By Priya Chattier and Lavinia Tyrrel Spent last week at the second of three workshops on how to better use research in aid and development[1]. Lots of good discussion, but seemed we were all tip-toeing around the elephant in the room: does anyone else care about this (prioritising research and analysis in aid) other than …
Continue reading The one that Australian aid forgot? Trying to put the R back in MERL
By Reiko Take and Lavinia Tyrrel Spent last Friday in the kick-off workshop looking at how to get aid organisations to make better use of evidence and research in development policy and programming. This is all part of an action research project funded by the Research for Development Impact (RDI) Network and implemented by La …
Continue reading What it’s like to be a (consenting) lab-rat: using research in aid and development
The final workshop in the Abt Associates 'Innovations in Governance' series was held on Tuesday 18 June in Washington DC. The topic: from thinking politically to working politically - are we really doing development any different? Moderated by Graham Teskey (Principal Global Lead - Governance, Abt Associates) the impressive list of speakers included: Duncan Green (Senior Strategic …
By Duncan Green of Oxfam and the brains behind From Poverty to Power Spent yesterday at a Washington workshop on ‘From Thinking Politically to Working Politically’, organized by Abt Associates, whose Graham Teskey is one of the TWP gurus. What struck me most was the combination of the spreading acceptance of TWP approaches within the aid …
Continue reading Take-up and Doubt: where have we got to on Thinking and Working Politically?
By Tara Davda and Lavinia Tyrrel Aid is complex, and it is delivered in complex contexts. Any seasoned development practitioner would agree with this. For most of us, aid is about supporting positive change, and change necessarily means a renegotiation of power and resources. It means understanding the interests, motivations and incentives of those with …
By John Blaxland and Elaine Pearson [Original article posted on ABC News 16 September 2017] The world seems to be sitting on its hands as the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar descends into what the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has described as "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing". In just three weeks, more than …
Governance and Development Soapbox 