Featured image for “So I asked ChatGPT to write about the pros and cons of AI for International Development. What do you think?”

So I asked ChatGPT to write about the pros and cons of AI for International Development. What do you think?

May 22, 2023
In response to Friday’s post on AI and Development, PS Baker asked when FP2P would publish its first AI generated post. Here you go. My Question: Write a 600 word blogpost on the risks and opportunities of AI for international development, in the style of Duncan Green’s From Poverty to Power blog ChatGPT’s response: ‘Introduction: Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged
Read more >>
Featured image for “How do we Start Thinking About AI and Development?”

How do we Start Thinking About AI and Development?

May 19, 2023
Spent a mind-bending day this week discussing AI and development with some NGO and legal folk (Chatham House Rule, so that’s all I can say, sorry). Everyone in the room knew at least ten times more than me on the subject. Perfect. Some impressions/ideas. The catalyst for the discussion was the UK Government’s new White Paper on AI and Innovation,
Read more >>
Featured image for “Podcast + transcript: did we get it wrong on land grabs in Africa? In Conversation with Laura German”

Podcast + transcript: did we get it wrong on land grabs in Africa? In Conversation with Laura German

May 18, 2023
Laura German is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Georgia, and author of Power/Knowledge/Land: Contested Ontologies of Land and its Governance in Africa (University of Michigan Press) Duncan: I’m really pleased about this conversation because I’m way out of date on this topic. This is about land ownership and what we used to call land grabs. I last worked
Read more >>
Featured image for “Where thinking and working politically meets gender: tactics that have worked”

Where thinking and working politically meets gender: tactics that have worked

May 17, 2023
Guest post by  Jane Lonsdale and Joanne Choe. This post was first published on the DevPolicy blog Questions that repeatedly come up when supporting reform programs include: how do we work with local politics to influence change without reinforcing existing elitism and capture of power? How do we “dance with the system” whilst at the same time trying to change the system?
Read more >>
Featured image for “Podcast: Talking you through the last two week’s posts (30m)”

Podcast: Talking you through the last two week’s posts (30m)

May 13, 2023
No excerpt
Read more >>
Featured image for “Why are Civil Wars Lasting Longer?”

Why are Civil Wars Lasting Longer?

May 11, 2023
‘Why are civil wars lasting longer?’ Asked a recent Economist essay – exactly the kind of big, hairy question to justify my subscription. Don’t agree with all of it, but very thought-provoking. Some extracts from a typically highly readable piece: ‘The average ongoing conflict in the mid-1980s had been blazing for about 13 years; by 2021 that figure had risen to 20.
Read more >>
Featured image for “Public Engagement with Aid: What do we know from 10 years of research?”

Public Engagement with Aid: What do we know from 10 years of research?

May 10, 2023
Went to a big event on public attitudes to aid recently . Weird being back in conference mode – panels galore, a few lightbulb moments, buzzy coffee breaks, the occasional bit of powerpoint poisoning. Still struggling to make sense of it all. Let’s try. The panel was presenting the findings of a 10 year research programme currently known most recently
Read more >>
Featured image for “Links I Liked”

Links I Liked

May 9, 2023
Coronation humour: props to Tescos, hope no-one lost their job The Long, Slow Death of Global Development – American Affairs Journal. Big sweep piece arguing that previous exit strategies no longer work and no-one knows what to do next ht Irene Guijt Naomi Hossain: ‘What has changed since the Rana Plaza factory collapse? Labor leaders tells us that work are
Read more >>
Featured image for “Linking Dignity & Development: Where have we got to?”

Linking Dignity & Development: Where have we got to?

May 4, 2023
Guest post by Tom Wein, Director of the IDinsight Dignity Initiative Five years ago, I published a post here on FP2P considering the role of dignity in development. Back then I wrote: “Development aims to give people better lives. In doing so, we mainly aim to increase wealth and health – in part because we can measure those outcomes with
Read more >>
Featured image for “Older and at the Sharp End: Why more Social Protection is needed to protect Older People in the global food, finance & fuel crisis ”

Older and at the Sharp End: Why more Social Protection is needed to protect Older People in the global food, finance & fuel crisis 

May 3, 2023
Guest post by Babken Babajanian The current global crisis, with soaring prices for food and fuel, has been devastating for many people around the world. But for older people in poor countries with no access to pensions or social protection, it is particularly bleak. And worse still for older women.  Sadly, although they are bearing the brunt of the crisis,
Read more >>
Featured image for “Seeing the forest beyond the trees: Coalition building in Indonesia and beyond and the lessons for donors”

Seeing the forest beyond the trees: Coalition building in Indonesia and beyond and the lessons for donors

May 2, 2023
Guest post by Nicola Nixon, Erman Rahman, Sumaya Saluja and Rahpriyanto Alam Surya Putra ‘Coalition-building’: one of those topics that gets enthusiastic nods of approval among development practitioners. But what distinguishes effective from ineffective coalitions and what can donors do to support them?’ In The Asia Foundation’s recent reflection paper On the right tack: reflections on coalition-building in The Asia
Read more >>
Featured image for “Podcast: talking you through the week’s posts on From Poverty to Power”

Podcast: talking you through the week’s posts on From Poverty to Power

April 29, 2023
Me talking you through the week’s posts, while you do the washing up/kill it at the gym. Covers: Links I LikedAid in ‘Politically Estranged Settings’ and the Disappointment Cycle of reading new papersBook Review: Reimagining Civil Society Collaborations in Development: Starting from the SouthChatGPT: implications for teaching, how it analyses Brexit and the link to Psychoanalysis 
Read more >>