This post was first published on the LSE’s International Development blog Just been reading The World in 2040: Renewing the UK’s Approach to International Affairs. In many ways, it’s a model of how to write a good policy report with a chance of impact. Here’s why: It’s short: 14 pages, with a one page Exec Sum that might actually be

The Adaptive Management discussion is dominated by donors, think tanks and academics, none of whom can really be described as ‘practitioners’. So I’ve learned a lot from working with Jane Lonsdale, one of the few exceptions. She’s an Exfamer turned big aid implementer, has run with AM work in Tanzania, Myanmar and now Papua New Guinea and is DT Global’s

Guest post from Camila Teixeira, Policy Specialist at UNICEF In recent years, more young people have been engaging in collective protest to advocate for causes that matter to them. From fighting racism to defending peace, from climate strikes to demands for better education or employment, these demonstrations are powerful expressions of youth agency over the issues shaping their lives, communities,

It felt right that my last public gig with an Oxfam hat was to chair a panel at last week’s conference on Faith and Development (F&D), co-organized by Christian Aid and Islamic Relief. It’s one of this issues I’ve banged on about over the years, with limited (zero?) impact on the determinedly secular world of aid. There was a live

This is my last day at Oxfam. Pause for mass sobbing….. But when I explained my plans to keep blogging in some form, including on whatever post-Dexit FP2P emerges, a colleague accused me of resembling some kind of ageing rocker who keeps announcing his retirement, only to reappear within months. It’s quite common, apparently. Seems that bands like Mötley Crüe

As part of its preparations for the post-Dexit blog, Oxfam is asking readers to give us their thoughts via this survey. Here’s the blurb: ‘There are changes coming to the From Poverty to Power blog and Oxfam’s other channels for sharing ideas and evidence with those who work in, research, fund and have an interest in this sector. We would

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The photo I dug up for Tuesday’s post of me wandering about in rainswept paddyfields in Vietnam got me thinking about a recurrent theme of the last 20 years at Oxfam (and earlier jobs too): the role of personal humiliation, shame and failure in learning. First the Vietnam example. I went there full of the 2005 hubris I described earlier.

Guest post from Naomi Hossain, from SOAS, on the 11th anniversary of the tragedy in Bangladesh Despite heated and even violent contention around monuments and memorials in recent years, the politics of memory are still seen as largely symbolic. Apparel industry workers can tell you that this is wrong: memorials matter materially. For survivors of the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster,

To prepare for leaving a job I have loved, first as head of research, then as strategic adviser, I have been re-reading a work diary I kept from my arrival in 2004 until about 2010 (when it fizzled out). It helps bring back those early days, and prevents rewriting my experiences, whether for good or bad, with the benefits of

Hi Everyone, After 20 years at Oxfam (how did that happen?), it’s finally time to move on. I’m leaving at the end of this month. Dexit is dawning – had to happen some time, I guess. What’s next? As befits my advanced years, I’ll be doing a few consultancies like the one I’ve just got back from in Papua New

A few weeks ago, I was in Papua New Guinea, where I support a fascinating programme to build citizen engagement with the government. On the margins, we were discussing influencing (as ever) and in particular, focussed on how civil society deals with threats – bad ideas from government, unintended consequences from new laws etc. This was interesting because so much