Field Notes from the Development Industry: 1/13/2013
1. Someone asked me if the new State Department Global Health Diplomacy office is likely to be hiring. Unfortunately, I’d guess no. All the major positions will most likely be staffed with career foreign service officers. They may be hiring support staff. They could pull that staff from existing government administrative employees, or they could… Read More »
Starting a Land War in Asia: the Five Classic Aid Worker Blunders
1. Thinking you’re the only one who’s ever tried to do what you’re doing. 2. Brushing your teeth with tap water. 3. Believing all problems have solutions. 4. Mistaking the capital city for the country as a whole. 5. Building a lot of technical capacity without making sure that someone is ready to use that… Read More »
Field notes from the development industry: 12/12/12
1. An awful lot of people in the aid system are bad at many parts of their jobs. The skills that get you promoted aren’t necessarily the same skills that lead to good aid programs. That’s good news, I guess, for young people who want to work in aid. Otherwise it’s depressing to think about.… Read More »
Half a blog post on finding the middle
This piece of a post was inspired by a post on the Humanosphere blog and some insightful comments on twitter from Brett Keller. The first time I started the draft, I tried to recap everything and it was boring. So follow the links if you like, but they’re not… Read More »
what we can’t do
I was at TED Global last week, and I gave a talk at TED U. (That’s the stage where a few attendees are selected to speak.) I talked about something I hardly ever mention on this blog – my dad, who has Alzheimer’s disease. The video went up… Read More »
Not giving money
If there is one question I get asked most often by people who don’t work in international development, it’s what can I do beyond just giving money? First of all, there is no “just” about giving money. Money is the lifeblood of international development. We can’t run programs without… Read More »
Book Review: Damned Nations, by Samantha Nutt
I didn’t mean to read this book. I am in the middle of another book I’m reading for review – Ed Carr’s Delivering Development (which I am really enjoying, but it’s new enough to me that I am also carefully taking my time). But I picked Damned Nations off my to-read pile the other day… Read More »