Tech, know-how, or economic policy?
To what extent is "Growing the Pie and Sharing it" about economic policy, to what extent is it about best practice (whether in international development or regulatory frameworks) and to what extent about technology?

I love the idea of appropriate technology, and I spend a lot of time on Appropedia (wiki for international development and sustainability) which has a lot of info on appropriate technology, but also covers the best practice side of things (I particularly like the principles of development pages).

To my mind, all of these are important, but it is often a technological advance or a better design that makes all the difference.

Edit: There's also an Appropedia LJ community which covers some related subjects to this one.

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Voluntourism..
You may have heard the term.. a combo of volunteering with tourism, usually for a package fee.

My thoughts:

http://thinkinguhuru.blogspot.com/2009/08/volunteer-packages-tourism-by-another.html

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Degree in Int'l Relations.. good move?
I have been increasingly drawn to the the NGO and internationally focused non-profit sector since coming back from 10 months in Kenya almost 2 years ago. I have found a few programs that look great that I want to apply to, but I am not applying until I get a firm Idea that I can get a job if I complete a Masters in Int'l Relations.

Can anyone tell me their experience? Is it a viable option right now, or should I focus on a Nonprofit Management degree/cert program? I am really more passionate about the International stuff then I am other things right now, and it appears that some of the places I might want to work for you need a relevant MA to get into.

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Invitation to pilot a forum at Ecomotion on sustainable and ethical eating
Debate on Environmental and Sustainable Eating.

Dear int_development Community

This is an invitation for your online group to take part in testing an environmental community forum found on Ecomotion, which is in its developmental stages.

(www.ecomotion.org.uk)



http://www.ecomotion.org.uk/?id=-2672&cid=-2672&textmessageid=718

( Sustainable FarmingCollapse )

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Fiction on development

Recommended reading list of literary fiction on development

[via]

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New here..
I'm browing communities because I am hoping to get back to Kenya to do some work there, mostly in an NGO or Non-profit capacity. I was there 2 years ago and worked at a home for HIV infected children coordinating case files as well as later working as an ESL teacher. While these were fun, I'd rather go back with a focus on ONE thing. I have grant writing experience writing a small scale proposal for a housing initiative, and would love to work in that field, maybe with a specific focus on IDP's or rural development, or policy work. It's been tough because while I have experience and core skills, I don't yet have a Masters.

Can anyone here point me towards some Kenyan run or maybe Kenyan based NGO's or agencies that might be willing to hire someone for at least a year?

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micro-credits in nairobi?
This might be a bit of a long-shot, but wasn't sure where else to post or who might know.. mod feel free to delete if it's too off-topic.

I was wondering if anyone here knows of any reliable micro-credit organizations based in Nairobi. I know a young man there who is looking to start up a bar, but is in need of some assistance with the start-up capital. He's already secured about half of the funds, and has a business plan written out, but doesn't know where to go from here. Anyone know where I might send him?

Thank you!

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Opportunities with CARE for grad students and practitioners
This just came through a newsletter, thought I would share with you all. Please click links for add'l info.

DEADLINE MARCH 16
Visiting Fellows Program (NEW!) We are pleased to announce that in 2009 – 2010 CARE USA will host a Visiting Fellows Program offering a small number of graduate students and practitioners with support from outside sources the opportunity to work with projects and conduct research in various CARE Country Offices. The fellowship assignments developed by host offices may include working for program areas such as Emergency Management, HIV/AIDS, Economic Development, support to External Relations and other program areas critical to CARE. Fellowships also address organizational needs such as leading organizational development processes or global initiatives such as partnership or change management strategies. We welcome and encourage highly accomplished graduate students who are supported by an academic institution or other agency to apply for our CARE Visiting Fellowships. Visiting Fellowship assignments will initially be for a period of three months, with the potential of extension for up to nine months.

[snip]

DEADLINE APRIL 17
About CARE Internships CARE USA welcomes and encourages students who are interested in making a difference in the world to think about an internship. Where will an internship with CARE take you? Perhaps to a new location. Maybe towards new ideas. But most importantly, to a new level of experience. In your internship at CARE, you'll have the opportunity to make a difference in just a few months' time. You'll be able to take what you've learned in school and use it to make a real contribution to the eradication of poverty. The internship program seeks to provide closely monitored, project-driven professional and practical experience for undergraduate and graduate students interested in contributing to substantive CARE projects and initiatives. Important networking opportunities are also provided through participation in orientations and trainings that will include information on CARE’s history, vision, and where individuals from within the organization will share more in-depth information on certain programs. Most summer interns are placed domestically either at CARE USA Headquarters in Atlanta or in US field offices.

xposted to public_health 

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Resources on psychosocial care in emergency situations
I went to a brilliant short course this weekend. It was organised by Oxford University's Refugees Studies Center and had the serious title of Psychosocial Responses to Conflict and Forced Migration, but was more broader than mental health in the often restricted sense, considering the issue more along the basis of 'how to help people cope with an emergency situation'. The topic of mental well-being of people working in emergencies was also touched upon.

