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Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Reaching the MDGs…

By political cartoonist Gado Mwampembwa

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On fundraising: Saleswoman:  “…this is the first toy made for children, by children, with all profits going to children.” Lisa: “Really?” Saleswoman: ”Well we’re all somebody’s children” On donor decisions: The Superintendent: “But I’m a public servant. I can’t use my judgment.” On UN effectiveness: Principal Skinner: “Do you kids want to be like the real UN? [...]

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A great talk by Tim Harford drawing from one of the chapters of his forthcoming book Adapt. Much of interest here, especially on emergent, bottom-up strategies and how to make the most of them.

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These images by Oren Ginzberg appear on this blog as a guest post by Katrin Volkov of Survival International. To download the full publication, click here. For more about the work of Survival International, click here. Our original aim was the same as usual: to bring them sustainable development. However, in this specific case we encountered [...]

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Aid Proverbs…

Just a bit of Friday fun, making ten old proverbs relevant to the 21st century aid system… Always make sure you have a problem for every solution. An eye for an eye and soon we will all be in gainful employment. Even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single logframe. Give a [...]

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Everyone with an interest in complexity sciences should take some time to watch The Secret Life of Chaos, a fantastic hour long BBC documentary now on Youtube. The documentary explains some key concepts in the complexity sciences including self-organisation, chaos, feedback loops, fractals, flocks and evolution. It also provides insights into the work of pioneers like Alan Turing, [...]

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Following a recent Economist article on jargon in aid… (click on image for full size version) Grateful thanks to Fran Orford for permission to use this piece.

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Decisions at Davos

            H/t Dear Kitty

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Big thanks to Alanna Shaikh and Bill Brieger for feedback and comments. Debates about malaria eradication in the aid blogosphere, along with recent scientific evidence, highlight the urgent need to improve our understanding of the complex dynamics of this terrible affliction and to use it to adapt ongoing eradication programmes. A nearly hopeless case? According [...]

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Complexity in the air…

Debates on complexity and international aid have been heating up in the past few weeks. There have been thought-provoking articles by some well-known folk, which have had some some equally interesting responses. There  were also some great presentations at the EWB conference. On a separate issue, complexity of nuclear reactors and financial markets are explored in a fantastic [...]

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