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.[...]
Posts Tagged ‘power dynamics’
October 5th, 2011 - 7:34 am § in Reflection & Rumination
What’s missing from the aid effectiveness debate? Overlooking the capacity of local organizations
Tags: accountability, Accra Agenda for Action, alternatives, Arab Spring, Busan, Center for Global Development, Chet Tchozewski, climate change, community participation, community-based organizations, complexity, conflict, food crisis, foreign aid, foreign assistance, funding mechanisms, GlobalGreengrants, grassroots organizations, HIV/AIDS, international aid, international development, NGOs, Oxfam, Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, poverty, power dynamics, Rajiv Shah, Robert Zoellick, social change, social movements, Somalia, South Africa, Todd Moss, USAID, WiserEarth, women’s groups, World Bank 4 Comments
May 25th, 2011 - 1:01 am § in Good Practice, Reflection & Rumination
RCTs: Some “how matters” advice for donors
"Be smart about what RCTs cannot tell us. Allow space for the unseen, complex and long-term consequences of aid investments to be discovered through accompanying and complementary research methods."[...]
Tags: aid effectiveness, aid industry, aid workers, alternatives, applied research, behavioral economics, community-based organizations, Dean Karlan, development economics, donors, foreign aid, foreign assistance, grassroots organizations, international aid, international development, Jacob Appel, More Than Good Intentions, NGOs, power dynamics, randomized control trials, RCT4D, RCTs, social movements No Comments
May 24th, 2011 - 10:33 am § in Guest Bloggers, Reflection & Rumination
RCTs and aid effectiveness: Much to be said
A compilation of recent posts and a tweet debate related to randomized control trials and aid effectiveness.[...]
Tags: Abhijit Banerjee, aid effectiveness, aid industry, aid workers, alternatives, applied research, behavioral economics, community-based organizations, Dean Karlan, development economics, donors, Esther Duflo, foreign aid, foreign assistance, grassroots organizations, international aid, international development, Jacob Appel, More Than Good Intentions, NGOs, Poor Economics, power dynamics, randomized control trials, RCT4D, RCTs, social movements 7 Comments
May 24th, 2011 - 8:44 am § in Reflection & Rumination
RCTs: A band-aid on a deeper issue?
“We all want to see deeper thinking behind the doing. Where I think we differ is on some fundamental beliefs about what prevents this and what ails the aid industry overall.” A review of More Than Good Intentions: How a new economics is helping to solve global poverty[...]
Tags: aid effectiveness, aid industry, aid workers, alternatives, Amartya Sen, applied research, behavioral economics, community-based organizations, Dean Karlan, development economics, donors, foreign aid, foreign assistance, grassroots organizations, international aid, international development, Jacob Appel, More Than Good Intentions, NGOs, power dynamics, randomized control trials, RCT4D, RCTs, social movements 9 Comments
May 3rd, 2011 - 2:00 pm § in Reflection & Rumination
Barefoot in Church
“He pushed me out into the aisle, where I stood, shoeless, feeling ashamed, and fighting hard not to cry.” Sharing a poignant personal story from the pages of The Sun Magazine on the experience of being at the receiving end of help.[...]
November 8th, 2010 - 9:10 pm § in Good Practice, Reflection & Rumination
What’s missing from the DIY aid debate? Overlooking the Capacity of Local NGOs
Are we overlooking the capacity of local NGOs? Rather than being the lowest common denominator of international assistance, indigenous organizations should be regarded as the fundamental unit of effective development aid.[...]
Tags: accountability, aid workers, alternatives, capacity building, community participation, community-based organizations, complexity, DIY aid, foreign aid, foreign assistance, funding mechanisms, GlobalGreengrants, grassroots organizations, HIV/AIDS, international aid, international development, JLICA, Malawi, Namibia, NGOs, Nicholas Kristof, organizational development, power dynamics, Robert L. Woodson, social change, social movements, South Africa, Uganda, UNICEF, voluntourism, WiserEarth 21 Comments
October 24th, 2010 - 6:35 pm § in Guest Bloggers, Reflection & Rumination
Pity, Pictures and Poverty
Is fundraising using ‘pitiful’ images justified if charitable organizations use the money effectively? Duncan McNicholl, founder of the "Perspectives of Poverty" project, responds on how-matters.org.[...]
Tags: aid workers, AidWatch, Australian Broadcasting Company, Boston Globe, charity, compassion, Darfur, dehumanizing images, dependency, Duncan McNicholl, engineering, Engineers Without Borders Canada, foreign aid, foreign assistance, Free Range Studios, fundraising, humanity, integrity, international aid, international development, Maclean’s Magazine, Malawi, National Public Radio, New York Post, photography, pity, poverty, poverty porn, power dynamics, racism, refugees, solidarity, Sudan, Water Wellness, YouTopia 9 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
October 4th, 2010 - 1:32 pm § in Good Practice, Reflection & Rumination
Ruminating on the Radio
Jennifer Lentfer of how-matters.org is interviewed by Megan Schiebe on blogtalkradio’s Global Humanitarian Discussions.[...]
A New Discipline for Development Practitioners
Organizational development is a discipline that needs to become more central to the practice of the development sector as a whole, not just a small professional enclave. [...]
Tags: ActionAid, aid workers, alternatives, CDRA, civil society organizations, Community Development Resource Association, community-based organizations, complexity, crisis, donors, foreign aid, foreign assistance, grassroots organizations, international aid, international development, NGOs, organizational development, organizational learning, Oxfam, partnership, power dynamics, social change, social movements, South Africa, sovereignty, The Barefoot Guide, values, VSO 4 Comments
