…are more likely to fail, but if they work, could go large. Top Left: Cue rant on the need to anticipate and respond to critical junctures. If you are trying…
What could Foundations add to the aid mix? A conversation with the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation
…a large percentage will fail (indeed, if you have too low a failure rate, you probably aren’t taking enough risks). What matters is getting better at identifying failure early, and…
Austerity as Gender-Based Violence
…be to services that are already inadequate. Our research shows that more than half of governments embarking on austerity already fail their women and girls, by failing to provide or…
Climate Wrongs, Human Rights and Female Condoms
…the obligations governments have already signed up to under international law, and raises the long-term possibility of tobacco-style litigation if they fail to uphold them. Another good recent paper was…
How can we think about climate change financing within a climate of inequality?
…which will cause inevitable financial losses. This excludes victims of slow-onset events (such as sea level rise) from protection. But where market options fail, innovative financing mechanisms offer hope. New…
ICYMI: This summer’s posts on theories of change, systems thinking and innovation
…deliver. One respondent said about her manager “She would say – just go and do it, I believe in you. I knew even if I failed, she would be there…
The UK’s new Development Minister, Rory Stewart, is a genuine intellectual – here’s a review of his book on Fragile States and the Failings of Western Intervention
…‘no’. Western intervention is doomed to fail because of its self-defeating combination of ‘isolation, optimism and abstraction’. Isolation is born of the ‘overwhelming burden on ambassadors and managers to ensure…
How can advocacy NGOs become more innovative? Your thoughts please.
…Harford comes up with a ‘Three step recipe for successful adapting: try new things, in the expectation that some will fail; make failure survivable, because it will be common; and…
India's slums: how change happens and the challenge of urban programming
…a slum and start organizing as if on a blank canvass, they are at best going to miss opportunities. At worst, they are more likely to fail. We talked about…
Book Review: Power to the People: Use Your Voice, Change the World, by Danny Sriskandarajah
…challenges. It too often relies on short-term solutions which seek to alleviate the symptoms of serious systemic disease but fail to tackle its root causes. Its connections to the beating…
Welcome (sort of) to the London Olympics
…the opening ceremony (and watching Britons fail to win medals). Headline conclusions – some mine, some stolen: 1. The magnificent underlying arrogance: First, we are going to have a conversation…
How to Monitor Political Context – some practical advice
…communities will lead to a food crisis within a few months if rains fail. Or that an anticipated growth in armed protests instead of unarmed ones will lead to a…