FCDO governance guru/wonk (gonk?) Ben Powis reflects on some of the whiplash moments he’s experienced in multiple countries. Moments in history come in many forms – and I have seen a few. The 2015 earthquake in Nepal, the 2021 coup in Myanmar, a new government in Zambia in 2021, and the COVID-19 pandemic, well…everywhere. Bangladesh is experiencing one such moment

Guest post by Mike Lewis One of this blog’s foundational themes is that economic facts don’t mean much without an analysis of power. At the same time, over the last fifteen years I’ve watched big NGOs develop specific ways to wield economic facts, perhaps even to fetishise them, as a way of influencing power. With the new government favouring a

Health Warning: Danny Sriskandarajah is both a friend, and my former boss at Oxfam GB, and this blog is hosted by Oxfam, so everything you’re about to read is horribly compromised. Still reading? OK then, here goes. The title pretty much tells you what’s inside. Power to the People is a big picture, determinedly optimistic call to arms that argues

Guest post from Greg Power In July the UK witnessed its highest ever rate of electoral turnover, with 335 MPs – or 51% – elected to the House of Commons for the first time.  This is exceptionally high by UK standards, which usually has a rate of around 20%.  But many parliaments routinely lose at least half their members at

Ducked out of my annual pilgrimage to the Edinburgh Fringe recently (highly recommended, as ever – highlight was being invited up on stage and asked to impersonate a Norwegian comedian’s cervix. Not something I’ll forget in a hurry….) to spend an hour or two with the Scottish Government development team. Really interesting. In some ways, the SG is prototyping post-$

Always wanted to write that book about progressive change but don’t know where to start? Oxfam’s Irene Guijt shares tips from an expert…

The GELI webinars I’ve been hosting with senior leaders in the aid sector have come to an end for the moment, and I’m going to really miss them. Sitting in on a bunch of frontline bosses exchanging top tips on influencing is a real privilege (see my previous post on ‘How do you Influence the State when Leaders change every

Duncan Green and Tom Kirk are planning a new initiative at the LSE: working title ‘Programme on Intentional Influencing and Advocacy’ (catchy eh?). To kick off, they want to pick your brains on what is already out there both in terms of evidence, and training programmes. Here’s their ask: First, the evidence. What do we know about how citizens and

Imagine a job where you literally eavesdrop on private (Chatham House rule) conversations between leaders working on the frontlines of international development – trying to influence governments, donors and others, mainly in the insider spaces open to UN agencies, the Red Cross/Crescent and NGOs (both international and national). Amazingly, I have just such a job, running the GELI programme on

As I skimmed the new edition of How Change Happens, what struck me most was not the text, but the endorsements. When it first came out in 2016, I was full of busyness, cracking on with the next thing etc. Now, as I exit Oxfam and have a bit more downtime, I can appreciate things better. Not only that, but

Tom Kirk introduces his new chapter for the How Change Happens’ 2nd Edition, published last week. When I was invited to contribute a chapter on digital activism, I jumped at the chance. Who wouldn’t want to see their name and thoughts on arguably one the most important developments for activists in a generation alongside Duncan’s own? Even more so given

The second edition of How Change Happens is published today, while I am loafing on a beach in Thailand and discovering the joys of digital nomadism (tough gig, etc). Publication day is always exciting for the author, and a matter of complete indifference to everyone else. Hey ho. I’ll be posting a few bits and pieces connected to the new