Links worth looking at

By Alanna Shaikh | 23 April, 200811 November, 2011 | 2 Comments |

I am traveling, and I’m not sure what kind of internet access I will have to update. I’m offering up a bunch of interesting links to keep everyone busy in my (possible) absence.

1) The Children of War Rescue Project actually has a dayblog listing day-to-day activities. It is an amazing exercise in transparency, and also a great way for outsiders to learn more about what NGOs do. If you are thinking you’d like to work for an international NGO, just following along the posts is like a mini-internship.

The marketer in me thinks that they could be using this dayblog more for promotional purposes. Right now it doesn’t even have a link to their main project website. They should also explicitly describe it as an exercise in transparency, and have donors look at it to see what they do.

2) Paul Graham on the overlap between nonprofits and companies. I am consistently impressed by his ideas, and this is a great think piece on what makes a company and what makes an nonprofit. I have long held that the major difference between an international NGO and a company is tax status and no more. It is interesting to see someone else’s similar take.

3) Soap operas changing family size in Brazil. This article makes me twitch in different directions. On the one hand, it justifies the educational soap operas I used to help produce. On the other hand, what kind of unintended effects is TV having on our society? Since almost none of it is designed to do anything good. In fact it seems to me designed to make us meet more junk food and buy stuff…maybe I don’t have to just wonder what effect it is having.

Answering my first reader question

By Alanna Shaikh | 21 April, 200814 November, 2011 | 2 Comments |

I’ve got my first question to answer (and it’s not what I would have expected):

Q: I am moving to [redacted] in about a month, to work as a coordinator for a large NGO on a refugee project. It’s a one-year contract. This is my first field posting, and I really have no idea what to pack. I have no shipping allowance, just what I can carry in my checked luggage. I know what to do about clothing and toiletries and whatever. My question is – what about books? How many books should I pack? I don’t want run out of stuff to read but I do need some space for clothes.

A: Bring about a week’s worth of books, whatever that is for you. Chose things you can re-read, but you won’t mind giving away. You’re going to a major city. You’ll be able to get internet access, and probably satellite TV. You won’t die of boredom if you run out of books, and sharing and discussing English language books is a great way to make friends with other expats. (And if you want to stay sane in a new culture, you’ll need a couple expat friends.)

Discovering the Digital Divide

By Alanna Shaikh | 18 April, 200811 November, 2011 | 0 Comments |

Jaclyn Schiff, a blogger at the Brazen Careerist, has done some thinking about internet access, leading to this entry: How The New Colonialism is Distorting Your View of the World. I don’t mean to be snarky. It’s really pretty awesome that she cares enough to figure this out. I am amazed, though, that someone could independently discover the digital divide.

The Thirsty Palmetto

By Alanna Shaikh | 18 April, 200814 November, 2011 | 2 Comments |

A moving blog entry about life for returning refugees in South Sudan. The Thirsty Palmetto is a new blog, but the entries which have been written really pack a punch. It’s a perfect slice-of-life, of an aid worker in South Sudan. If you’ve ever wondered what the work is like, or how it feels, follow this blog.

Doing US assistance better

By Alanna Shaikh | 16 April, 200811 November, 2011 | 2 Comments |

The Center for Global Development has a new (well, almost a month old now) report out on improving foreign assistance. I am really glad to see so much attention being paid to how to do this kind of assistance. As I may have expressed by now, international development is too important not to think deeply about.

Edited to fix the typos – no more posting after midnight.

on hallways

By Alanna Shaikh | 15 April, 200811 November, 2011 | 0 Comments |

I am too cheap and too carbon-conscious to pay for bottled water. Instead, I walk to the water fountain every day with a quart-size glass bottle and fill it up. I keep a cup at my desk. I like it; it feels very civilized. It’s much nicer to drink from a cup than a bottle.

But, every day as I walk to and from the water fountain, I think about throwing the bottle down the hall. I consider the arc it would make through the air, the sound of impact, and the way glass would spray out and hit the walls. I try to calculate how hard I’d have to throw it, and how far it would travel down the hall, allowing for the weight difference between a full bottle and an empty bottle. I wonder if I could convince people it was an accident and just slipped out of my hands.

All of this makes it sound like I am fantasizing about acting out because I hate my job or some such. And here’s the thing. I love my job. It’s difficult, it’s engaging, and the work I do matters. I look forward to coming to work. I’m not daydreaming about throwing things because of suppressed hostility.

I finally realized – I walk down a long white hallway to go to the water fountain. I turn down another long white hallway. They have no artwork, no decor, and no distinguishing characteristics whatsoever. I dream of smashing things on their floors because I am bored. I crave stimulation.

Lesson: Change keeps us engaged. We can use change in our programs to hold the interest of the communities we partner with.