I think this could be interesting to a few people here, both as educational tools and maybe even for your work, so I wanted to share resources.

* * IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings: here in Arabic, English, French and Spanish, as well as a poster summary of main points. For those who are using this is a work context, the guidelines also include a lot of links to further resources. [ Related to the above, I was also given two documents on “DRAFT Assessment and Action Tool on How to Develop Coordination of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings” and “IASC Guidelines checklist for field use” (short 8-page version of the guidelines). These are Word documents but I would be happy to email them to anyone interested. ]
* * Headington Institute, providing psychological and spiritual support to relief and development workers worldwide
* * Antares Foundation, dedicated to improve the quality of management and staff support and care in humanitarian and developmental organisations
* * Psychosocial Working Group on Forced Migration Online
* * Psychosocial Forum of Child Soldiers (info not only related to children, as well as in languages other than English)
* * Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support of the International Federations of the Red Cross and Red Crescent
* * Mental Health and Psychosocial Network, which also includes a Live Support section where one can ask questions and get specific support ~ great for people working in the field
* * Impact, a Dutch organization
* * Intervention International Journal of Mental Health, Psychosocial Work and Counselling in Areas of Armed Conflict
* * Northern Ireland Centre for Trauma & Transformation
* * Agency Learning Network on the Care and Protection of Children in Crisis-Affected Countries.

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Regulated TMC
Regulated TMC (Integrated Total Market Capitalization of the Fund Market)

I Constant TMC

1. TMC0 is TMC as it were before the first market day of the year started.
2. TMCi is TMC at the end of the i-th day.
3. In the Constant TMC model, TMC at the start of each market day is set to the TMC0 value.

All the prices are normalized to the value, multiplied by the factor
k = TMC0/TMC(i-1)

This model is stable, from the psychologic point of view. To say, there is no reason to take your money out of such a fund market entirely, if you don't actually need them elsewhere. At plague, natural disaster, war - it's stable, in this particular sense of the word.

Nevertheless, Constant TMC fund market cases deflation and recession. In the best case - stagnation.


II Inflated TMC

( Read more...Collapse )

The Inflated TMC model is a stable model, lacking the major failures of the Constant TMC model.


http://community.livejournal.com/web_order/4521.html

Current Mood: accomplished

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Call for Papers
Cornwallis XIV: Analysis of Societal Conflict and Counter Insurgency

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The Presidential Campaign - Part Two

One of the fun things to do during a presidential election is to observe how the leading candidates adapt their policy positions. Having observed the last few cycles rather carefully, one central tendency is for the candidates to adopt essentially the same public positions on policy and make their case on minor differences. As one campaign consultant put it to me, such a strategy allows for greater certainty and control over campaign dynamics.

 

This year, foreign assistance is mostly an area of consensus between the candidates.

 

McCain, like Obama, bases his support for U.S. foreign assistance on security rationale. He asserts that foreign assistance is an essential part of the United State’s arsenal to “revitalize the country's purpose and standing in the world and defeat terrorist adversaries who threaten liberty at home and abroad.” And “[the United States] really needs to eliminate many of the breeding grounds for extremism, which is poverty, which is HIV/AIDS, which is all of these terrible conditions that make people totally dissatisfied and then look to extremism, particularly Islamic extremism.”

 

 

However, there are several points of difference. First, in terms of overall effort, McCain has not been specific about how much money he would spend, but he has set a goal of trying to eradicate malaria in Africa and fight corruption. Second, in terms of an overall goal, McCain always pairs foreign assistance with democracy promotion – signaling that he is interested in carrying on Bush’s “Freedom Agenda”.

 

Finally, and most interestingly to me, McCain appears to want to see greater donor coordination, specifically between the U.S. and European Union. His speeches always place foreign assistance in the sections on promoting transatlantic relations. Although one has to speculate on the specifics, we can say that McCain likes to talk about how foreign assistance is provided and not just what is we provide.

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MA programs: development, social work, or something completely different...
Hello all,

I hope that this is an appropriate forum for this kind of question. I'm seeking a bit of guidance on graduate school from those in the field. I graduated with a BA in Anthropology and World Religions in 2006, specializing in gender and development in sub-Saharan Africa. For the past six months I've been working for an indigenous rights organization in Kenya, and am enjoying it a lot but also finding it problematic. I'm looking at Masters programs now for September '09, and I'm considering international development as one of my first options, but also seriously considering social work. I would like to work in a field where I can address gender based violence and sexual and reproductive health/rights, and ideally be able to work both in Canada and in developing countries (especially in Africa!). I like development, but it's often so policy oriented, there is a LOT of mismanagement of funds and really sketchy ethics, and it becomes frustrating to develop programs that are never properly implemented on the ground. Social work seems like it addresses a lot of the same issues but is more hands-on, more individual, and (maybe?) more effective.

