Things I don’t believe in – handicraft projects
I don’t like handicraft projects. They seem to be very popular with private donors and small NGOs, but they’re mostly a bad idea. Here’s why: It always seems to be women who are targeted with these efforts. Do you really empower a woman by sitting her in a room to knit all day? Not every… Read More »
How I’m Judging You
These are my (arbitrary, personal, non-evidence-based) rules of thumb for identifying good development work: Bad signs Starting out by buying cars. Claiming to work in “Africa” without specifying a location. More than four partners in your implementation coalition. A local to expat ration of less than 5:1 (10 or 15 to 1 – or more… Read More »
Things I don’t believe in #3 – most kinds of evaluation (July 2008)
Note: August is looking like a crazy and stressful month for me, with no time to blog here. To make sure no one gets bored and abandons me, I am going to re-run some of my favorite posts from the past. Most forms of monitoring and evaluation annoy me. Instead of serving their true –… Read More »
Things I don’t believe in #10 – Donating stuff instead of money (June 2008)
Note: August is looking like a crazy and stressful month for me, with no time to blog here. To make sure no one gets bored and abandons me, I am going to re-run some of my favorite posts from the past. Give money. Don’t send food, bottled water, clothing or useful-seeming stuff. Give money. Your… Read More »
Things I don’t believe in #6 – All powerful expatriate leadership (June 2008)
Note: August is looking like a crazy and stressful month for me, with no time to blog here. To make sure no one gets bored and abandons me, I am going to re-run some of my favorite posts from the past. This is the first thing – expats don’t stay forever. In two… Read More »
Fund People, Not Concepts
(photo credit: Hamed Saber) Have you ever seen a really great project run by a terrible leader? I never have. I’ve seen competent development work done by bad leaders, but not great work. I’ve never seen it in a company, either. No amount of quality systems can make up for a lack of good leadership… Read More »
What we can learn from missionaries
I’m going to start with #9, because a lot of you asked about it. And I don’t want people thinking I was suggesting we convert people to, well, anything. No pith helmets, bibles, Korans, or books of Mormon here. Development has nothing – nothing – to do with salvation. But missionaries do have a model… Read More »