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Why We Lie About Aid

Why We Lie About Aid

“Why We Lie About Aid” (2018) appeared all over development studies social media in 2018, at one point topping Amazon’s best seller list for the sub-category. For those who do not think aid is political, or who sit on the fence of development being political, Pablo Yanguas’ book is an essential read. The book makes […]

Tags: #Aid #International Assistance #Pablo Yanguas #Politics #Why we lie about aid

Thought Provokers
Civil Society: Challenging Western Models

Civil Society: Challenging Western Models

Edited volumes seems to have a shorter shelf life than books, similar to academic articles. I recently picked up the somewhat dated (1996) edited volume of “Civil Society: Challenging Western Models”, edited by Chris Hann and Elizabeth Dunn, to see what it might offer. It was written at a time when literature on civil society […]

Tags: #Civil society #magic of transition #Steven Sampson #Susanne Spulbeck #The Social Life of Projects

Thought Provokers
How One Small Tow Banned Pesticides

How One Small Tow Banned Pesticides

Philip Ackerman-Leist’s “A Precautionary Tale: How One Small Town Banned Pesticides, Preserved its Food Heritage, and Inspired a Movement” (2017) takes a deep dive into one northern Italian town wherein farmers became activists and voted to ban pesticides. The book is a bit heavy on the storytelling, but it does not claim to be academic […]

Tags: #Banning pesticides #Mals Italy #Pesticide-Free Villages #Pesticides #Precautionary principle

Thought Provokers
Call for Submissions: Chapters in “Ethiopia: Social, Economic and Political Issues”

Call for Submissions: Chapters in “Ethiopia: Social, Economic and Political Issues”

Call for Submissions: Book Chapters in “Ethiopia: Social, Economic and Political Issues” There have been significant social, economic and political changes in in Ethiopia in recent decades. Healthcare coverage has rapidly expanded but much progress is still needed; access to education has improved but there are questions of quality and employment; macro-economic growth has been […]

Tags: #Call for chapters #Call for papers #Call for submissions #Edited book #Ethiopia

Research
Organizing Women Workers in the Informal Economy

Organizing Women Workers in the Informal Economy

Naila Kabeer, Ratna Sudarshan and Kirsty Milward edited “Organizing Women Workers in the Informal Economy: Beyond the Weapons of the Weak” (2013), which presents a series of cases from around the world. The book “shifts the analytical focus from individual women engaged in these informal forms of work to organizations that have set out to […]

Tags: #Informal Economy #Naila Kabeer #Organizing #Weapons of the weak #Women

Thought Provokers

New Publication: Enabling Collaborative Synthesis in Multi-Partner Programmes

Cochrane, L. and Cundill, G. (2018) Enabling Collaborative Synthesis in Multi-Partner Programmes. Development in Practice. DOI: 10.1080/09614524.2018.1480706 Abstract: Multi-partner consortia have emerged as an important modality for knowledge generation to address complex sustainability challenges. Establishing effective multi-partner consortia involves significant investment. This article shares lessons from the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA), […]

Tags: #Collaboration #Development in Practice #Multi-partner #Multi-stakeholder #Synthesis

Research