Links I Liked

April 30, 2019
From a friend in Indonesia: ‘Good info, mass public engagement & a competent elections team, all in a country of 9k islands, $3.5k per cap. And they did it. Cleanly fairly & mostly non-violently. Such a change from US & Afghanistan. I think this picture sort of sums it up.’ ‘Temperature change driven by CO2 emissions has affected poor counties
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Six things INGOs need to fix to be fit for the future. Mark Goldring’s outgoing reflections

April 29, 2019
Guest post by my former boss Mark Goldring, first published in the March edition of Governance and Leadership Magazine. Mark was chief executive of Oxfam GB from 2013 until January 2019. This article is based on a talk given to Civil Society Media’s NGO Insight Conference in November 2018. My last year as chief executive of Oxfam was dominated by the
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The sprint towards export-oriented growth in Kenya

April 26, 2019
Navalayo Osembo shares her views on how a social enterprise is helping economic growth and poverty reduction in Kenya.
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Trying to do something about climate inequality in Sweden

April 25, 2019
Guest post from Robert Höglund, Head of communications for Oxfam Sweden and coordinator for the network The Climate Goal Initiative. One of the aspects of inequality that always struck me as especially bizarre is the double inequality around climate change. The richest 10 percent of the world who is most to blame for climate change emit around half of all
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Will aid help or undermine Mindanao’s new start? Scott Guggenheim is worried.

April 24, 2019
Community Development guru Scott Guggenheim emailed some provocative thoughts on my piece last week on Mindanao, with much wider relevance to the localization debate, so I asked him to turn it into a blog. I like your piece but I’m a bit longer in the tooth than you and so slightly less optimistic. You are entirely right that the MILF
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What’s New in the Private Education Pandora’s Box? A look at developments in the Global South

April 23, 2019
Guest post from Prachi Srivastava, Associate Professor, University of Western Ontario. The Economist’s new special report ‘Private education’ (print edition, 13 April 2019) is causing a stir. We’ve been here before. Nearly four years ago, The Economist did a cover story (‘The $1-a-week school’) and briefing (‘Learning unleashed’) on low-fee private schooling (print edition, 1 August 2015) which caused a similar controversy. Then
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INGOs and aid’s Middle Income Country trap – what are the options?

April 18, 2019
Oxfam country directors face an unenviable task – juggling the daily management bureaucracy of the aid sector with the need to keep their eyes on the prize and think about strategy. Luckily, they are also some of the smartest, most politically savvy people in the organization. Here is a 16 minute segment of Philippines country director Lot Felizco, discussing the
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Is a progressive Islamic revolution happening in the Philippines? Impressions from Mindanao

April 17, 2019
First instalment from my recent visit to the Philippines: Something fascinating and strikingly promising is going on the Philippines island of Mindanao. It has very little to do with the grisly headlines of extra-judicial killings and President Duterte’s bloody ‘war on drugs’. It looks like a progressive Islamic revolution is in progress, combining elements of religiosity, women’s rights, armed struggle
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Are INGO advocacy and campaigning up to today’s challenges?

April 16, 2019
This post by Oxfam researcher Ruth Mayne was originally published by the UK network of development NGOs, BOND We know from successful campaigns in the past, such as the anti-slavery movement of the 19th century, that it is possible to achieve intentional systemic change, and that civil society can play a pivotal role.  But are civil society’s current approaches to
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Links I Liked

April 15, 2019
Thanks FT for this chart of toppling despots after the ouster of Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir. In the Arab Spring 2.0 (Sudan and Algeria, so far), the military jump in to forestall a revolution, toppling dictators when popular pressure becomes overwhelming. But what comes next? Recent precedents (Egypt, Thailand) are hardly encouraging. Cross country comparisons of patience, risk-taking, trust, altruism
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Combating corruption through community

April 12, 2019
David Riveros García makes a strong case for placing communities at the centre of anti-corruption work, based on the experience of organisations and movements in Paraguay. David is the founder and Executive Director of reAcción, an NGO that promotes civic participation and transparency in the education sector. Growing is often its own trap. For social initiatives, increased visibility brings the temptation of
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The new head of the UK’s aid watchdog wants your advice on its workplan – can you help?

April 11, 2019
Guest post by Dr Tamsyn Barton, ICAI Chief Commissioner Imagine this: you are in charge of scrutinising all UK aid spending by the government. Of giving public and Parliament assurance about how a perennially controversial £14.5bn budget is spent. You want to ensure your findings are taken seriously by government departments and people with the power to make changes to
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