Jean Michel Severino likes the idea of “Cash on Delivery Aid“. I think it could be the basis of a new consensus – linking a (broadly European) agenda of giving governments in developing countries more freedom to choose their own approaches to development with a (broadly North American) agenda of Read more…
Ross Coggins wrote about The Development Set back in 1976 (poem below). More than thirty years later, his critique still feels very contemporary (though were he writing today, I am sure that white landcruisers, satellite phones and blackberries would feature somewhere). I’m just back from the Doha Financing for Development Read more…
I am in favour of more openness in government, and against leaking by civil servants. Almost everyone recognises the need for secrecy in some discrete areas of government, such as security and defence, and for information about individuals to be protected. But there is debate about whether information about other Read more…
In a very thought-provoking post, Alanna Shaikh lists four ways that an NGO can unintentionally do harm to the community it’s trying to serve. 1) You can waste the time and effort of a community by initiating projects which have little chance of success. It’s hard to identify a good Read more…
Why it makes sense to give aid to governments in countries that suffer from corruption.
On his first day in office in 2001, President George W. Bush reinstated the so-called Mexico City Policy — known to critics as the global gag rule. It prevents the US government from giving money to organizations that provide counseling and referral for abortion, lobby to make abortion legal or Read more…
Jean Michel Severino says something you don’t often hear: What is at stake with the MDGs is the creation on a global scale of the same sort of public redistribution mechanisms that were progressively established in the world’s richest societies over the course of the twentieth century. As most of Read more…
As a West Wing junkie, I’m thrilled that Rahm Emmanuel may become President Obama’s Chief of Staff. Emmanuel is apparently the model for the character of Josh Lyman (played by Bradley Whitford – pictured right) from his days in the Clinton White House. Lyman has always been my hero in Read more…
There are two new episodes of the Development Drums podcast now online. Episode 4 with Shanta Devarajan discusses the impact on developing countries of the financial crisis; latest developments in the food crisis; the award of the Mo Ibrahim prize for good governance in Africa. Sheila Page discusses moves towards Read more…
If you have Google Alerts for your own name, or your company or website, you can now get your alert by RSS not just email: Until now, alerts have been delivered via email only, but those days are over. Now your News, Web, Blog, Video, and Groups alerts are more Read more…