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The Action for Empowerment and Accountability (A4EA) programme, which I’ve been sporadically involved with, is now digesting the findings of its first 3 years of research, and has identified some important ‘recurring themes’ across its 5 focus countries (Egypt, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria and Pakistan). The result? Eleven Recommendations for Working on Empowerment and Accountability in Fragile, Conflict or Violence-Affected Settings.

‘Whiteness’ is often claimed through distancing oneself from what is not considered ‘white’. NGOs in Kosovo, a Muslim majority country, for instance aspire to ‘Whiteness’ by denying Muslimness. Adem Ferizaj is a Balkan essayist writing about the region’s political and cultural issues. The Balkan region is often left out when it comes to debates about ‘development’ or ‘aid’, even though

Guest post by Nick Galasso of Oxfam America The resurgence of far-right populism, from Brazil to Europe to India and the US, presents a challenge to NGOs unforeseen even a few years ago. The common thread of ethno-nationalism, coupled with calls to revive traditional gender roles and values, is making it harder to protect refugees and ethnic minorities, advance gender

Wangũi wa Kamonji is an independent researcher, dancer, writer and facilitator centering Africa, ancestrality and the Earth in her work. She is based in Kenya and is a fellow at the Climate and Environmental Justice Media program with FRIDA – The Young Feminist Fund in partnership with OpenGlobalRights. This piece was published as part of this partnership, by OpenGlobalRights. Sabella Kaguna

‘INGOs have a mixed track record of engagement with in-country mission-driven organizations and need to be encouraged to engage with transparency, respect, and genuine partnership.’ Good suggestions for how to do so from Ruth Levine ht Rakesh Rajani Nice New Yorker piece on degrowth vs green growth with a big shout-out to rock start exfamer Kate Raworth ht Ken Shadlen

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I recently sat down with Akosua Adomako Ampofo, President of the African Studies Association of Africa to discuss her life, decolonization (including my own) and the research system. It’s 40 minutes, really interesting, and follows nicely from yesterday’s much-talked about post by Teni Tayo, but here’s some highlights for the non podcast community. Personal Background: My mother is German, my

By Teniola Tayo Before I came to study for a Masters in International Development at the London School of Economics in September 2019, I had never been to Europe – or to any part of the Western world for that matter. The “Global North”, if you like. However, I never thought that the fact that I had lived the entire

Chaired a great panel on this at the LSE last week. The speakers were from the big donors – bilateral ones like DFID and USAID, regional banks like the ADB and EBRD, and a World Banker to add the multilateral view, and from all stages of their careers, but their advice applies pretty well to the rest of the aid

Guest post by Allison Corkery and Ignacio Saiz of the Center for Economic and Social Rights Last month, to coincide with the annual Davos meeting, tens of thousands of people took to the streets as part of the Global Protest to #FightInequality. What are the implications for human rights advocates? Leading human rights figures are increasingly acknowledging the threat posed by inequality. But, for

What’s the half life of different social media (time it takes for a piece of content to reach 50% of its total lifetime engagement) ht @anutopiaa Why systems thinking changes how we think about development. Good student write-up of great Owen Barder LSE lecture ‘Why are people protesting? Using data for 118 countries from 2007 to 2014, we find that