So... any thoughts on this? Is social work the right field for the kind of work I want to do, or should I stick with development, or maybe just straight up gender studies? I'm considering the MSW program at the University of Toronto, which you can take in collaboration with community development or gender studies, so that seems like a pretty good option to me, but I don't know how many social workers work internationally or in developing countries. I can't say that I have come across any social workers in Kenya, which is a bit worrying for my future career prospects (though I haven't looked very hard, really). I'm also thinking about the London School of Economics' Gender, Development and Globalization program, but the price tag is scaring me off a bit.

Alternatively, does anyone know of any Canadian Masters programs that combine fields of social work, development and/or gender? I wouldn't mind going to school in the States, but again, the price does seem to be much higher than Canadian schools and I'm not sure I can afford it (but I don't know much about American schools, so perhaps getting a scholarship is easier than I'm imagining?). One of my professors suggested that I apply to John Hopkins, and someone also recommended Columbia's social work program, in which you can specialize in international/refugee/immigration issues.

Thanks for your advice!

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Global Inequality and Elite Leadership
Inequality in the era of globalization is complex. The central finding of a report due for release this Thursday from an American Political Science Association Task Force is that under current conditions of high global inequality, international and domestic elites often create institutions and policies to promote development and to maintain their own dominance. While democracy and capitalism offer the promise of alleviating the problems of inequality in developing countries, the report concludes that they flourish best only if average citizens of those nations can develop economic and political institutions that reflect their own histories and cultures.



Policymakers in developed countries must address the distinctive conditions in each developing country. Remedying inequalities depends on listening to and engaging with social and political goals formulated by actors within each developing country. For those interested, the event details are as follows:

Thursday, July 10, 2008 9:00 am - 11:00 am
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
1779 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20036

RSVP to Katie Donaldson at KDonaldson@ceip.org by noon on Wednesday, July 9.
Space is limited.

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resource for letters of support?
I've been Googling around but not with a lot of success.

Does anyone have a concise how-to or guideline for writing a letter of support for a grant?  I want to forward to my Congolese colleagues...

TIA!

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Foreign Assistance Jobs
I've noticed a defined pattern here with people looking to identify opportunities for work in foreign aid. So I'm putting together some resources on my page (A Development Commons) for those who are interested. FYI.

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Resources on HIV and food security?
Hi everyone,

I've been all over Google and also looked in e-journals, e-catalogs, etc. and found a few things.  But do any of you have resources at your fingertips (brief/succinct is fine, does not have to be a dissertation) on HIV and food security, specifically in sub-Saharan Africa?  General or regional is fine.

TIA - congogirl

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connectivity of challenges

I am not one normally to get over enthused about a book (except Harry Potter- like everyone else), but I have recent finished Rajendar Menen’s Karma Sutra: Essays from the margin, and had to share. The book‘s theme in itself is very edgy, richly expressive and very taboo to discuss – Indian sex workers and their stories. As a development/public health worker, I have worked on several projects where the voices of those who needed to be heard where often shut out in the reports by focused statistics and development speak and the “success stories” focused on one or two beneficiaries who would provide he best photo op and story showing how the project/organization is doing wonderful stuff, but, never really focusing on the people as a whole being.

 

This is why I really like this book, not for the beautiful writing style and imagery, but because it opens up so much that really needs to be addressed by people and organizations working in the development and public health field. HIV/AIDS, TB, gender issues, economic development are underlying issues brought out but not as sterile statistic but the realities of life, and the wholeness of the human existence; love, hate, shame, anger, etc…

 

It is a must read for anyone is interested in life – and  desiring to help understand the complexity of it to better themselves and the world through actions that help and not hinder those amongst us who for what ever reason have been marginalized and laced on the fringe of existence

 

OBTW – it’s only available through Amazon -

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Campaign for Common Sense Reform in Food Aid


With one common sense reform to the U.S. food aid program, we can save many more lives AND make it less likely that local farmers will be undercut by an influx of cheap or free food. With your help, we can convince Congress to pass that reform. Read more.

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research for volunteer in cape verde
Hi everyone,

I am posting this on behalf of a friend ... please let me know (comment) if you have any insight! Thanks!

----

I am doing some research for a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cape Verde. She is looking for grant opportunities for several projects she is working on. If anyone can think of NGO's that you have dealt with that might give small grants to the following areas please let me know.

1) A training program in hydroponic horticultural production

2) Microcredit for women to do work at home(Sewing, goat raising, veg. production)

3) Solar/wind power to pump water to the fields

4) A sewing machine training program for women

If you can be of any help I would really appreciate it. Thanks for your help.

x-posted in expatsinafrica

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