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Whose capacity…really?
A so-called “lack of capacity” is used to justify many antiquated practices in the aid industry. And if left an unexplored concept, capacity building is arrogant at best. Illustration from “The...
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Want to make aid better? Let us play!
Aidspeak called for three changes to make aid better by August 1st. Oops – instead they’re getting one by August 3rd. *** Give every aid worker (local and international, cleaner to country director) a...
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Community Resilience: An Untapped Resource for Sustainable Development?
A post by guest blogger, Clement N. Dlamini, Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Development Management based in Matsapha, Swaziland Communities have inherent in their systems, means of survival and a...
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Finding Room for Error
A guest post by Mary Fifield The power of learning is not just a slogan for many of us working in the non-profit sector. It’s the value that undergirds the programs that we help deliver—programs...
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The storm’s a-comin’
I’m quickly writing this post before the 100-mile wide Hurricane Sandy, which has already killed 65 people in the Caribbean, takes the power out in Washington D.C. where I live. We’ve got a little...
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What makes a thought leader?
I’ve been called a “thought leader” lately. It’s a lot better than some other things I’ve been called in my life, but still, it’s a label I’ve been trying to understand—so much so that I facilitated a...
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How do you tell a compelling story about people in need that doesn’t simplify...
I use my How Matters YouTube channel to highlight portrayals of international assistance that inspire more nuanced conversations about the politics of global development and international aid. Frankly...
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Thoughtful Conversations & Sideways Approaches: The Barefoot Guide Connection
Are there alternatives to the cynicism and disillusionment that pervades in so many organizations that are working towards ‘development’? Where are the people who are interested in creating more...
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13 thoughts for aid in 2013
As I was sitting in a year-end retreat, I started jotting down this list of things that the development aid world could use more of in 2013. I offer it as some food for thought for the year ahead. Aid...
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Leading From Love: The attentiveness that brought accountability
A guest post by Rajasvini Bhansali It had been six months since I started my new role as a management advisor for a network of youth polytechnics[1] in rural Kenya. The Wakamba village elders in Maseki...
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Time for some network thinking in your organization?
Here’s a great piece by Curtis Ogden of the Interaction Institute of Social Change, shared today by Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace. Network thinking has been on my mind since attending...
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It’s about more than school fees
Saeed Wame, founder and director of Namwera AIDS Coordinating Committee (NACC) of Malawi. Photo by Joop Rubens. www.jooprubens.com I always walk away from a conversation with Saeed Wame with a brand...
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Wanted: Films that illustrate how aid works
The Social Impact Media Awards, organized by DEEDA Productions, have announced their 2nd annual call for submissions for their juried 2014 awards. Filmmakers and do-gooders, show us your video-based...
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Building a Fire: Thinking twice about how we look at organizational capacity...
When I started working with and funding grassroots organizations in east and southern Africa, my goal was to flip the script on old-school capacity building approaches. First of all, what if what was...
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Do we “walk the talk”?
If you work in the global development, philanthropy, aid, social enterprise, nonprofit, etc. space, this question can lead to perplexing, frustrating, unwelcome, or liberating reflections. With all of...
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A new kind of donor: 4 things they do differently
We all know there are aid donors and international funding partners out there that want to change “business as usual,” to challenge the terms of global development. (Or at least people inside those...
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The Practice of Global Solidarity
With this announcement pending and this article coming on the new partnership between IDEX and Black Lives Matter last week and the AWID Forum coming up this week, I was reflecting a lot on the...
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Willing to say what needs to be said
If How Matters has made any small contribution, I hope it’s been pointing the global development sector towards indigenous or locally-led movements and groups in the Global South. That is why I...
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The aftershock
There are real consequences to speaking up. In my work to support more people to “be braver“, to “say it and stay with it,” I cannot ever reassure someone that there will not be ramifications. The...
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