LSE International Development student Henry Whitelaw draws on his experience with a volunteering programme in the Pacific islands to ask whether ‘voluntourism’ can facilitate meaningful development. First published on the LSE International Development blog. As students of development and keen volunteers, we are repeatedly warned of the bogeyman of ‘voluntourism’ – a vicious creature lurking beneath the well-meaning façade of

Spoke on a panel last week in UCL’s Policy and Practice lecture series. The topic was Nina Hall’s new book, Transnational Advocacy in the Digital Era (putting in the discount code ASFLYQ6 will get you 30% off, btw). Some thoughts. The book explores a new-ish generation of digital advocacy organizations with professional staff. MoveOn was the first, established in the

Last in the current snapshots of the GELI Influencing programme I’ve been leading this year. We’ve had blogs on all the other elements – the Face to Face meetings, the ‘user experience’, the podcasts with experts. Here’s a write up (Chatham House rule) of the missing piece – the online modules, in this case on analysis. 7 senior aid folk

I grew up in Bath. This is how we protest there…. Heads up. I’m giving the 1st Sussex Development Lecture of 2022 on Wednesday (4-5.30). Title? “Imagine there’s no money, it’s easy if you try: what could global solidarities look like beyond the big cheque?” Register in person/online here. Is liberal democracy essential to human development? Good piece from Branko

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You’ve probably seen the Just Stop Oil protesters throwing tomato soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery this week – the video on Twitter has over 35 million views, and everyone is talking about it. In particular, a big debate about whether this is just vandalism or smart protest. Tom Aston reflects. In an interesting blog, James Ozden criticizes those talking heads in the UK

Eight decades after Oxfam began with a meeting in an Oxford church, we must respond to challenges our founders could not have dreamed of, from re-imagining what an international NGO should be, to the need for totally new sources of funding, to the world-changing impact of technology, says Oxfam GB CEO Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah One of my favourite bits of Oxfam

For our Global Executive Leadership Initiative training on influencing, I interviewed Wilf Mwamba, a long term FCDO/DFID practitioner-thinker on TWP, now working in the private sector. With GELI’s permission, I’m reposting here, along with an abbreviated transcript. The podcast is 25 minutes – well worth it, IMO. WM: I work for DAI Global, a US international consultancy firm. I’m leading a

A history of the Fed funds rate since 1979. File under correlation ≠ causation ht Gabriel Mathy  My friend Ha-Joon Chang’s new book, Edible Economics gets off to a flying start with the kind of publicity any author dreams of – denounced for wokery in the Daily Mail: ‘Woke Cambridge don claims the Full English breakfast isn’t British’. (Also, he’s

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Very interesting conversations last week on how INGOs are responding to closing civic space (Chatham House rule, so no more detail than that, I’m afraid). Some headlines: In India, and probably many other countries, the attack on civil society organizations is just one facet of a wider offensive against liberal democracy and liberal values. Elsewhere it is just one part

I recently interviewed William Chemaly, coordinator of the Global Protection Cluster Here’s a transcript of the highlights DG: Hi William, you have one of those terribly important sounding jobs that no one outside the humanitarian sector understands. Maybe you could explain who you are and what you do to begin with? WC: Thanks Duncan. Protection is the heart and soul