What’s the likely impact of Brexit on development, aid and Oxfam? Any opportunities amid the gloom?

June 30, 2016
Following on Tuesday’s retrospective ‘how did this happen?’ piece, some thoughts on the future, starting wide (development in general) then narrowing down to the aid business, and all the way to Oxfam/INGOs. All highly tentative, subject to correction etc in the coming days. One big assumption: I’m assuming that Brexit actually goes ahead. And one pleasant surprise – there are
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If you want to organize an event on How Change Happens this autumn, please let me know

June 29, 2016
My new book, How Change Happens, is published in October by OUP. I know, I know, there is no sight so craven or humiliating as a writer desperate to promote their book. Any better ideas? The academic summer break is approaching fast, so as a first step, we’re inviting expressions of interest from universities, NGOs or anyone else in being
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What does ‘How Change Happens’ thinking tell us about Brexit?

June 28, 2016
I was in Lisbon running a ‘How Change Happens’ summer school when the Brexit news came in, so I thought I’d apply an HCH analysis to a seismic event. I’m not an expert on UK politics, so this is bound to be pretty uninformed compared to the avalanche of post mortems in the press, but let’s see where it goes. First
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Links I Liked

June 27, 2016
Blimey, where to start? Think I’ll do an initial ‘how change happens’ post mortem piece on Brexit tomorrow, and just stick to the pre-poll run-up today, because the final days of the EU referendum campaign produced some fine humour – it already seems like a bygone age. Rhodri Marsden belatedly took a leaf out of the Leave campaign’s approach to factiness. And should
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How can a top development thinktank improve its communications?

June 24, 2016
Well it feels like the world just ended, but thought I’d post this anyway. Life goes on and all that. The title to this post was my exam question for a recent discussion with the comms team at ODI. My initial reaction was ‘you’re top of the heap already, relax’, but then I got to thinking about a couple of
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Will Bill Gates’ chickens end African poverty?

June 23, 2016
  Joseph Hanlon and Teresa Smart are unimpressed by a new initiative, but disappointingly avoid all the potential excruciating puns Bill Gates announced on 7 June that he is giving 100,000 chickens to the poor because chickens are “easy to take care of” and a woman with just five hens in Africa can make $1000 per year. For Mozambique where
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Jo Cox would have been 42 today. Here’s what she was like to work with.

June 22, 2016
Today would have been Jo Cox’s 42nd birthday. Celebratory events are being held around the world with the hashtag #MoreinCommon, taken from her maiden speech in Parliament: ‘We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us’. My ex-boss Phil Bloomer, who worked with Jo for many years at Oxfam, gave this lovely tribute to an event
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Why do people flee their homes? The answers may surprise you

June 21, 2016
Yesterday was World Refugee Day and a new UN report put the total number of ‘forcibly displaced’ at 65.3 million. Most of those remained within national boundaries (internally displaced). Oxfam researcher John Magrath summarizes a recent study on the causes of internal displacement Why do people become displaced? That is, forcibly displaced in that they have, or believe they have,
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Links I Liked

June 20, 2016
Never has ‘links I liked’ been more of a misnomer, but I have to start with the murder of my former colleague Jo Cox. This was one of the more searching reflections on her death. Which leads us on to this week’s EU Referendum, I guess. If you’re one of those diminishing band of voters that is still interested in
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RIP Jo Cox

June 17, 2016
I worked with Jo (Jo Leadbeater as she then was) for several years at Oxfam, where she ended up being head of the advocacy team in Oxfam GB. My main memory is of her relentless optimism and tigerish energy – she bounced around the office. She was an activist’s activist (we didn’t always see eye to eye – she once
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After the Summit: What next for humanitarianism?

June 16, 2016
Here’s this week’s vlog – still trying to sort out a better camera and sound, sorry! Spent a fascinating morning recently, discussing the state of humanitarian response with a bunch of fairly senior people from inside ‘the system’ – UN, donors, INGOs etc. It was Chatham House Rule, so that’s as much as I can tell you about the event,
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European Governments’ treatment of refugees is doing long term damage to international law

June 15, 2016
Maya Mailer (@mayamailer), Oxfam’s Head of Humanitarian Policy & Campaigns, reflects on a recent visit to Greece on the day it launches Stand As One, a big new campaign on refugee rights I visited some of Europe’s refugee camps recently. Oxfam was founded in 1942 to help civilians that were starving in Nazi-occupied Greece, and now, more than 70 years later, we
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