Featured image for “Invisible Voices in the Production of Knowledge: Introducing the Bukavu series”

Invisible Voices in the Production of Knowledge: Introducing the Bukavu series

August 24, 2021
There’s a lot of attention on this blog to localizing aid (increasing the power and resources in the hands of local organizations rather than white men in shorts), but what about localization of research? For the next few weeks, I am largely handing over the blog to the Bukavu Series, a set of blog posts (and now a book) written
Read more >>
Featured image for “8 mistakes to avoid in reporting an INGO’s contributions to the SDGs”

8 mistakes to avoid in reporting an INGO’s contributions to the SDGs

August 19, 2021
Guest post from Ximena Echeverria Magariños and Jay Goulden, of CARE International INGOs have for many years felt the need to communicate how many people their programs reach in a year, but the numbers of people our programs “touch” doesn’t tell us anything about the difference they make in people’s lives. Increasingly, INGOs are seeking to report numbers of people
Read more >>
Featured image for “Measuring Women’s Economic Empowerment: 5 Takeaways from Researchers and Practitioners”

Measuring Women’s Economic Empowerment: 5 Takeaways from Researchers and Practitioners

August 12, 2021
Got a gap on the blog today, so thought I’d repost this excellent piece from CGD, by Mayra Buvinic and Megan O’Donnell The rhetoric around women’s economic empowerment (WEE) in global development is finally being translated into action. Development organizations are using this objective to guide operations and exploring ways to measure impact by integrating WEE indicators into project results frameworks. But
Read more >>
Featured image for “7 Cartoons that could just help the IPCC Save the Planet”

7 Cartoons that could just help the IPCC Save the Planet

August 10, 2021
More than 200 scientists from 66 countries have worked together to assess knowledge on just the physical science basis of climate change. Their answers were released yesterday in the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group I. The IPCC’s findings are clear, rigorous, and very concerning, but they are couched in formal, technical
Read more >>
Featured image for “Inequality is the most powerful explanation for different Covid death rates – a summary of the evidence from The Economist”

Inequality is the most powerful explanation for different Covid death rates – a summary of the evidence from The Economist

August 3, 2021
Powerful piece in this week’s Economist. I’ve added links to the various pieces of research it cites ‘Seventeen months into the COVID-19 pandemic, plenty of questions about the catastrophe remain unanswered. It is still unclear how SARS-COV-2 originated, for instance. Another puzzle is why some areas have had less destructive epidemics than others. Why has Florida had fewer deaths per person from
Read more >>
Featured image for “Micro, bottom-up research can shed new light on power and politics in fragile places, but it’s REALLY difficult!”

Micro, bottom-up research can shed new light on power and politics in fragile places, but it’s REALLY difficult!

July 22, 2021
Another intense couple of days hearing back from the 30 or so researchers in the Action for Empowerment and Accountability research consortium, as it approaches the end of its programme. I was returning after a couple of years’ absence (I did some work on adaptive management in an earlier phase) and it was great to hear where people had got
Read more >>
Featured image for “Not All in This Together: How Covid has driven up inequality in Supermarket Supply Chains”

Not All in This Together: How Covid has driven up inequality in Supermarket Supply Chains

July 20, 2021
I was speaking on a UN panel on Decent Work last week, so thought I’d better catch up with the latest Oxfam report, Not in This Together, written by Anouk Franck and Art Prapha. It provides a great case study of Covid as an ‘engine of inequality’ (and of how to write a research-based advocacy report – killer facts galore,
Read more >>
Featured image for “How to build and maintain trust at the interface of policy and research (and some challenges for NGOs)”

How to build and maintain trust at the interface of policy and research (and some challenges for NGOs)

July 7, 2021
A brilliant recent piece on the LSE Impact blog about the importance and nature of trust in ensuring that research influences policy makers got me thinking about the implications for advocacy organizations. First a slightly truncated version of the piece, then my musings. This from the LSE Impact authors: ‘Trust is often invoked as a key ingredient to establishing effective
Read more >>
Featured image for “What 6 case studies taught me about how research has impact”

What 6 case studies taught me about how research has impact

June 22, 2021
Here’s a wrap-up piece on what I’ve learned about ‘research for impact’ from a series of interviews on the real-world influence of researchers at the LSE Centre for Public Authority and International Development. This piece was first posted on the LSE Africa blog. Being asked to write impact case studies for the research programme at the Centre for Public Authority and International Development (full
Read more >>
Featured image for “Should it matter if Research findings are surprising/new?”

Should it matter if Research findings are surprising/new?

June 17, 2021
Had an interesting exchange recently during a launch webinar for the new IDS report, Navigating Civic Space in a Time of Covid. The headline finding is: ‘The pandemic brought the suspension of many fundamental freedoms in the name of the public good, providing cover for a deepening of authoritarian tendencies but also spurring widespread civic activism on issues suddenly all
Read more >>
Featured image for “How research into sexual wronging changed the course of the landmark trial at the ICC”

How research into sexual wronging changed the course of the landmark trial at the ICC

June 3, 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 Holly Porter’s research in northern Uganda, which has had a significant impact on a landmark trial and conviction of LRA commander Dominic Ongwen at the International Criminal Court, setting broader precedents for the
Read more >>
Featured image for “It’s often easier to have policy impact with research on a ‘new issue’, but proving it is just as hard”

It’s often easier to have policy impact with research on a ‘new issue’, but proving it is just as hard

May 19, 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 Claire Elder’s work on Somalia, which raises a whole host of issues around how research can influence policy and practice: How the act of researching for a PhD can itself lay the groundwork
Read more >>