Two new additions to the file on celebrity endeavours in development:
On 17th April 2010, Bill Easterly posted ‘Hips don’t lie about aid’ on Aid Watch, outlining three positive aspects of Shakira’s philanthropy work. One commenter listed other famous Colombians working to benefit their country.
http://aidwatchers.com/2010/04/hips-dont-lie-about-aid/
On 18th April 2010, Elmira Bayrasli posted ‘Look at me, I saved the world’ on her Wonderment Woman blog. Referring to an oped by Bono in the New York Times, Elmira praises the fact that he’s talking about African entrepreneurs rather than “white guys with MBAs who have launched a start-up after back packing in Mozambique and who are now receiving awards for their efforts” because “the real changemakers in the developing world [are the] developing world citizens”.
http://wondermentwoman.com/2010/04/look-at-me-i-saved-the-world/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/opinion/18bono.html?hp=&pagewanted=all
Feminism, empowerment and parenting
David Mitchell’s excellent article in The Observer on Sunday, ‘Actually, you won’t find female empowerment halfway up a pole’, is full of glorious quotes. Here’s just one: “the word “empowering”, which can be deployed under so many circumstances – I use it about charging my phone”. One commenter posted a link to an article in The Onion from 2003, entitled: ‘Women Now Empowered By Everything A Woman Does’.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/18/students-pole-dancing-david-mitchell
http://www.theonion.com/articles/women-now-empowered-by-everything-a-woman-does,1398/
Monday reveals Radio 4’s book of the week to be ‘Manhood for Amateurs’ by Michael Chabon, which opens with the author being complimented for being a good dad while standing in a supermarket checkout queue and pondering what a mother might need to do to receive a similarly unprompted and unequivocally positive review.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rzrsn
New film from PANOS
On 16th April 2010, PANOS London added a new film to their You Tube site called Communication at the heart of change.
http://www.youtube.com/user/PanosLondon
Looking for the missing voices
On Twitter on Monday, @kabissa and @mjamme tweeted a link to Al Kags’ blog, where he has posted about the lack of African speakers at conferences. It resonated with what I was thinking about the lack of bloggers from among the national staff in NGO field offices, or critics from communities where they feel NGOs have failed. Not only does blogging require technology, internet access and literacy, it’s also very time consuming and requires a deal of confidence, encouragement and stamina. But maybe the people whose words I’m looking for are publishing them elsewhere and I’m just looking in the wrong places.
http://alkags.com/
Geeky interpretation of a quote
Also on Twitter on Monday, @hollybirch tweeted an Andre Gide quote: “Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.” Made me think of Easterly’s searchers and planners.