Posts Tagged 'Development'

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Foreign Aid Mindlessness – USAID Has Lost its Vision

Foreign Aid Mindlessness – USAID Has Lost its Vision

Guest Blog by Tom Dichter, January 7, 2016

About a year ago the U.S. government’s foreign aid agency (USAID) completed a new mission statement based on polling some 1500 of its staff members.

“We partner to end extreme poverty and to promote resilient, democratic societies while advancing our security and prosperity.”

I’ve been working in international development for fifty years and I’ve rarely seen as mindless a statement coming from any entity devoted to promoting development (Recall that USAID stands for the “United ...

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Terrorism and Development

Terrorism and Development

McLeod Group Blog, March 26, 2015

What’s the first best weapon to combat terrorism?

Good jobs-lots of them.

What’s the second best weapon?

Knowledge:  continuous, detailed analysis of the complex root causes of radicalization and terrorism that informs the fullest range of actions by governments.

Yes, we admit here to ‘committing sociology’ (an idiotic phrase if there ever was one).  For the record, we also regularly commit anthropology, and political science, and economics, and community development, and, especially, gender analysis.

It could be that truly ...

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Lending for Private Sector-led Development. Another false start?

July 26, 2013

For decades development practitioners, including CIDA, have recognised the critical role of the private sector of developing countries in creating jobs for the poor.

We did not need the 2012 House Report to confuse the issue of strengthening the role of that local private sector with the promotion of Canadian offshore investment. Now, just as the very name CIDA is scratched from Canada’s international face to be replaced by the ugly acronym DFATD, there may be plans afoot ...

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Two Cups of Tea: Miracle Cures and Other Development Snake Oil

June 12, 2011

A recent 60 Minutes investigation found that best-selling author and philanthropist, Greg Mortenson, may not be all he has cracked himself up to be. The ex-mountain climber has told the story many times of being rescued by Pakistani villagers and discovering how terrible their educational facilities were. One thing led to another and he eventually built them a school, and that school led to hundreds more around the country. His books, Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools have sold millions, and his ...

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