Yep, this is it. Walking the plank as of next Tuesday, so here are some parting reflections I've been putting up on the blog over the last few days, and links to a bunch of more normal FP2P fare, which I've had to leave out due to lack of time. I’m leaving Oxfam – here’s what happens next Some Reflections on Leaving Oxfam after 20 years Learning fr…

GELI Stories: - Building Coalitions between UN Agencies and Government Ministries in Eswatini - Working in closed and informal political spaces like Eritrea 4 posts on future of UK Aid under Labour: - Two from Andy Sumner of Kings - Options for UK Aid: DFID survivor Tom Wingfield responds to Andy Sumner - Lisa Nandy on UK's Future Development Polic…

How Blogs can Change Government Policy Six big humanitarian policy trends for 2024 What are the Grounds for Hope in a World of Wrecks? The Rise of 'Trust-Based Philanthropy' - aka Unconditional Cash Transfers to NGOs Is Poverty Porn a thing of the past? Yes and NoAf From Poverty to Power

I sat down a few months ago to discuss data and development with Clare Melamed, who runs the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. Transcript available on the From Poverty to Power blog.Af From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked UN Women makes Norm Change central to its mission What's it like Explaining NGOs to Senior Military types from 40 Countries? Feminist Climate Justice – what is it and how could it help? Mia Mottley on Slavery, Poverty, George Floyd, Climate and the Future of the World Some last minute Christmas book presents…

Links I Liked Voices of Gaza What do 70 Masters students from around the world want to campaign on? What to read on the new UK White Paper on International Development? What can we learn from looking at the overlaps between innovations in ways of doing research and neglected development issues?Af From Poverty to Power

Why did the Street Movements of the 2010s fail? What Tactics are most Effective in Non-Violent Protest? Think tanks are struggling. They need to change. Whoop Whoop. Just made a personal Webpage it's super easy. RIP Saleemul Huq, a true climate hero Why a “humanitarian pause” or “humanitarian corridors” are simply not the answer in Gaza Pracademics…

Links I Liked Which book should I review next? You decide please! How do we talk about Older People in Development and Activism? Be Care-full. A poem for the times Links I Liked Will growth be enough to end poverty? New Projections of the UN Sustainable Development Goals What would make an Atheist spend a day discussing Faith and Development?…

Links I Liked Finishing a 2nd Edition of How Change Happens - here are drafts of two new chapters for you to read. 5 Things we Learned from Evaluating the Impact of Research How Local Women Mobilizers Shaped Ukraine’s Invasion Response New Version of the free online 'Make Change Happen' course launched this week - check it out Do our LSE Activism S…

Links I Liked Book Review: Power and Progress. Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson What can we learn from how an Adaptive Management programme has navigated Myanmar’s current chaos? Fancy some Good News? Brits are getting nicer.Af From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked Who Decides What Constitutes ‘Knowledge’ on Climate Change? Links I Liked The World Order Seems to be in Turmoil – What’s Going on? How more Open Government can bolster USAID’s Localization AgendaAf From Poverty to Power

Top Student Blogs and Vlogs from my LSE Activism course: Valerie Barki: Are you #ManEnoughToSnip? Jessica Louise: There’s a chicken in the desert! Martin Caforio: Green to Go: The Better Way to Take Away Vlogs from Carlota Lopez, Debra Francis and Holly Ingram A historic global agreement on tax is under threat. Here’s why. Amazing new Resource Guid…

Links I Liked Designing 'Research for Impact' still seems difficult for a lot of academics. Why? Do Southern-based Transnationals behave worse than Northern ones? How adaptive M&E from the peace sector can help demonstrate the value of aid (truncated due to dog issues - apologies!) Desperately trying to get through this week's posts before going on…

­­­Links I Liked How did we get here? Great chronology of citizen and corporate action on climate In your mid/late career and want to do a PhD? Here's some good news. The Gross Domestic Problem: what would a new economic measure that values women and climate look like?Af From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked School children are bearing the brunt of the global hunger crisis – just feed them How the United Nations and the World Bank can turbo charge the effort to reduce Inequality Evaluating the Evaluations: What lessons can Oxfam draw from a Decade of Scrutiny?Af From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked The methodology behind Oxfam’s latest killer fact on companies $1 trillion in windfall profits Some good news on falling global poverty levels (the multi-dimensional kind) Devoted the last week’s posts to a new book, How to Engage Policy Makers with your Research: The Art of Informing and Impacting Policy. Lot of stuff to chew on in h…

