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Links & Contents I Liked 312

Hi all, 

A twelvemonth later the Oxfam scandal broke & the #AidToo displace started it seems similar a lot of occupation organisation every bit common inwards the #globaldev industry...

Development news: Erik Solheim & the well-known story of United Nations leadership problems; Angelina Jolie inwards meme territory; later the Oxfam scandal; some Tories desire to cutting United Kingdom of Great Britain together with Northern Ireland of Britain together with Northern Republic of Ireland #globaldev; Belgium's racist yesteryear & present; Congo's rigged elections; is Canada's feminist unusual policy a fraud? Miss Curvy Republic of Uganda & the objectivication of women; how UNHCR desire to address gender imbalances inwards their excogitation stories; Kenya's DNA-based ID system; UNICEF innovation; how to create extractive industries to a greater extent than accountable?  How assistance disrupts local markets for journalism; DfID media evolution efforts; does assistance do goodness the rich? High German museums & their colonial past.

Our digital lives: People liked the Gillette ad.

Publications: Lower vaccination rates inwards Islamic Republic of Pakistan cheers to CIA undercover mission to capture Bin Laden.

Academia: How to do 'excellent research' at a United Kingdom of Great Britain together with Northern Ireland of Britain together with Northern Republic of Ireland academy with a negative 2 hr budget a week? The myth of meritocracy inwards American political science; caring for race horses-ethnographic insights.

Enjoy!

From the aidnography archive
Oxfam, Republic of Haiti & the assistance industry's #MeToo moment-a curated bibliography
There are straight off to a greater extent than than 120 resources featured inwards this bibliography!
After #oxfamscandal: Tough trade-offs ahead for the assistance manufacture
For substantial together with longer-term changes edifice upwardly structures volition require generous together with patient donors, a nuanced media coverage together with a full general populace willing to engage with complicated processes of social change. That’s a lot to inquire for. Paying for experts, paying for capacity development, paying for fourth dimension to acquire things correct together with paying for scaling upwardly organizational structures is non what donors are keen to fund together with Silicone Valley-type disruptors maintain promising.
The run a peril is that for large organizations (e.g. United Nations organizations together with large INGOs) it may go component subdivision of ‘bureaucratic capture’, of box-ticking together with dodging difficult decisions. For modest organizations it could live expensive together with time-consuming, peradventure paralyzing their work.
Almost precisely a twelvemonth agone the Oxfam scandal changed the assistance industry

Development news
Erik Solheim: what he got right, what he got wrong, together with what the novel United Nations Environment primary should do next
Staff were also impressed yesteryear his many positive qualities. He is energetic, passionate together with approachable. He insisted that the usually deferential United Nations staff telephone phone him yesteryear his get-go name. He encouraged people to dispense with their customary linguistic cloaks of acronyms together with scientific jargon. He implored them to communicate their run inwards a way that was comprehensible to the average mortal on the street (his acid essay out was to inquire whether a study would live understood yesteryear his 90-year-old mother). He pushed people to intend exterior the box.
In short, he was a welcome breath of fresh air inwards what ofttimes felt similar a staid together with unhurried bureaucracy.
(...)
But Erik has an unshakable belief inwards his ain righteousness that is both an property together with major weakness. When the audit tempest clouds were gathering, he doubled down, angrily rejecting much of the OIOS criticism of his locomote schedule, lack of documentation together with disregard of the HR rules. As a damning op-ed inwards Deutsche Welle concluded: “his actions pigment a questionable motion painting of a corrupt pol using a seat of privilege to his ain advantage”.
After he left United Nations Environment, he gave an interview to a Norwegian paper inwards which he insinuated that he was fired because the United Nations simply wasn’t gear upwardly for his mode of radical reform. The fact that he was willing to tarnish the organisation every bit component subdivision of a ‘burn the houses’ endeavor to rehabilitate his reputation must receive got chipped away at whatever residual goodwill that staff may receive got felt.
Oli Brown reflects on UN Environment's Erik Solheim's tenure. Without going into particular it sounds pretty much similar most leadership challenges inside the United Nations bureaucracy regardless of era, mortal or United Nations organization.

