In the third of this series of podcasts with UN and other aid leaders making change happen on the frontline, I talked to OCHA’s Vincent Omuga about the challenges of working in closed and informal political spaces like Eritrea (although I think his experiences are probably much more widely applicable) Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa · GELI Stories – Vincent

How Blogs can Change Government Policy Six big humanitarian policy trends for 2024 What are the Grounds for Hope in a World of Wrecks? The Rise of ‘Trust-Based Philanthropy’ – aka Unconditional Cash Transfers to NGOs Is Poverty Porn a thing of the past? Yes and No

One of the best things about the course I give on ‘Influencing for Senior Leaders: Analysis, Strategy, and Practice’ is the anecdotes from the participants, who are working in the most difficult of circumstances and often achieve amazing results. So recently I started recording some of them to come up with a series of ‘GELI Stories’ (GELI is the name

Looking back on 2023: Oxfam’s top policy reads from 2023 Not good – global progress stalled in 2012: Some Christmas geek humour: I am a morning person, which really annoys the family, especially when hangovers are involved. Another case for the Oxford comma: The weirdness that is the the UK New Year’s Honour List, given the Marsh Family treatment And

OK, that’s me done for the year. Off to gorge on mince pies and family dysfunction. See you next year. ht Richard Cunliffe for the cartoon. I mean – gold, frankincense and myrrh. What’s with that?

Some COP 28 links. First a nice ‘killer graphic’ on the paltry funds being pledged for loss and damage, ht Loss and Damage Collaboration (L&DC) And the best wrap up I’ve seen so far: ‘COP 28: neither a triumph nor a disaster, so let’s just crack on’ from Simon Maxwell Harrowing: ‘What can I do?’: Reflections of a Gaza aid

Links I Liked UN Women makes Norm Change central to its mission What’s it like Explaining NGOs to Senior Military types from 40 Countries? Feminist Climate Justice – what is it and how could it help? Mia Mottley on Slavery, Poverty, George Floyd, Climate and the Future of the World Some last minute Christmas book presents

I was lucky enough to attend the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley’s extraordinary speech at LSE last week (Video here or audio file here). Props to outgoing Oxfam CEO Danny Sriskandarajah and whoever else from Oxfam was involved in pulling it together, along with the LSE’s International Inequalities Institute, who hosted. It was jaw-dropping for both the performance, interweaving

Oxfam got a lot of coverage for its new report (with the Guardian among others) on the links between economic and carbon inequality – i.e. the carbon footprints of the extreme rich. A cartoon strip from the wonderful First Dog on the Moon definitely helped. Whole strip here As did this powerful graphic from Mumbai ‘Something’s different about the reaction

Links I Liked Voices of Gaza What do 70 Masters students from around the world want to campaign on? What to read on the new UK White Paper on International Development? What can we learn from looking at the overlaps between innovations in ways of doing research and neglected development issues?

Going from silly to deadly serious in descending order. Apologies for the jarring cognitive dissonance, but it’s an accurate reflection of my timeline these days. What’s your favourite band name from the 1978 Scarfolk Youth Indoctrination Festival? For Adam Sharp, it’s a three-way tie between Arrogant Sandwiches, Pavlov & the Dribblers, and Hitler Likes Twix ‘Can we change the world?

Why did the Street Movements of the 2010s fail? What Tactics are most Effective in Non-Violent Protest? Think tanks are struggling. They need to change. Whoop Whoop. Just made a personal Webpage it’s super easy. RIP Saleemul Huq, a true climate hero Why a “humanitarian pause” or “humanitarian corridors” are simply not the answer in Gaza Pracademics: just a clunky