Tag: aid effectiveness
13 thoughts for aid in 2013
As I was sitting in a year-end retreat, I started jotting down this list of things that the development aid world could use more of in 2013. I offer it as some food for thought for the year ahead.
Thoughtful Conversations & Sideways Approaches: The Barefoot Guide Connection
When I first picked up and started reading The Barefoot Guide to Working with Organisations and Social Change almost four years ago, it was one of those strike-you-through-the-heart moments. Finally someone was talking about my role in aid.
Do I sound impatient? Busan+1 from Palestine
“Both aid and aid reform distract us from real social change, allowing the powers-that-be to get on with their business of saying one thing and doing another.” Reflections one year after Busan from Nora Lester Murad.
How do you tell a compelling story about people in need that doesn’t simplify or stereotype?
The Social Impact Media Awards 2013 is an international documentary and video competition for independent filmmakers and those engaged in aid to champion the stories of grassroots change-makers that too often remain overlooked.
What makes a thought leader?
To be a thought leader, you must do great work; communicate clearly, concisely and powerfully; and build a solid network of people ready and willing to hear what you have to say.
How are international aid projects like U.S. presidential elections?
You tell the voters/donors what they want to hear. You’re happy (though thoroughly exhausted) when the campaign is over/proposal is submitted, but the hard work is yet to come.
The storm’s a-comin’
As we wait for Hurricane Sandy, not knowing exactly what’s coming, vulnerability has been on my mind—namely my own. What does this mean in our aid, philanthropy and social entrepreneurship worlds?
Don’t you talk about my…that way…
A colleague told me recently, “Working for an NGO, it’s like family. I can bad-mouth my mother, but you can’t.” A discussion of Tori Hogan’s new book, Beyond Good Intentions: A Journey Into the Realities of International Aid.
The Ego and International Aid
…And that’s why it’s vital to have a trusted network of peers who can say to you frankly, “Hey, shut it. There may be another viewpoint you are not seeing.”
Ideas please! Help shape the next “How Matters Hub”
Help shape the “How Matters Hub” concept, a way for people to include and initiate dialogue on important, though often overlooked, issues in international aid.
If you can’t help your friends…
Three people I know and admire are getting the recognition they deserve this week: Mulugeta Gebru, Tori Hogan, and Sasha Fischer. Make sure you know what these people are accomplishing!
Development Work: A Labor of Love…and Paradox
Navigating the development sector’s inherent complexities is exactly the kind of work that does not lend itself to this dualistic thinking—A review of Inside the Everyday Lives of Development Workers: The Challenges and Futures of Aidland, edited by Anne-Meike Fechter and Heather Hindman.