Category Archives: Current Events

@chrissiy: links for Chile mapping response including Google tools, @Ushahidi http://bit.ly/b80EvW

@saundra_s Latest Post: Chile may not need or want foreign assistance http://bit.ly/cLct9C

@AidNews Chile earthquake: Emergency funds released http://dlvr.it/3mL5

@AidNews PHOTOS: Massive quake hits Chile http://dlvr.it/3lwR

@dfid_uk #Chile #earthquake : A #DFID assessment…

Today our thoughts go out to those who are suffering from the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti yesterday, and to all those contributing to relief efforts there.

An email we received this morning from Saundra Schimmelpfennig, who has experience coordinating tsunami relief in Thailand and writes the blog Good Intentions Are Not Enough, highlights some of the problems that arise in responding to a large scale disaster such as this one:

Immediately after

…

Aid Watch has a stubborn attachment to excellent but possibly hopeless causes…

Madagascar, a country we first blogged about in June and then again in August, may be down to its last few days as regards AGOA, the US preference program that underpins about 50 percent of the country’s $500 million textile industry.  Because of the change of government that took place in Madagascar in March, the US has…

With a USAID administrator at long last named and awaiting confirmation, some of pieces of the overall US development strategy should finally begin falling into place. Will we then get some answers on what the heck is going on with US aid in Pakistan? Those of you who follow the region know that in October, Congress moved to triple current levels of non-military aid to Pakistan, approving a package for $7.5 billion over…

…but after months of delay, the Obama administration has finally named a nominee for the position of USAID administrator.

The Center for Global Development’s Sheila Herrling was among the first to mention Shah as a last minute candidate:

[R]ecent activity on our poll shows an unusual flurry of write-ins for Raj Shah, currently serving as Undersecretary for Research, Education and Economics at USDA.   Could this be the final twist of

…

Transitionland had a thoughtful response to my cri de coeur on Afghanistan yesterday. Among her recommendations for improving things:

(1) Stop the air strikes that are killing civilians,

(2) Crack down on corrupt contractors to USAID,

(3) Stop supporting Afghan warlords who are homicidal and/or corrupt.

So, after years of experimentation, we can now start applying these subtle, complex lessons:

(1) Don’t kill,

(2) Don’t steal,

(3) Don’t give aid to…

Maybe I have a biased selection, but it seems like every sensible economist, political scientist, development worker, and journalist that I know thinks our current course in Afghanistan can have only one outcome — disaster. Disaster for Americans, for our NATO allies, AND for Afghans.

Why is nobody listening?