circus, circus
Last week I took my son to the circus. Specifically, a traveling troupe of Chinese acrobats. It was quite clearly the troupe that plays Dushanbe, not the troupe that plays Moscow. They attempted the big stunts, but they didn’t always make it. Spinning plates got dropped, a human pyramid crashed, and one tumbler tumbled right… Read More »
Training that Sticks
This probably falls into the category of stuff everyone already knows, but it’s so important I wanted to mention it anyway. Training is one of the most common interventions in international aid. It’s where we all start, when we think about problem solving. If the doctors/farmers/parliamentarians/journalists knew how to do their work better, everything… Read More »
New Podcast Series: Voices from the Inside
Voices from the Inside October 9 2011 For every expat aid worker who swans in and out, complaining about Delhi belly and inadequate per diem, there are at least ten host country aid workers doing the real work of international aid. They don’t live in hotels, they don’t get special treatment, and they’re the… Read More »
The long-awaited review of Fighting for Darfur, by Rebecca Hamilton
This is an important, useful, well-written book. And it’s not all that long, so there is really no excuse not to read it. The book looks at the Darfur advocacy movement, and seeks to answer two major questions: 1) Did the movement have an impact on US policy in Darfur and 2) How much impact… Read More »
An Interview with Rebecca Hamilton, Author of Fighting for Darfur
I was recently lucky enough to receive a review copy of Fighting for Darfur, Rebecca Hamilton’s new book on the Darfur advocacy movement. In the book, she attempts to answer the big questions: what was the impact of the Darfur advocacy movement on US policy? And how much could the US actually influence the situation,… Read More »
The Challenge of Being a Donor
I recently got an email from a reader frustrasted by how little he has learned after 30 years of being a donor to international developement causes. With his permission, I am posting our email exchange here: The letter I have been giving to aid organizations such as Oxfam America and Trickle Up for over… Read More »
Are we making it all up?
Note: I had to restore my site from an old backup to solve a link injection problem. I had to republish this post, and lost all the great comments. I’m sorry! A subscriber to the International Development Careers List asked me a question that really wasn’t about jobs the other day. I figured I’d answer… Read More »