What happens when the crisis dries up?
Exploring the state of employment and civil society once the international community and humanitarian aid are gone.
Exploring the state of employment and civil society once the international community and humanitarian aid are gone.
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” ~Fred Rogers
On Invisible Children’s latest Kony2012 campaign: What does “the founder’s inability to just ‘stay’ with Jacob in that dark, low moment” [when he talks about how much he misses his slain brother] say about the organization’s approach?
Are we overlooking the capacity of local NGOs? My guest post on The Broker Online argues that rather than being the lowest common denominator of international assistance, local indigenous organizations should be regarded as the fundamental unit of effective development aid.
Richard Moore, founder of Children in Crossfire in Derry, Ireland, discusses the figurative blind spots for many people as they become involved in aid work. Richard, who was literally blinded by a British soldier at the age of 10, also discusses the value of community and the power of vulnerability.
Highlights from my conversations with the great people I was able to connect with in Ireland – Alessandra Pigni, Richard Moore, Hans Zomer and Clare Mulvany – and thoughts on the opening of the Derry Peace Bridge.
The new Peace Bridge in Derry~Londonderry, Northern Ireland will be dedicated on June 25th. And amazing to me still, I, the poet, will be there.
Sovereignty is both a quality to be developed and a right to be respected and defended. It is a particularly powerful concept when applied to organisation, suggesting authentic qualities, describing a home-grown resilience, an inside-out identity, the idea of an organisation being the expression of the free will of its own constituents.