Fixing the power imbalances of aid and development: A paradox Is it right to prioritise fragile states in the climate crisis? Book Review: How to Stand Up to a Dictator, by Maria Ressa Where has the Humanitarian Sector got to on Localization? Great new update From Penury to Prosperity. The Churches at the Epicentre of social-economic Transformation…

Links I Liked Reforming the World Bank: some good ideas, but where's the power, politics and feasibility? How to get people to take the Care Economy seriously? Some top (evidence-based) tipsAf From Poverty to Power

Where thinking and working politically meets gender: tactics that have worked Podcast + transcript: did we get it wrong on land grabs in Africa? In Conversation with Laura German How do we Start Thinking About AI and Development? (one post by me, one by ChatGPT!) What does politically smart support to democracy and human rights look like? Can human…

Want to know what happened to the whole issue of land governance, land grabs and women's land rights in Africa? Here's anthropology professor Laura German, author of 'Power/Knowledge/Land: Contested Ontologies of Land and its Governance in Africa'.Af From Poverty to Power

Seeing the forest beyond the trees: Coalition building in Indonesia and beyond and the lessons for donors Older and at the Sharp End: Why more Social Protection is needed to protect Older People in the global food, finance & fuel crisis Linking Dignity & Development: Where have we got to? Links I Liked Public Engagement with Aid: What do we know fr…

Links I Liked Aid in 'Politically Estranged Settings' and the Disappointment Cycle of reading new papers Book Review: Reimagining Civil Society Collaborations in Development: Starting from the South ChatGPT: implications for teaching, how it analyses Brexit and the link to PsychoanalysisAf From Poverty to Power

Citizen action for accountability in challenging contexts: What have we learned? Venture Philanthropy and Asset Based Community-Driven Development – a marriage made in heaven? The Revenge of Power: A Great Book that will help you better understand Modern Politics Food and energy protests signal failures of accountability on a global scale…

Links I Liked 6 tricks for diverting Britain’s Aid to the UK Oxfam and BRAC: the links between Bloody-Mindedness and Innovation How Beijing Commands: how the Communist Party combines Ambiguity and Clarity to Maximum EffectAf From Poverty to Power

UK Budget 2023: What the Big Red Box leaves out Links I Liked Book Review: Lives Amid Violence: Transforming Development in the Wake of Conflict Evidence-informed policy FAQs: dinner party edition What can a Water Project in DRC tell us about Adaptive Management in fragile/conflict affected settings?…

Links I Liked x2 Bread and roses – why Oxfam is shining a light on feminist movements this March White Saviorism in International development. Theories, Practices and Lived Experiences How could a Funder help Promote Research for Impact? Does digitalised social protection worsen exclusion for women? Remembering Robin Palmer, a giant in defence of l…

Links I Liked Five types of humanitarian influence Upshift: Turning Pressure into Performance and Crisis into CreativityAf From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked Is Class the Missing Dimension in the Aid Sector’s search for Diversity? Great New Guide to 'Systems Thinking and Practice' Book Review: The Systems Work of Social ChangeAf From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked Top Tips on Seminar Presentations and the return to IRL - In Real Life The Global role of Grandmothers in the Care Economy Book Review: Political Settlements and Development: Theory, Evidence, ImplicationsAf From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked The Changing Nature of (my) ‘Field Trips’ 9 Useful Roles INGOs can play as Intermediaries in an Age of Localization Book Review: Hypocrisy and Human Rights: Resisting Accountability for Mass AtrocitiesAf From Poverty to Power

Taxation of the World’s Super-Rich has collapsed: as 1 in 8 people go to bed hungry, that has to change Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies: the politics of saving the planet Whether in Asia, Africa or North America, it’s been a profitable polycrisis for billionaires What can Oxfam's new Davos Report teach us about Killer Graphics?…

Links I Liked Humanitarians Must Reject the Taliban's Misogyny How well does the IMF engage with civil society? What do LSE Activism Students do after they leave?Af From Poverty to Power

