From Poverty to Power

Links I Liked

Want to Challenge the Elite? Then first Understand What Makes Them Tick. Public philosopher, political scientist and Kate Raworth’s other half Roman Krznaric on his latest book, What The Rich Don’t Tell The Poor: Conversations With Guatemalan Oligarchs.

Why do we keep forgetting about dignity? 4 Ways to Address Dignity in Development Programs

Top case studies of public campaigning and how to influence developing country and donor governments. Please add your own

Friday Funnies: Monty Python on the politics of development (aka my attempt to relieve the gloom and misery of our timelines)

Links I Liked
Get Ready! A fitness dance class inspired by the science of climate impacts
Sunshine, elephants, and boomerangs: Is a dramatic rise in global income inequality looming?
What counts as ‘accountability’ – and who decides?

What to read on Ukraine? (trying to dig down behind the reportage and moral outrage, with only partial success)

Humanitarian insights from the latest IPCC report – via cartoons and cardboard theatre. Advocacy disaster – you publish a 3000 page report and no-one notices.

The Disabled Ukrainians Doing What the UN Can’t (or Won’t?): Superb blog from Anna Landre

A Brilliant History of the rise and power of Constitutions as a global 'political technology'. Yep, I still read books, but mainly on holiday

Links I Liked

How do you overcome the blockers to your great idea?

What has global military spending and emissions got to do with development? Rather a lot.

A climate plea: An IPCC Special Report on Children?

• Links I Liked
• Influencing for Senior Leaders: a new course on Analysis, Strategy, and Practice. Want to sign up?
• Draft Guide to Publicly Available Influencing Toolkits – your comments/additions please! 
• How to Change Narratives to build Hope and Solidarity – some examples
• Links I Liked
• Northern Institutions Dominate International Development Research: So What?
• Who supports the people who support entrepreneurs? Introducing a new tool for ecosystem leaders
• How do you set up an effective network? Some thoughts + an appeal for links and suggestions 

Links I Liked
Thinking and working politically: What have we learned since 2013?
New and Old Power: A New Way to Understand and Cultivate Digitally-Mediated Activism, or Just Another Framework?
Is Social Media a New Frontier for Marginalised Communities to Challenge Old Power? The Flint Water Tragedy, and the Power of Place-Based Digital Activism 

Links I Liked

What Heather Marquette is reading on Corruption, Crime & Conflict

'We the Helpers'. White Saviourism or a Smart Defence of Aid?

The links between corruption and human rights - top new report from Transparency International

Links I Liked

Davos, Inequality and Covid: Oxfam on Beating back the Billionaire Variant: Oxfam's Anthony Kamande introducing this year's blockbuster.

Being a feminist academic in Pakistan, and why Open Access is necessary for decolonizing Academia. An interview (podcast and transcript) with Ayesha Khan.

Deconstructing this year's Oxfam Davos report - what makes it so good?

Ayesha Khan works with the Collective for Social Science Research in Karachi, Pakistan. She is author of The Women's Movement in Pakistan: Activism, Islam and Democracy (2018). Her post on that book here. In this podcast she:

• Tells us about your work on feminism and politics in Pakistan
• Discusses the dangers of being a feminist academic 
• Looks at the importance of Open Access publishing: 3 years on, her book has still not been published in Pakistan!
• Explains her current work on a PhD by publication – what’s the benefit? Why isn’t it a bigger thing?
• Finally, the link to the decolonization of academia

Links I Liked

‘What does Governance look like ‘from below’?: great methodology; snappy format; fascinating findings; exemplary writing - please read.’ Puff for great IDS paper, co-authored by our very own Katrina Barnes

How to Monitor Political Context - some practical advice from World Vision, who are really interesting in the whole adaptive management/political analysis space

Who is helping protest movements engage with Policy Makers (and is that a good idea)? Results of one of this week’s chats