U.N. envoy Angelina Jolie urges Myanmar to goal violence against Rohingya Muslims
Jolie is visiting for iii days earlier launching a global appeal for $920 million, chiefly to back upwardly the refugees’ needs for 2019. She met together with talked with refugees, including children together with rape victims.
“It was deeply upsetting to run across the families who receive got exclusively known persecution together with statelessness their whole lives, who speak of beingness treated similar cattle,” she told reporters at the Kutupalong refugee camp.
AP/Japan Times featuring Angelina Jolie's latest efforts inwards Bangladesh. Nothing incorrect with her engagement per se, but this appears to live a rather unfortunate motion painting of a white savior towering over refugee camps together with 'poor children' tucked away behind a fence...

Rebecca Cooney: One twelvemonth on from the Oxfam scandal
In some ways, Oxfam was unlucky. As the countless stories that receive got come upwardly out since receive got shown, the number was much wider than 1 organisation.
For years, at that spot had been concerns virtually "a certainly type of man" who was attracted to the powerfulness afforded yesteryear working inwards front-line development, together with virtually the ease with which perpetrators could displace around organisations together with avoid accountability.
Oxfam just happened to live the charity belongings the bomb when it went off.
That’s non to excuse what happened inwards Republic of Haiti – quite the opposite.
The conversation virtually how the assistance sector together with charities every bit a whole respond to allegations of sexual misconduct, harassment together with abuse has been protracted together with painfully public. But it was 1 that needed to live had.
Charities are approaching a fourth dimension of upheaval together with doubtfulness every bit global politics, global warming, applied scientific discipline together with changing donor demands hateful the charity sector volition demand to renegotiate its human relationship with the populace and, crucially, with beneficiaries.
Rebecca Cooney for Third Sector with a reminder virtually the long route ahead 1 twelvemonth later Oxfam's Republic of Haiti scandal.

Boris Johnson backs telephone phone for multibillion cutting to United Kingdom of Great Britain together with Northern Ireland of Britain together with Northern Republic of Ireland assistance budget
Andrew Mitchell, a sometime Conservative international evolution secretary, said: “Boris is a flake similar a medieval pirate whose eyes receive got alighted on this plump Castilian galleon loaded with bullion together with he wants to board it together with plunder it.”
Patrick Wintour for the Guardian on to a greater extent than bad ideas from the Tories...

UN: Kingdom of Belgium must apologize for colonialism, human face upwardly its racism
“The root causes of present-day human rights violations prevarication inwards the lack of recognition of the truthful reach of the violence together with injustice of colonization,” the U.N. Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent said inwards an interim study on Belgium.
Raf Casert for AP. Like Deutschland (see link below), Kingdom of Belgium is also challenged to bargain with her colonial past.

Congo's election: a defeat for democracy, a disaster for the people
The international community has invested many billions of dollars inwards DRC over the yesteryear 2 decades to essay to stabilise the province together with the region, together with to steer the republic towards a democratic, just together with prosperous future. By passively accepting this fait accompli, all that investment volition receive got been compromised.
Mo Ibrahim & Alan Doss for the Guardian with a reminder that (short-term) stability trumps complicated social modify together with calling out rigged elections for much of the international community...

Canada’s ‘Feminist’ Foreign Aid Is a Fraud
For those who had watched Canada disingenuously label its international-assistance policy every bit “feminist,” the summit was depressing. The perfect rhetoric together with noun emptiness was some other indictment of women-empowerment efforts that tend to view “feminist” every bit a branding tool rather than a realignment of powerfulness relations.
(...)
Truly freeing women’s economical empowerment from the clutches of this telephone substitution would require dissecting together with dissipating the myth of its altruism together with allowing empowerment programs to occupation organisation human relationship for the complexity together with flexibility that would emerge from grassroots actors instead of expatriate overlords. The give-and-take “feminist” is ofttimes reduced to a catchy describing word that flits thus flops inwards front end of whatever matters are du jour. When it comes to international aid, aspect yesteryear the branding together with aspect at whose powerfulness it actually builds.
Rafia Zakaria for the Nation criticized Oxfam Canada inwards particular on depoliticizing 'feminist unusual policy'.