Edible Economics: A Christmas Cracker of a book It’s Christmas time. Let’s talk about the world’s worst ever Christmas song (and the transatlantic cousin that is so much better). Links I Liked Hello 2023. Here are the Most-Read FP2P Blogs from the Last Year. Is Extinction Rebellion really quitting? Analysis of their New Year's Day statement Book Re…

Links I Liked Talking to Tory backbenchers about Aid Austerity as Gender-Based Violence Development Nutshell: audio round-up (22m) of FP2P posts, w/b 14th and 21st November Loss and Damage fund established at COP27: what happens next? Africa’s newest oil pipeline. When Two Elephants fight, the people get trampled How can Behavioral Science help bui…

Links I Liked x2 Rebecca Solnit: Why climate despair is a luxury The links between war and hunger Talking to Tory backbenchers about Aid Austerity as Gender-Based ViolenceAf From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked Can the UK become a development superpower again? Stefan Dercon’s memo to the new Development Minister 'Imagine There's No Money' - a thought experiment on aid without $ Adaptive Management in large programmes: Great new Practical Guide Words v Deeds: Rishi Sunak at the Egypt Climate Summit Aid v Global Public Goods; the fear in the s…

Links I Liked Top Tips and Dilemmas in Influencing from seven senior Aid Leaders Book Review: Transnational Advocacy in the Digital Era ‘Voluntourism’: Cultural exchange or doing development badly?Af From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked ‘Think Chess not Checkers’: Wilf Mwamba on the role of Analysis in effective Influencing As Oxfam turns 80, here are three big ideas that I think will shape its future… SoupGate, the radical flank and the politics of good tasteAf From Poverty to Power

For our Global Executive Leadership Initiative training on influencing, I interviewed Wilf Mwamba, a long term FCDO/DFID practitioner-thinker on TWP, now working in the private sector. With GELI's permission, I'm reposting here.Af From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked Which Governments do/don’t care about Inequality? ‘Never let the Silence Reign’: in Conversation with William Chemaly on the future of Global Protection What should INGOs do when Civic Space is closing around them?Af From Poverty to Power

The outgoing coordinator of the Global Protection Cluster shares some of his impressions of the state of a crucial part of the humanitarian system, the gains made, the challenges that remain, and why it all matters.Af From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked What did we learn from six months of training senior Aid people in Influencing? Why and how the UN and NGOs need to work together at national level Ha-Joon Chang on Economics v Science Fiction and other great ways to end your weeks this autumn – the LSE’s Cutting Edge lectures are backAf From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked Book Review: ‘New Mediums, Better Messages?’ (How Innovations in theatre, music, photography, video games, radio & journalism are Changing International Development) Podcast: Drought, Localization, the power of Cash Transfers and the Criminalization of Beekeeping – a conversation with Oxfam Kenya’s John Kitui Which is worse, bad Zoom …

I sat down recently with one of the stars of the Oxfam firmament, John Kitui, its Country Director in KenyaAf From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked The Humanitarian System is on the Edge of the Abyss. Where next? Locked out. What do local leaders say about reforming the humanitarian system? 5 ways to build more inclusive cities Is it time to Embrace your Imposter Syndrome?Af From Poverty to Power

Student blogs/vlogs Tackling period poverty in France Plane to Train UK: Incentivizing and Promoting Domestic Train Travel Why you have to care about elephants in Botswana Book Review: Gambling on Development, by Stefan Dercon Goodbye Government, Hello Corruption Using Evidence: What Can We Learn from a Book about Parenting?…

Links I Liked The sewage nightmare of Delhi’s ‘unauthorised colonies’ 5 easy steps to gain moral superiority over your friends Protecting the protectors Arrest the Trafficker, Not the Trafficked Why you should change your mind about the start-up that invented the Covid vaccineAf From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked: All graphics (too hot to think!) Playing the long game: politics, elite bargaining, and change over 20 years in Peru Welcome to our new home Never Heard of 'Human Rights Economics'? You have now. Summer Student blog and campaign. What about Waste Workers?Af From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked Red Tape, Risk and Decolonization: how can the Aid Sector square the circle? Hopelessness?Af From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked Starving civilians is an ancient military tactic, but today it’s a war crime in Ukraine, Yemen, Tigray and elsewhere Why we need to build a larger us Africa is so rich in farmland – so why is it still hungry? Where have we got to on Thinking and Working Politically? Update and a Mildly Heretical Thought.…