I don’t like handicraft projects. They seem to be very popular with private donors and small NGOs, but they’re mostly a bad idea. Here’s why: It always seems to be women who are targeted wi...
http://bloodandmilk.org/2012/07/24/things-i-dont-believe-in-handicraft-projects/
These are my (arbitrary, personal, non-evidence-based) rules of thumb for identifying good development work: Bad signs Starting out by buying cars. Claiming to work in “Africa” without specif...
Note: August is looking like a crazy and stressful month for me, with no time to blog here. To make sure no one gets bored and abandons me, I am going to re-run some of my favorite posts from the...
Note: August is looking like a crazy and stressful month for me, with no time to blog here. To make sure no one gets bored and abandons me, I am going to re-run some of my favorite posts from the...
Note: August is looking like a crazy and stressful month for me, with no time to blog here. To make sure no one gets bored and abandons me, I am going to re-run some of my favorite posts from ...
(photo credit: Hamed Saber) Have you ever seen a really great project run by a terrible leader? I never have. I’ve seen competent development work done by bad leaders, but not great work. I’v...
http://bloodandmilk.org/2009/07/08/fund-people-not-concepts/
I’m going to start with #9, because a lot of you asked about it. And I don’t want people thinking I was suggesting we convert people to, well, anything. No pith helmets, bibles, Korans, or bo...
http://bloodandmilk.org/2009/06/18/what-we-can-learn-from-missionaries/
This is the heart of whatever it is I am writing – my ten core principles for improving the provision of international aid and the implementation of development projects. I have decided to just...
http://bloodandmilk.org/2009/06/11/ten-ways-to-make-development-work-better/
There are a whole lot of ways you can screw up a development program. I’ve talked about some of them in the past. You can make bad choices with the best of intentions, you can discover your eve...
http://bloodandmilk.org/2008/11/04/things-i-believe-in-17-recognizing-and-learning-from-failure/
There are two big reasons that clear writing is important. First of all, it lets as many people as possible understand what you have to say. Secondly, writing clearly forces you to think clearly;...