#MissCurvyUganda: Here’s why nosotros are cutting the tree together with ignoring the root
The media together with lodge continues to reinforce these contradictions. Today, you’ll read virtually “bummy” women causing “scrotal eruptions”, how “juicy woman” Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 is causing problems inwards the wedlock of a “juicy-less” adult woman B, etc. The adjacent day, the same media volition trunk shame a adult woman for putting on weight; they’ll praise the slim together with “portable” woman. In school, the slim, tall, lite skinned daughter volition go Prom Queen piece the brusque together with chubby 1 volition live called ugly. But at that spot are also cases of modest bodied students nicknamed “stick” together with taunted for their “feather” weight. In music videos, including those titled African Queen or African Beauty, the “queen” is ever a tall, light-skinned adult woman – perfect laid of teeth, shine skin, long neck, total lips, circular glittering eyes.
Harriet Beranena for Journey's Within-capitalism has firmly arrived inwards Republic of Uganda together with it does what has been doing elsewhere: Objectifying women/people, creating products around the female/human trunk together with exploiting it for short-term gain...

We demand to create the gender imbalance inwards our stories on innovation
In a way, this is precisely the problem. In monastic say for us to speak together with write virtually women (or women every bit innovators), nosotros needed to create a serial on its own. And that actually bothers me.
(...)
So, later completing our experiment, I’ve decided these are the actions I volition convey inwards my usage to assist duet the gender residue gap inwards our stories:
Interview to a greater extent than women on humanitarian innovation. Interview them virtually their work, their impact together with their opinions.
Track this. Be diligent together with accountable to these statistics.
Encourage together with mandate contributors to our weblog to include women’s voices, ideas, opinions, together with expertise inwards their stories.
Have an evolving listing of women with expertise throughout the humanitarian excogitation infinite that tin live interviewed.
Hire to a greater extent than women writers. Hire to a greater extent than various writers inwards general. Purposely seek out together with highlight these voices.
Lauren Parater for UNHCR Innovation Service on how include to a greater extent than woman mortal voices inwards ICT4D writing together with practice.

Kenya Government mandates DNA-linked national ID, without information protection police pull
Last month, the Republic of Kenya Parliament passed a seriously concerning amendment to the country’s national ID law, making Republic of Kenya domicile to the most privacy-invasive national ID scheme inwards the world. The rebranded, National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS) straight off requires all Kenyans, immigrants, together with refugees to plow over their DNA, GPS coordinates of their residential address, retina scans, iris pattern, vocalism waves, together with earlobe geometry earlier beingness issued critical identification documents. NIIMS volition consolidate information contained inwards other authorities means databases together with generate a unique identification number known every bit Huduma Namba.
Alice Munyua for Mozilla on the 'digital revolution' inwards Republic of Kenya together with how rapidly some countries displace into intrusive ID systems without proper safeguarding.

Is United Nations Planning to Replace Humans with Machines & Robots?
In monastic say to promote the sharing of these experiences together with acquire from each other’s successes together with failures, UNICEF co-funded, together with the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Innovation Network — an informal, collaborative community of United Nations innovators interested inwards sharing their expertise together with experience with others to promote together with advance excogitation inside the United Nations System.
Similarly, frontier technologies together with digitalization are 1 of the main priorities of the Secretary General. To strengthen digital cooperation together with advance proposals alongside governments, the individual sector, civil society, international organizations, academia, technical community together with other relevant stakeholders inwards the digital space, the High-level Panel for Digital Cooperation was set.
Thalif Deen talks to UNICEF's Chris Fabian virtually excogitation for Inter Press Service. The slice focuses a flake uncritically on United Nations excogitation practices. It's interesting to compare the discourse on digital excogitation with the slice on Erik Solheim together with the old-school challenges of United Nations bureaucracy...

Can transparency create extractive industries to a greater extent than accountable?
Campaigns similar PWYP together with EITI receive got done a huge amount to gain greater transparency of revenues. Now they – together with the donors who back upwardly them – tin also do to a greater extent than assist to convert information to action, back upwardly mobilisation from below, together with assist shape the larger political incentives that tin give teeth to voice. In a fourth dimension of increasing threats against those who usage information to challenge powerful extractive companies, this run is to a greater extent than of import than ever.
John Gaventa for IDS with a reminder that data, transparency together with global initiatives are non plenty to concur extractive industries accountable.

