
January 31, 2023
After the Zoom years, lots of us are now back in the lecture theatre/other forms of real life contact and exchange. Intoxicating, in many ways. But Iām also struck that it feels the same, but different, to the pre-Covid world, so I thought Iād jot down a few thoughts about getting the most out of these encounters, partly for readers,
Read more >>

What can Oxfam’s new Davos Report teach us about Killer Graphics?
January 19, 2023
Ever since Matt Griffiths and I came up with the ācowfactā in the early 2000s, Iāve been struck by the power of ākiller factsā in NGO communications (heck, even Fidel Castro used Oxfam ones). But things have moved on, and now we live in a more visual, tweetable age of ākiller graphicsā. So if killer facts reveal an injustice through
Read more >>

Ha-Joon Chang on Economics v Science Fiction and other great ways to end your weeks this autumn ā the LSEās Cutting Edge lectures are back
October 6, 2022
Ha-Joon Chang on Economics v Science Fiction, and other great ways to end your weeks this autumn ā the LSEās Cutting Edge lectures are back Heads up for this yearās LSE āCutting Edge Issues in Development Thinking and Practiceā lecture series, which kicks off next Friday (14th October). Weāre moving into hybrid mode this year, with a mix of online
Read more >>

Which is worse, bad Zoom or bad In-Real-Life?
September 30, 2022
Since in-real-life contact resumed, I have been to some classically terrible academic seminars (which took me back to this 2016 cathartic rant). Here are my notes from one recent purgatorial experience: āForgotten just how bad academic seminars can be (come back Covid, all is forgiven!): Not reading the room (full of people who know the context), so they spend most
Read more >>
Is behavioural economics (aka nudge theory) blocking the path to progress?
June 14, 2022
Thereās been an upsurge in recent decades in tackling problems by trying to change the behaviour of individuals ā behavioural economics, nudge theory and a proliferation of government ānudge unitsā. Now two disillusioned proponents, Nick Chater and George Loewenstein, have written an important critique of the whole thing, contrasting what they call the āi (individual) frame’ with the ās (system)
Read more >>
How do we identify, support and/or build Champions in Development?
May 12, 2022
Nothing says āthis needs a blogā more than an over-long executive summaryā¦. So hereās a summary and a few thoughts on ITADās report for the Gates Foundation on Champions: How to identify, support, and evaluate advocates for social change (full report 134 pages, Exec Sum 11 pages). I liked this because the aid sector is not always very thoughtful on
Read more >>
How Should Academics talk to Decision-Makers? Some Interesting New Research
May 11, 2022
Iām not a great fan of post-growth/degrowth debates ā not enough emphasis on how to actually change policy for my liking (compared to the āIām right, the planet is frying, why wonāt you listen!ā school of advocacy). But a new paper by the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity caught my eye because it explores precisely that interface between
Read more >>

Poo, Periods and Priorities: what does research tell us about the different views of practitioners, populations and academics about WASH?
April 5, 2022
Guest post by Roba Aldaour, an Oxfam Public Health and WASH practitioner in Gaza We recently tried to find out how aid practitioners and affected populations think about Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and how they differ in their views. The results of our survey hold important lessons for WASH programmes and their funders around the world. Unsurprisingly, the top
Read more >>
Sunshine, elephants, and boomerangs: Is a dramatic rise in global income inequality looming?
March 16, 2022
Guest post by Ravi Kanbur, Eduardo Ortiz-Juarez and Andy Sumner Global Inequality 101: Global inequality is the distribution of income across all people on the planet from the poorest to the richest. It can be measured with the āGiniā which ranges from 1 (a totally unequal planet or one person gets everything) to 0 (a totally equal planet). Global inequality
Read more >>
Get Ready! A fitness dance class inspired by the science of climate impacts
March 15, 2022
Guest post by Pablo Suarez, who seems to be willing to try almost anything to get the climate crisis message across. And who can blame him? What? A fitness dance video about an IPCC report, in a humanitarian website? Hereās the story: A recent report, entitled Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability , offers rigorous and extremely concerning scientific
Read more >>
Humanitarian insights from the latest IPCC report ā via cartoons and cardboard theater
March 8, 2022
Guest post by the always-original Pablo Suarez The science of climate change impacts can be painfully confusing, and at times infuriatingly complex to communicate, especially for those of us who need to act and help based on what is known. Last week the IPCC released āClimate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerabilityā, a full report with over 3,000 pages of
Read more >>
Northern Institutions Dominate International Development Research: So What?
February 15, 2022
Guest post by Veronica Amarante, Nisha Arunatilake, Ronelle Burger, Arjan de Haan, Ana-Lucia Kassouf and Lucas Ronconi The international community has long accepted that development needs to be locally owned, and that international support and cooperation need to facilitate leadership by local actors. Yet it is increasingly noticeable that development research is lagging behind in this respect. As we raise
Read more >>