Growing suspicions that recently engulfed the credibility of humanitarian organizations working in Haiti could cause people to underestimate the significant initiative launched in Cap-Haitien by Hands on Haiti, Mothering Across Continent and STARS Alliance; however, their work in Northern Haiti this spring will be nothing short of extraordinary.
Haiti proclaimed its …
Wangari Maathai, Nobel laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, passed away late Sunday night while undergoing cancer treatment in Nairobi. But she left the world having fully lived her 71 years, to the benefit of the rest of us.
Like many prominent women …
“[In the decade since 9/11] I think we have learned a lot about limits. But I don’t think the lesson is: We can do nothing to shape better outcomes in the world; we only make things worse. I would say that the American people, far from …
Over the weekend, Médecins Sans Frontières president Dr. Unni Karunakara created a stir by chastising charities for creating an unrealistic expectation of what humanitarian aid was capable of achieving in Somalia. According to Karunakara:
There is a con, there is an unrealistic …
Beginning this week, Odwalla plans to donate 10 cents from every purchase of Mango Tango Smoothies to the Haiti relief effort. The money is intended to promote training and better market access for Haiti’s mango farmers.
“With the one-year anniversary of the earthquake upon us, we wanted to …
Interesting op-ed today in the Huffington Post concerning the new Congress and its plans for USAID. As an excerpt, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FLA), the incoming Republican chairwoman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, made it clear that cuts are coming in foreign aid budgets. She …
It’s difficult to assess the impact of development aid in 2010- there has been a lot going on. The Millennium Development Goal summit yielded little, except further confirmation that China and India have been the driving forces behind the majority of progress toward what MDGs may be achievable, and much …
Europe and Africa: a partnership of equals?
The UN launches a $678 million appeal for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan
What the average American thinks we spend on foreign aid
And, since everyone seems be talking about it, the SNL (read: Andy Samberg) take on world …
Ushahidi, which means “testimony” in Swahili, is a website that was initially developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008. Ushahidi’s roots are in the collaboration of Kenyan citizen journalists during a time of crisis. The website was used …
The United States federal court convicted two Liberian men on Tuesday of conspiring to steal more than $1.4 million in U.S. aid from World Vision. Prosecutors said the two Liberians had sold nearly all of World Vision’s food aid; auditors said a third of it was allocated to …
Several UK aid workers/activitsts have had their ship, part of the Road to Hope effort to deliver aid to Gaza, ”seized” by Greek Commandos. While the aid workers remain in questionably safe surroundings (they have access to a couch and water, but “not drinking” water), it’s worth pointing out several interesting …
The winner of the recycled-vuvuzela competition in South Africa has been announced: earrings! I actually think they look quite nice.
I recently finished this book (and stole the photo from Amazon!), which was…interesting.
Here’s the blurb from Publisher’s Weekly:
Ah, to be young, Western and ambitious in a war zone. It’s the early 1990s, and Cain and Postlewait are two American U.N. employees sent to Cambodia to help the country …
Today, read this: a most fantastic discussion about the Kristof “Do-It-Yourself” Foreign aid op-ed that came out recently. Do you agree with the criticisms raised in this piece? Or are you solidly on Team Kristof?
