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

Interesting session the other night with the incoming UK Minister for International Development, Anneliese Dodds, and a panel of worthies from across the aid and dev sector, who launched into extended elevator pitches to the new minister (it reminded me a bit of the SDG Christmas Tree, in which every lobbyist insisted on their issue being included during the design

Oxfam has applied to formally intervene in a court case brought against the UK government over arms sales to Israel. Richard Stanforth explains why…

Will DFID be reborn? When will the UK restore the commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on aid? Andy Sumner of King’s College London casts an eye over the manifestos of the main parties…

This is one of those books that makes you ask, ‘why haven’t we had one of these before?’ The Politics of Development starts from the premise that all development is political, and expertly unpacks the evidence for that assertion and the implications for thinking and practice. In terms of content, as well as the focus on politics, and its ‘3I’

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

The GELI courses I teach are full of conversations that really challenge the assumptions behind my thinking. One recent example was a frustrated UN leader asking, ‘how do I try to influence a minister who is both more expert than me in the topic, in this case education, and has a chaotic mind?’ Think Donald Trump, but with added expertise.

Theory tells us that democracies should become more equal. So why are they still so unequal? Gideon Coolin, Emanuele Sapienza, and Andy Sumner on their new UNDP paper that unpicks the politics of inequality.

This post was first published on the Africa at LSE blog The creation of an anti-female genital mutilation law in Kenya shows how men can become supportive of issues that affect women, writes Regina Mwatha. While it may not always seem like men are supportive of women’s agendas, there are three pertinent things to consider when discussing men’s thinking on

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