Category Archives: International development

International development post-2015

Posted on June 10, 2013 | 3 Comments

The UN High Level Panel (HLP) on the Post-2015 Development Agenda has  reported. Compared to the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) the big change is that peace and good governance have been brought in front and centre where they belong. The HLP’s report is far from the last word in a continuing debate on international development but it marks an important moment and has a lot - though not everything – to offer. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace, International development

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Overseas aid and military spending, Round Two

Posted on May 1, 2013 | 1 Comment

The argument about whether overseas aid money can be spent on the military seems to be kicking off again. Indeed, it seems not only to have started up but to be institutionalised in negotiations between the UK Ministry of Defence and the Department for International Development. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace, International development

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New Deal – real deal ?

Posted on April 18, 2013 | 1 Comment

In both low and middle income countries, well established arguments and solid evidence confirm that there is no real development without peace and only the peace of the graveyard without development. These conclusions have shifted the fulcrum of discussion about development over the past several years. But they have not yet added up to telling anybody how to do it. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace, International development

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Development aid and peacekeeping: what can the money be spent on?

Posted on March 22, 2013 | 2 Comments

This week it was confirmed that in 2013 the UK will hit the target of spending 0.7 per cent of GDP on official development assistance (ODA). A long-standing campaigning goal for development NGOs and a moral goal for the country have been achieved. And the week before, UK Secretary for International Development Justine Greening said in the House of Commons on Wednesday that she thought it right to look at how DFID can work more closely with the Ministry of Defence.’ Let’s take a closer look. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace, International development

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The unequal state of the world

Posted on January 14, 2013 | 3 Comments

The state of the world is not just one thing. Continue reading →

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Posted in International development, The State of the World

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Resources – the coming crunch and some things that could be done about it

Posted on January 7, 2013 | 2 Comments

As I remarked already, and it’s the starting point for the new edition of my State of the World Atlas (published this week), the human population is seven times greater than it was 200 years ago but our use of resources is disproportionately greater still: we produce 50 times as much, using 60 times as much water and 75 times as much energy. Where is that all going – and perhaps more to the point, how long can it keep on going? A new report offers insights. Continue reading →

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Posted in The economic crunch, Conflict & peace, International development

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More, most and never before

Posted on November 13, 2012 | 5 Comments

What is the name of our age? The late Eric Hobsbawm wrote a series of brilliant histories that each named the era it covered - The Ages of Revolution, Capital,  Empire and, for the age in which I grew up and whose aftermath still shapes us,  the Age of Extremes. So what is the name of our age? Continue reading →

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Posted in International development

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The UN High Level panel on post-2015: new goals for old?

Posted on November 2, 2012 | 2 Comments

The UN High Level Panel looking at development goals after 2015 has been in London for the past three days for an intense round of meetings. In the late afternoon of Friday 2 November, about a third of the panel members met around 200 representatives of civil society organisations in a “town hall” style meeting – i.e., no speeches by the panel, everything driven by questions from the floor. Continue reading →

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Posted in International development

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Do British development NGOs not want to discuss development?

Posted on October 26, 2012 | 3 Comments

The UN High Level Panel looking at development goals after 2015 is coming to London and will meet representatives of British development NGOs who, it seems, don’t want to discuss development with them. Continue reading →

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Posted in International development

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Reconciliation and Reintegration in Rwanda

Posted on October 10, 2012 | 5 Comments

On Tuesday 9th, International Alert in Rwanda launched our report, Healing Fractured Lives, and the accompanying film (see my previous post) based on the photography of Carol Allen Storey. Discssuing the vivid personal accounts  in the report and the film brought out some insights about how peacebuilding can work in even the most extreme circumstances. Continue reading →

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Posted in Conflict & peace, International development

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