Digital Archive....

Why the golden era for overseas aid is over - for now | Larry Elliott Global development: Poverty matters blog | guardian.co.uk The financial climate is now a lot more hostile, and politicians in rich countries are finding it hard to justify spending more on poor people in poor countries when they are cutting spending on poor people at home It hardly comes as a massive shock that flows of aid were down last year. No western country has been left unscathed by the downturn of the past five years and that financial pressure is reflected in the development assistance figures released by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) . Cuts to aid budgets in Spain and Greece - two countries where the belt-tightening has been severe - were of the order of 40%, but countries that have weathered the storm more easily were also less generous last year. Austria cut its aid budget by more than 14%, France by 5.6% and there was even a sm...

If your happiness is based on always getting a little more than you've got... Seth's Blog then you've handed control over your happiness to the gatekeepers, built a system that doesn't scale and prevented yourself from the brave work that leads to a quantum leap. The industrial system (and the marketing regime) adore the mindset of 'a little bit more, please', because it furthers their power. A slightly higher paycheck, a slightly more famous college, an incrementally better car--it's easy to be seduced by this safe, stepwise progress, and if marketers and bosses can make you feel dissatisfied at every step along the way, even better for them. Their rules, their increments, and you are always on a treadmill, unhappy today, imagining that the answer lies just over the next hill... All the data shows us that the people on that hill are just as frustrated as the people on your hill. It demonstrates that the people at that college ...

Ontwikkelingshulp moet radicaal vernieuwen Vice Versa - vakblad over ontwikkelingssamenwerking Wiet Janssen maakte onlangs korte metten met het proefschrift van Rutger van den Noort. Promotor Guus Berkhout geeft een reactie. Volgens hem is de boodschap van het proefschrift volstrekt helder: het moet helemaal anders. Hulp zou veel meer dan nu gericht moeten zijn op economische groei. Maar volgens Berkhout hebben we te maken met een 'conservatieve sector die weinig bereid is zichzelf te transformeren.' De standaard boodschap van de ontwikkelingshulpsector aan publieke en private financiers komt neer op: (1) we doen het goed en (2) we willen meer geld. De werkelijkheid laat echter een heel ander beeld zien, een beeld van versnippering en verspilling. De ontwikkelingshulpsector is uitermate complex en verkokerd. Te vaak overschaduwt competitie de samenwerking tussen overheden, non-gouvernementele organisaties, kerkelijke instanties en filantropische o...