and their outsourcing partners made one big, potentially fatal miscalculation when they set up shop in Kenya: They didn’t anticipate a workers’ revolt. If they had considered the country’s history, perhaps they would have seen the writing of the African Content Moderator’s Union on the wall. (Silicon Savanna: The workers taking on Africa's digital sweatshops) Golden passports play a central role in Dominica’s e

Hi all, My favorite quotes from our alumni meeting last week were from a student who described our course far better organized than meetings she has experienced in the financial sector & another student who confessed that our Communication for Development program saved her from finishing her accounting degree ;). So all in all we had a great day with alumni, students & friends! After last Friday's break this week's review is a bit more extensive-Haiti, aid fraud, ESG scams, the end of NGOs, digital divides & often elusive quests for impact from conference diplomacy to rainfed agriculture. So lots to explore, ponder, agree & disagree with! Happy reading! My quotes of the week The current ESG focus at many companies, and among investors, may therefore prove insufficient to address negative environmental externalities, especially in the presence of weak public governance. (Better state governance reduces local environmental footprints from oil drilling, “better” co

Hi all, Another busy week with stories from Sudan, Myanmar, Venezuela, Mozambique, Jamaica, India, the US & Uganda & people that deserve our attention, compassion + engagement from young mothers in Mozambique, women in Jamaica or aid workers in Myanmar, Venezuela & elsewhere! And make sure to scroll down to the posts from the archive-including a reflexive essay on colonialism, dangerous fieldwork & white academia. P.S.: Next Friday we are going to have a fantastic alumni day & will celebrate 20+ years of ComDev with alumni, students, colleagues & friends here in Malmö-so the link review takes a break. My quotes of the week “What is happening – something curious – is that unfortunately we have some schools where the girls become pregnant – because we now allow pregnant girls to study, they continue to study normally – they are studying, but the children are outside the school grounds with a minor, with a nanny, looking after the baby, seven or eight years old, an

Hi all, Migration, conflict, drugs, greenwashing, the political economy of humanitarianism, transitional justice, NGOs vs civil society, reparations & a thirst for numbers - big issues featured in news articles, opinion pieces, reports & research articles - as you expect it from one of your favourite weekly #globaldev digest! Enjoy! My quotes of the week The Colombians transporting migrants through the jungle say they are providing a humanitarian service. The migrants will try to get to the United States regardless, they say, driven by violence, poverty and political upheaval at home. So, by professionalizing the migration business, Colombian leaders say they can prevent their impoverished towns from being overwhelmed by hundreds of thousands of needy people, help the migrants traverse the treacherous jungle more safely — and feed their own economies in the process. (‘A Ticket to Disney’? Politicians Charge Millions to Send Migrants to U.S.) Members of the Network agree that th

Hi all, Last week I received a very nice message on LinkedIn  from a reader whose Masters thesis research was inspired by something she read in my weekly #globaldev review-a great reminder on why I like to do what I do almost every Friday! :) From Albania's ventures into humanitarian response, to Australia's public opinion on aid, fake news crisis in Bangladesh & a growing crisis in Congo there's lot to explore this week as well-including the impact of a returning fashion designer from Ghana, the hypocrisy of BRICS & the weaponized misspent of lots and lots of US dollars in Afghanistan and the long history of getting a Malaria vaccine. New academic publications on visa inequalities, the limits of global commissions & failures to include indigenous voices in global governance - and so much more! Enjoy! My quotes of the week The development of malaria vaccines was stalled over and over again: by the focus on the eradication campaign and suspension of research; the