One of the nice things about WordPress is that you can easily change the look and feel of your website by swapping one design (aka “theme”) for another. It’s really not much different from changing clothes – the content remains remains the same, but the appearance changes. Here is a list of things you should keep in mind when looking for a new WordPress theme.
The LSE has just released the first report in a three-year research project focusing on the gap between what people know about human suffering and how they react to it. “Who cares? Challenges and Opportunities in Reporting Distant Suffering” should be required reading for anyone who works in communications, media relations or advocacy in the aid sector.
After listening to a 45 minute piece on BBC 4 called “Haiti and the truth about NGOs” I had to get a few things off my chest.
I’m currently meeting loads of really interesting people. One of them is the author of the blog “Good Intentions are Not Enough“, subtitle “an honest conversation about the impact of aid.” I think it’s great and I think we need more blogs like this. Not only to make agencies accountable but also to educate individual donors about why certain things are just really, really bad ideas and why some well-meant initiatives can actually cause harm. Check it out: http://goodintents.org/blog
You’re an aid worker with 10+ years experience under your belt. You earn a pittance but it works for you because you are non-resident at home so you don’t pay tax, you are catered for on assignment so you don’t pay rent,and your mortgage is covered by the people renting your place because you are never there. Welcome to your future – these are your life options …
I just finished reading Joel Hafvenstein’s “Opium Season“, a book that has absolutely nothing to do with social media but which I’d like to recommend to anyone working in the aid-business. Opium Season is about Hafvenstein’s time in Afghanistan in 2005, when he was working for a USAID funded cash-for-work project that was supposed to supplement the income of people who were due to lose money because of a poppy-eradication campaign. The problem with donor driven programmes What makes this book[...]
