July 13, 2021
Got some spare slots on the blog at the moment, so thought I would introduce you to my favourite weekly update on all things humanitarian – the Cheat Sheet, from the New Humanitarian magazine. Here’s their latest round-up (or you can listen to the 16m podcast): Rural Afghan women on peace, war, and ‘our role in society’ Greater freedom, better
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How scandals and crises create opportunities for Research Impact
May 12, 2021
Next up in my series of interviews on the real-world influence of researchers at the LSE Centre for Public Authority and International Development, I explore the impact of Ryan O’Byrne and Charles Ogeno’s work on how South Sudanese refugees in Uganda understand and interact with refugee camp authorities, and how they engage with those authorities when they need help or encounter
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How an arts project created real-world impact for refugees and formerly displaced persons
April 29, 2021
Before you start on this post, a glitch in the matrix meant that yesterday’s post, on Covid-related innovation in poor countries, didn’t trigger the usual email notification. Catch up here. In my second post on the impact of researchers at the LSE Centre for Public Authority and International Development, I talk to CPAID’s Anna Macdonald and Kara Blackmore. In their
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Watching the ICC Judgement of LRA commander Dominic Ongwen with Ugandan victims of enforced marriage
February 24, 2021
This piece by Jackline Atingo is an edited version of a post first published on the Africa at LSE blog The conviction of Lord’s Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen at the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity has been met with mixed reactions in northern Uganda, where many survivors live today. Jackline Atingo watched the Judgement
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Can Financial Diaries help us understand life in fragile and conflict-affected settings?
January 13, 2021
Regular readers will know I’m a big fan of diaries as a research tool into issues such as governance and finance. Here Sandrine N’simire, Ishara Tchumisi and Patricia Stys, of LSE’s Centre for Public Authority in International Development, discuss their experiences conducting research using ‘financial diaries’ as part of LSE’s Water Governance project in Goma, DRC. This blog forms part of the Idjwi
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Bigger? Smaller? And What about the Missing Middle? Great discussion on the future of Humanitarianism
January 8, 2021
For reasons I hope to be able to explain in a few weeks, I’m mugging up on debates in the humanitarian sector, and really enjoying the ‘Rethinking Humanitarianism’ podcast series from The New Humanitarian and CGD. Each episode provides a full transcript, but no accompanying blog, so I thought I’d summarize November’s discussion on forces of disruption and the future
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It’s Time to Invest for the 21st Century and Repurpose Humanitarian Bureaucracies
December 15, 2020
Glad to see humanitarian guru Hugo Slim is stepping up his blogging activity. This post first appeared on the ODI page In the run-up to Christmas the big humanitarian bureaucracies have been busy asking governments for money. UN OCHA has appealed for $35 billion for the UN-led humanitarian response in 2021 (to reach 235 million people across 56 countries). UNHCR
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You can’t rethink humanitarianism without also rethinking the money. Here’s one way to do it.
December 11, 2020
I have a confession to make. I don’t listen to podcasts, even though I inflict them on others. When I’m at my desk, I’m much happier skimming documents (using my mad speed reading skills). If I’m out and about, I hate having something jabbering away in my ears. But my resolve is being sorely tested by the new series on
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Who wins/loses if Mexico legalizes Cannabis? Not as straightforward as you might think
December 10, 2020
A recent piece in the Economist on Mexico’s debates is an interesting addition to my library of ‘how change happens’ case studies, and reminded me of conversations I had thirty years ago, when legalization seemed a purely theoretical possibility. Would legalization mean small farmers get a new and stable market for their crop, free from the violence and chaos associated
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Why are Illegal Drugs still a Cinderella Issue in Development? (Looking at you CGD!)
September 15, 2020
Why don’t more mainstream aid organizations work on the issue of illegal drugs like cannabis, coca or opium poppy? We’ve known for decades that the prevalent approach to these – prohibition – harms small-scale farmers that grow them, fuels violence, undermines the rule of law and contaminates politics (the UN estimates the illegal drugs trade is worth $500bn a year
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What have we learned from four years’ research into empowerment and accountability in fragile/violent settings?
July 28, 2020
I’m still reeling from my first serious zoomarathon – 12 hours on zoom over 3 days (plus prep), with 50 researchers around the world from the Action for Empowerment and Accountability (A4EA) consortium. I can report back that unfortunately, my mood swings are much the same as in conferences (but with added anxiety/grumpiness from struggling to manage combo of four
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Where is the Aid Biz making progress on Localization?
June 30, 2020
There has been a spate of recent reports on localization, especially in humanitarian response. (Has anyone done a synthesis?) I’ve been browsing through a few – some highlights. First, an obvious, but important point. ‘Localization’ has always been a feature of emergency response, since long before today’s aid system was dreamt of. Globalization and migration have added new twists: ‘instances
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