Author: Alanna Shaikh

Two on Tuesday – Meaty arguments

By Alanna Shaikh | | 0 Comments |

Two on Tuesday is a new feature where I find a couple examples of a phenomenon or issue that I find interesting, and try to learn something useful from them.

What I’ve found for you today is two blog postings that were hotly contested by their commenters. In other words, two interesting arguments. The real-time community knowledge aspect of blogs is one of my favorite things about this form, and a blog with passionate commenters is its epitome. There aren’t just two sides two every story, there are more like nine, and commentary from intelligent, passionate people is a great way to sort it out.

I therefore bring you:

1) Joshua Foust and Ann Marlowe continuing their ongoing feud on Registan.

2) Abu Aardvark and a bunch of commenters on the Anbar Awakening in Iraq.

A nice pair of postings that cast some light on the two major wars our country is fighting. (Some commenters are more worth reading than others, I admit.)

 

Girls in the developing world are in trouble

By Alanna Shaikh | | 0 Comments |

The Center for Global Development (which I worship like an obsessed fangirl, really all I need at this point is to be scribbling “Mrs. Alanna CGD” on my notebooks) has a new publication on girls in the developing world.

From the publication’s description page:

“…girls in developing countries are in trouble. They face systematic disadvantages over a wide range of welfare indicators, including health, education, nutrition, labor force participation, and the burden of household tasks. Because of deprivation and discriminatory cultural norms, many poor girls are forced to marry at very young ages and are extraordinarily vulnerable to HIV, sexual violence, and physical exploitation. Lacking a full range of economic opportunities and devalued because of gender bias, many girls are seen as unworthy of investment or protection by their families.”

DARA

By Alanna Shaikh | | 0 Comments |

I am a bit obsessed with evidence. Specifically, with making sure that the work we do is evidence-based. If you’re not sure it works, then why are you doing it? There are plenty of development interventions that have been proven to actually work. We should spend our money on those. There is no excuse whatsoever for funding and implementing large-scale projects that are based purely on theory or deduction. It’s unethical.

There is a role for experimental work and for pilot projects. I’m not saying there isn’t. But they should be small, rigorously evaluated, and designed with the idea of collecting quality data as well as having an impact. In a world of limited resources, you don’t go big with an experimental program. Yo go big when you’ve got enough data that you’ve got solid odds of your program succeeding.

My evidence obsession means that I like DARA. Their tagline says it all “We improve the quality of humanitarian aid and development through evaluation.” Their website features the Humanitarian Response Index, which looks at the effectiveness of aid in emergencies.

The Nonprofiteer

By Alanna Shaikh | | 0 Comments |

I love The Nonprofiteer. She is full of useful advice on running a non-profit organization. At lot of her ideas apply as much to a major NGO doing international development work as they do to the kind of domestic nonprofits she focuses. I especially love her advice column, and they way her answers are detailed plans you could act on. This post, on finding board members, is especially helpful.

Millennium Challenge Corporation

By Alanna Shaikh | | 0 Comments |

A nice article on the MCC. The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) was established by the Bush administration in order to reward countries that made good policy choices. Think of it as merit-based instead of need based financial aid. This blog post, on state failure, makes a nice companion piece to the article. What exactly do you do when the need for aid occurs because of incompetent governance? In the case of African famines, we generally give aid anyway. Is that the right choice?