January 18, 2020
No excerpt
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“Our house is on fire”: the Asian climate emergency
January 16, 2020
Beatrice Tulagan is the founder of Climate Stories Philippines, a media non-profit aiming to humanize the climate crisis through stories of resistance and survival. She is also the East Asia Field Organizer of 350.org and 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
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Is Community Wealth Building a solution to local deprivation in poor countries as well as the UK?
January 14, 2020
Recently, I’ve been reading up a bit about social change in the UK – I’m wondering if I should embark on some kind of ‘How Change Happens on my doorstep’ project. The stuff I’m finding is both familiar and different to what I’m used to. Take Community Wealth Building, for example, which is all the range among UK activists looking
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Can sustainable architecture help the homeless?
January 10, 2020
Weeks after the climate change conference in Madrid (COP25) and starting the new year with a mix of fear and anticipation, it is a fitting time to think of those who are most vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis. Particularly, those without a place to live: the homeless. Below is the transcript of an interview with Rajendra Kumar,
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Responses to ‘Are INGOs ready to give up power?’
December 20, 2019
On Wednesday, we republished this timely thought piece by Deborah Doane, which interrogates the power held by large NGOs and calls for a shift of power. The article clearly hit a nerve. Questions around #ShiftingThePower bring up enormous systemic (and existential) considerations that pose direct challenges not only to the structures we operate in, but also to our own behaviors.
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Randomistas, experts, better conferences and Branko: most-read recent FP2P posts
December 2, 2019
Given that we spend nothing on advertising on this blog, we reckon the traffic for a given post is a reasonable proxy for quality, so here are the top 5 posts from the last two months, courtesy of you (and Google Analytics). In descending order. The Randomistas just won the Nobel Economics prize. Here’s why RCTs aren’t a magic bullet.
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What kinds of Movements are emerging to tackle inequality? New report
November 22, 2019
Just been reading a really nice analysis of ‘the growing movement fighting inequality’, published this week by the Fight Inequality Alliance. Up to now, much of the discussion on inequality has either been about the problem, or the policy solutions. There’s been much less analysis of the movements springing up to respond to it. Until now. The new report is
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Inequality and the future of Capitalism: in Conversation with Branko Milanovic
November 14, 2019
I recently sat down with inequality guru Branko Milanovic to discuss his path-breaking work on inequality, and his new book, Capitalism Alone (review follows tomorrow). Here are a few highlights of the 25m conversation (but if you can, listen to the full thing). Inequality: I was not a guru [in the early 2000s], just someone toiling away in the bowels
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Njoki Njehu on inequality and African Feminism: Podcast + transcript
October 4, 2019
I interviewed feminist inequality activist Njoki Njehu, Pan-African Coordinator for the Fight Inequality Alliance, at a recent meeting in Nairobi. Here’s some excerpts: The Fight Inequality Alliance is a broad alliance and has everybody, the big INGOs like Oxfam, and local organizations like Dandora Hip Hop City – how do you manage the power relations when you come around the
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How can we think about climate change financing within a climate of inequality?
September 17, 2019
Starting this Friday, young people, their parents and entire communities around the world are mobilising in a special week of action to call for climate justice, 20-27 September. In this post, Harpreet Kaur Paul argues that just as the impacts of climate breakdown are not the same for everyone, neither is the responsibility for financing transformative repairs and solutions. Harpreet
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When democracies die, they die quietly… but what’s the role of Civil Society?
September 6, 2019
Save the Children’s José Manuel Roche has a book he wants you to read. So, it turns out that nowadays democracy seldom dies through violent coup d’état. More commonly (and insidiously), democracy slides gradually into authoritarianism. By the same token, democracy survives when democratic leaders fight for it. This is part of the main thesis behind the insightful book How
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The role of social networks in household survival
September 3, 2019
Despite the lack of banks in Goma to finance old or new enterprises, market stallholders are often able to thrive under difficult circumstances. Papy Muzuri reports on the city’s savings clubs and protection committees, and their ability to support informal markets.
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