How Matters / Tag Archive

Posts Tagged ‘Kenya’

January 23rd, 2012 - 7:00 am § in Guest Bloggers

Has aid lost its humanity?

“Development work had become more about systems and structures than the actual lived realities of people,” argues Mette Müller, founder of Best Self Experience. Can important concepts like 'empathy', 'understanding' and 'compassion' enter the way we deliver aid?[...]

Tags: accountability, aid effectiveness, aid workers, Best Self Experience, capacity building, community ownership, community participation, community-based organizations, compassion, donors, empathy, foreign aid, foreign assistance, grassroots organizations, international aid, international development, intuitive healing, Kenya, Mette Müller, organizational development, philanthropy, social change, social enterprise, Tanzania 7 Comments

December 15th, 2011 - 6:30 am § in Reflection & Rumination

The Year Ends. The Pendulum Swings.

2011 has been a “shake-up” year for those involved in “flipping the aid system” to put more local and national actors in the driver’s seat of development. How-matters.org is shutting down until January 15th to reflect and plan for 2012![...]

Tags: aid effectiveness, Arab Spring, community ownership, community participation, community-based organizations, Devex, donors, Fahamu, foreign aid, foreign assistance, grassroots grantmaking, grassroots organizations, international aid, international development, Kenya, NGOs, Occupy Movement, responsive grantmaking, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., small grants, social movements, The Chronicle on Philanthropy, Wall Street Journal No Comments

September 27th, 2011 - 6:16 am § in Uncategorized

PBS Documentary on Aid Shines a Light (and wins an Emmy!)

Good Fortune is an Emmy-winning PBS documentary that is a provocative exploration of how massive international efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa may be undermining the very communities they aim to benefit.[...]

Tags: Africa, aid, aid effectiveness, community development, community participation, development, foreign aid, Good Fortune, international aid, international assistance, international development, Kenya, News & Documentary Emmy, PBS, poverty, U.N., United Nations No Comments

August 30th, 2011 - 11:12 am § in Good Practice, Guest Bloggers

The Curious Aid Worker: Storytelling with Marc Maxson (Part II)

“If your general impression [is that most grassroots organizations are incapacitated], then you’ve been driving a white SUV through a village to get the ‘authentic’ feel of some project.” ~Marc Maxson of GlobalGiving’s Storytelling Project[...]

Tags: aid effectiveness, aid partnerships, capacity building, cash transfers, Chewy Chunks, community ownership, community participation, community-based organizations, corruption, development jargon, donors, foreign aid, foreign assistance, funding mechanisms, GlobalGiving, grassroots organizations, HIV, human rights, international aid, international development, Kenya, knowledge management, Marc Maxson, neuroscience, NGOs, ODA, organizational development, qualitative data, remittances, social prosperity, storytelling, The Storytelling Project, Uganda, USAID, World Bank 3 Comments

August 29th, 2011 - 6:04 pm § in Good Practice, Guest Bloggers

The Curious Aid Worker: Storytelling with Marc Maxson (Part I)

“Half the stories of community change are not about NGOs at all, but individuals. It’s time NGOs realized they’re not the center of the community, and figured out how to work with the individuals who are.” ~from my interview with Marc Maxson of GlobalGiving’s Storytelling Project[...]

Tags: aid effectiveness, aid partnerships, capacity building, Chewy Chunks, Cognitive Edge, community ownership, community participation, community-based organizations, donors, downward accountability, East Africa, Facebook, foreign aid, foreign assistance, funding mechanisms, game theory, GlobalGiving, grassroots organizations, impact, international aid, international development, Kenya, knowledge management, Liberia, Marc Maxson, monitoring and evaluation, neuroscience, NGOs, online fundraising, organizational curiosity, organizational development, Peace Corps, qualitative data, qualitative methods, SenseMaker, storytelling, The Storytelling Project, Uganda 4 Comments

October 31st, 2010 - 2:01 pm § in Good Practice

Dipping into the reading pile

Sharing excerpts of twelve papers on international development and aid effectiveness from my reading pile. [...]

Tags: accountability, aid effectiveness, aid workers, alternatives, Andrew Natios, Aspen Institute, AWID, CAFOD, Camfed, capacity building, community participation, complexity, economic growth, foreign aid, foreign assistance, funding mechanisms, Global South, globalization, grassroots organizations, international aid, international development, INTRAC, Kenya, monitoring and evaluation, organizational development, philanthropy, solidarity, Tearfund, USAID, values, World Bank 4 Comments

October 10th, 2010 - 8:26 pm § in Guest Bloggers, Reflection & Rumination

Changing the system…from the ground up

"‘The system’ whereby foreign donors give handouts, and not sustainable initiatives that are drawn from the needs of the communities, is a problem.” ~R.F.M. community activist, Zimbabwe[...]

Tags: accountability, aid workers, alternatives, Argentina, community ownership, community participation, community-based organizations, donors, downward accountability, Ethiopia, foreign aid, foreign assistance, funding mechanisms, grassroots organizations, ideas, innovation, intermediaries, international aid, international development, Kenya, Listening Project, Malawi, Mozambique, Palestine, power dynamics, solutions, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, USAID, Zimbabwe 8 Comments

September 2nd, 2010 - 1:23 am § in Good Practice, Guest Bloggers

Listening to People on the Receiving End of Aid

Aid recipients “are more concerned about ‘how’ assistance is provided than how much is given.” Initial findings from The Listening Project, a systematic exploration of the insights of people who live in societies that have been on the recipient end of international assistance efforts.[...]

Tags: academics, accountability, Aceh, Afghanistan, aid workers, alternatives, Angola, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burma, business people, Cambodia, capacity building, civil society, community leaders, community participation, community-based organizations, East Timor, Ecuador, Ethiopia, foreign aid, foreign assistance, funding mechanisms, government officials, grassroots organizations, Harvard Hauser Center, health workers, impact, Indonesia, international aid, international development, Kenya, Kosovo, Lebanon, listening, Listening Project, Mali, Mindanao, Myanmar, NGO staff, organizational development, ownership, partnership, power dynamics, religious leaders, respect, solidarity, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, teachers, Thailand, US Gulf Coast, women, youth, Zimbabwe 13 Comments

July 28th, 2010 - 2:34 pm § in Guest Bloggers, Reflection & Rumination

A Heartbreaker

Yes, the paradigm of development can break our hearts. But everyday, we have a choice. Will we slump into the system? Or will we challenge the parts of it that prevent us from feeling and exhibiting compassion?[...]

Tags: academia, aid workers, AIDS, community participation, compassion, dependency, economic opportunity, education, foreign aid, foreign assistance, funding mechanisms, good governance, grassroots organizations, HIV, India, international aid, international development, Karen Armstrong, Kenya, power dynamics, South Africa, U.N., United Nations 4 Comments

July 22nd, 2010 - 11:17 pm § in Guest Bloggers, Reflection & Rumination

PBS Documentary Shines a Light

Good Fortune is a documentary airing currently on PBS. It is a provocative exploration of how massive international efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa may be undermining the very communities they aim to benefit.[...]