For our Global Executive Leadership Initiative training on influencing, I interviewed Wilf Mwamba, a long term FCDO/DFID practitioner-thinker on TWP, now working in the private sector. With GELI’s permission, I’m reposting here, along with an abbreviated transcript. The podcast is 25 minutes – well worth it, IMO. WM: I work for DAI Global, a US international consultancy firm. I’m leading a

A history of the Fed funds rate since 1979. File under correlation ≠ causation ht Gabriel Mathy  My friend Ha-Joon Chang’s new book, Edible Economics gets off to a flying start with the kind of publicity any author dreams of – denounced for wokery in the Daily Mail: ‘Woke Cambridge don claims the Full English breakfast isn’t British’. (Also, he’s

No excerpt

Malawi’s not-so-natural disasters on the rise, from a recent Economist Climate Change is a Class Issue. Max Lawson’s latest post on the Equals blog, including the carbon emissions version of Branko Milanovic’s famous elephant graph v clever (and shocking) infographic on the UK’s already infamous ‘mini-budget’. Click and scroll right. ht Dom Joly. Borrow a person instead of a book

No excerpt

(Featured Image above – Italy’s new North-South divide) Best employment contract ever? Ht Dr Helen Salisbury 4 advantages of working with faith groups to address the food crisis After the budget, 6 challenges facing UK aid Meanwhile, USAID cracks on: Samantha Power announces USAID Africa Localization Initiative RIP Hilary Mantel. Here she is on understanding history ht Jim Pickard Should

No excerpt

I sat down recently with one of the stars of the Oxfam firmament, John Kitui, its Country Director in Kenya, Here’s a partial transcript of the conversation. DG: Let’s better start with the thing that everyone knows, which is that there’s a horrendous drought in East Africa. Can you tell me a little bit about what you are doing as

In the interests of everyone’s sanity, I’m keeping this a queen-free zone, which means it’s based on about 10% of my timeline… The academic year is starting and there’s some good stuff open to all – get these in your diaries: Great line up in this year’s ‘Cutting Edge’ lecture series at LSE, starting with Ha-Joon Chang on economics v

No excerpt

Nicola Nixon (right) and Tamara Failor (centre) from The Asia Foundation and Rebecca Calder (left), from Kore Global, introduce some ideas for making cities more inclusive in Southeast Asia. In the shadow of Covid-19, rapid urbanization is exacerbating existing inequalities and creating new ones that dramatically reduce the quality of life of people who are marginalized.  Three examples: Persons with

Got a new image to illustrate (in)effective states….. Timeless tips for any campaigner from Tom Baker. My favourite: ‘Avoid being a missionary or a martyr’. Kenyan pharmaceutical company becomes the first African manufacturer to get prequalification from the World Health Organization for a key antimalarial drug Insights from Applying PDIA (Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation) in the Education Sector. Excellent post, full