How Foreign Aid Fuels African Media’s Payola Problem
Ironically, assistance agencies’ efforts to improve African media receive got exclusively exacerbated the problem. That’s because today, a typical journalist inwards Africa is a professional person workshop attendee. NGOs from every sector “train” journalists inwards their dependent area matter, ofttimes with content conceived inwards Western capitals yesteryear people with no experience inwards journalism or inwards the target countries. Journalists go from workshop to workshop, turning upwardly long plenty to collect their per diems together with write a puff piece.
This approach is every bit costly every bit it is regrettable. In 1 African country, a media-development organisation with which I receive got worked spent to a greater extent than than $1 1 1000 m of taxpayer coin to gain a one-hour computer programme on governance, which was thus aired on community radio, its content thus sanitized to appease local officials that few people tuned in. But fifty-fifty to a greater extent than problematic was the distortion to the domestic media market. To gain the program, the NGO recruited x top journalists from established outlets together with paid them every bit much every bit x times their normal salary. Once the projection was over, most of the journalists quit their old jobs inwards search of improve pay inwards the assistance together with authorities sectors.
Prue Clarke for Project Syndicate on challenges for local journalists inwards countries with substantial #globaldev budgets.

DFID's "transparency revolution" is welcome - but supporting independent media is urgent together with challenging
To its credit, DFID’s strategy acknowledges this. “Too often, information is non presented inwards an understandable way that enables citizens to find, translate together with usage it”, it argues. “Evidence must also live accessible to parliaments, audit offices, media together with civil lodge organisations that tin monitor together with champion improvements inwards services.” But inwards many places media that tin “monitor together with champion” struggles to exist. Media needs back upwardly to develop the skills, systems together with mindset to do this together with to hold upwardly long term. We are witnessing a global assail on independent media especially inwards the frail states that DFID prioritises for support. The closing of civic infinite yesteryear ofttimes authoritarian authorities is reinforced yesteryear increasing attempts to co-opt together with capture independent media yesteryear multiple commercial, factional, religious, ethnic together with other political interests. Independent media, especially inwards frail states with weak economies, are simply non able to afford to able to resist such co-option.
James Deane for BBC Media Action. How tin #globaldev media back upwardly run with local journalists (see above) to ensure value added beyond workshops together with fancy PR pieces?

How assistance helps the rich acquire richer
But it continues. “Working with elites is to a large extent deliberate policy,” comments an independent consultant with a xx twelvemonth rail tape inwards monitoring assistance projects inwards southern together with E Africa. “As a donor you lot demand to comprise partner countries inwards your political agenda -whether that is fighting ISIS or decreasing migration to the West. The higher upwardly your partners are, the better. It is also easier for donors to bring out large sums at the top. Small amounts demand every bit good much admin. But assistance given inwards that way may receive got a counterproductive outcome with regard to the poor.”
Selay Kouassi, Chief Bisong Etahoben, Eric Mwamba, Francis Mbala, Benon Herbert Oluka & Ken Opala for the African Investigative Publishing Collective. There's a lot going on inwards this slice (perhaps a flake every bit good much?) virtually the age-old story of how (some) assistance volition assist those inwards power...

Germany allocates €1.9m for museums to inquiry colonial-era acquisitions
The High German authorities says it has allocated €1.9m this twelvemonth to provenance inquiry for artefacts that entered museum collections during the colonial era, with the funds to live administered yesteryear the High German Lost Art Foundation. An eight-member commission including Bénédicte Savoy, the co-writer of a study urging French museums to repatriate plant taken without consent from African countries, volition select grant recipients on the footing of applications from High German museums, a disceptation from Culture Minister Monika Grütters said.
(...)
Grütters says that colonial history has for many decades been a “blind spot” inwards Germany. “Provenance inquiry of items with a colonial context is an of import contribution to a closer examination,” she said inwards the statement.
Catherine Hickly for the Art Newspaper with a reminder that it's non just Kingdom of Belgium that needs to do homework on their colonial past.

