Saturday Morning Reading #24

After a wonderful couple of weeks with my parents, I’m back with a fresh serving of Saturday Morning Reading. A lot of great blogging during the hiatus – make sure you check it out! Here we go…

1) EBOLA
a. Ebolanomics | The Third Transition
What are the economics of ebola beyond the initial hit?

b. Stop Worrying About Ebola (And Start Worrying About What it Means) | Adam C. Levine
Don’t worry about ebola in the West – worry about what its spread says the poor health systems in West Africa.

2) REFLECTIONS ON AID WORK
a. Hey aid worker, what’s your legacy? | WhyDev – Weh Yeoh
“The dilemma that each of us must face is this: is your legacy what you achieve in your work life, or how you impact those around you? The former is not the same as the latter.”

b. Letters Left Unsent (book review) | Aidnography
“The powerful feature of most of the short entries is that they do not release us from thinking for ourselves. Instead, they make us experiencing the complexity and ultimately the quiet discomfort of the world often being a tough, unfair place and you need to get politically and professionally involved beyond ‘good intentions’.”

3) GOOD PRACTICE AND BAD PRACTICE
a. Capacity building – why so difficult? | kirstyevidence
DFID’s Kirsty Newman offers advice on capacity building in a four part series.

b. SWEDOW: Why are we so obsessed with giving away our old stuff? | Blood and Milk
Alanna Shaikh looks at the psychology of what’s so attractive about giving away old shoes: Wanting to treat complex faraway problems as if they were local and to make us feel better about our own consumerism.

4) THE BIGGER PICTURE
a. What’s the Point of the Post-2015 Agenda? | Center For Global Development
“Since talks began seriously in 2012, the post-2015 agenda has become an all-things-to-all people process, thereby doing nothing really well.” A worthwhile reflection.

b. NGOs losing the war against poverty and climate change, says Civicus head | Global Development Professionals Network
“Our primary accountability must be not to donors but to all those struggling for social justice. We must fight corporatism in our own ranks, recognise the power of informal networks, tap into the wisdom of the street and re-balance our resources. We must promote and protect civic spaces, and strive to build global people-to-people solidarity from the grassroots up.”
5) FROM POVERTY TO POWER EXTRAVAGANZA
I make no apology for including so many posts by Duncan Green here – I really enjoyed all of these!

a. Why is it so much harder to talk about politics than about policies?
This links in well with the post above.

b. How can we get better at promoting active citizenship? Lessons from ten case studies

c. International Aid and the Making of a Better World: a great new book
Personal reflections on a career in aid by Ros Eyben

d. Four ways in which a good theory of change can help your social accountability work

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