Bill Gates tweeted out a nautical chart together with sparked a huge debate virtually global poverty
Has global poverty declined dramatically?
That mightiness seem similar a straightforward enquiry to answer, but it’s go the topic of vehement debate alongside evolution wonks, economists, together with scholars.
Dylan Matthews for Vox summarized the recent Gates-Pinker-Hickel-Roser et al. debate.

Our digital lives
Turns out almost everyone loved that 'controversial' Gillette advertising virtually toxic masculinity.
However, all that hollering on social media wasn’t indicative of how the average American thought virtually Gillette later seeing the ad. In fact, studies present that Americans are smart plenty to know the difference betwixt toxic masculinity together with masculinity in-general together with liked the ad.
(...)
“These results propose that (once again) the naysayers on social media do non necessarily stand upwardly for the bulk opinion,” Ace Metrix wrote, “and that consumers overwhelmingly back upwardly together with applaud the messaging inwards Gillette’s novel ‘The Best Men Can Be’ creative.”
Tod Perry for Upworthy on why social media trends may non live the total motion painting (I know...shocking, correct ?!?)

Publications
In Vaccines We Trust? The Effects of the CIA’sVaccine Ruse on Immunization inwards Pakistan
In July 2011, the Pakistani populace unexpectedly learnt that the CIA had used a vaccination stimulate every bit comprehend during the operations to locate together with capture Osama Bin Laden. This episode lent credibility to conspiracy theories against vaccines that had been spread yesteryear the Taliban. We evaluate the effects of these events on immunization yesteryear implementing a Difference-in-Differences strategy across cohorts together with regions. We uncovering that vaccination rates declined ix to 13% per measure departure inwards back upwardly for Islamist parties. These results propose that the disclosure of information discrediting vaccination campaigns tin negatively deport on trust inwards wellness services together with demand for immunization.
Monica Martinez-Bravo & Andreas Stegmann with an interesting working paper that adds evidence to our #globaldev gut feeling.

Academia
Workload inwards HE: The broken reality
In the end, I receive got negative 2 hours per working calendar week to deportment my world leading, 4* inquiry during the education term. Under-performing inwards inquiry tin atomic number 82 someone to non go yesteryear probation, to live placed nether informal performance review measures, or fifty-fifty to live pressured to leave of absence nether a voluntary (or not) Staff Release Scheme. And yet: negative 2 hours.
UCU Sheffield with an all-too-familiar occupation organisation human relationship of how academics actually spent their run time.

Academic hierarchies inwards USA political science
First, nosotros tin consider a “core” of prestigious universities who are fairly closely connected with each other: Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton, Columbia, University of Chigago, Yale. In fact the top-5 granting institutions lone (Harvard, Berkeley, Michigan, Yale together with Stanford) occupation organisation human relationship for 40% of all the political scientists inwards the top-400. Harvard lone supplies 49 of the 400 top political scientists. The structures that comes out is indeed hierarchical: the “inner circle” of universities at the top to a greater extent than ofttimes than non recruit from inside the top-circle, other universities exterior the circle recruit from the top, but at that spot is fairly piddling “upward” mobility: few top universities recruit people from exterior the top circle. Finally, access to the upper tier of USA political scientific discipline (and in all likelihood the whole field) is non really opened upwardly to academics with a unusual PhD: exclusively 22 (5.5%) of the top-400 receive got a PhD from a unusual institution.
Alexandre Afonso with some stunning information to refute academic meritocracy myths.

Skill together with Care inwards Horse Racing’s Labor Hierarchy
Horse racing’s labor shows the tension of a scheme that relies on the skills of workers inside an unequal labor structure. Rather than simply performing manual labor, grooms together with others who run behind the scenes inwards the Equus caballus racing manufacture are using skills subtly based on touching together with affective interaction with the animals. The skills on which the manufacture depends are acquired yesteryear equine workers together with preferred yesteryear employers. At the same time, equine workers are towards the bottom of a labor hierarchy. Currently, immigrant workers are primarily the ones who view these jobs every bit opportunities, where they acquire together with exercise of import skills despite the hapless run weather together with a lack of populace acknowledgement of their skills.
Rebecca Richart for Anthropology News with some beautiful ethnographic insights into the capillary scheme of capitalism together with exploitation!

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