This book by Richard Bookstable is about economics and the difficulties it has in prediction. The ideas it raises underscore why prediction and measurement is so difficult in complext human system, including international development.
Keith Ogilvie shared this interesting article by Michael Kleinman from the Guardian's Development Professionals Network.
Our obsession with measuring impact has, paradoxically, paralysed us. We focus on those interventions that promise to produce measurable results. ... The focus on measuring impact limits our willingness to take risks. We must balance a desire for certainty against the knowledge that our ability to measure impact will always be, at best, limited.
But they need to diversify
"Traditional forms of corruption pose problems for Canada’s foreign aid, but ‘institutional corruption,’ evidenced by deception, financial inconsistency and unpredictability, by constantly changing priorities, by opacity and reprehensible diversions from its stated aims is arguably worse, undermining the effectiveness, the trustworthiness and the very purpose of foreign aid."
This article from the Economist on neglected tropical diseases presents a lot to be hopeful about but also some worrying trends in donor country commitment.
The Economist reviews Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System. By Alexander Betts and Paul Collier. Allen Lane; 265 pages; £20. To be published in America by OUP in September.
Our partner DEVEX conducts annual polls of international development recruiters asking for their hiring predictions for the year ahead based on the needs of their organizations, and what they're seeing from the candidates and hiring managers that they work with.
This year they talked to 120 development recruiters representing development consultancies, iNGOs and even donor organizations across 28 different countries.
This annual report is always useful information for those entering the business, either recent graduates or mid-career professionals seeking a change.
Welcome to the Spring Meetings LIVE Online! We will be streaming 25 events in multiple languages, including French, Spanish and Arabic. Engage live, join the conversation, and pose your questions to experts. Please come join us for the week of April 18 – April 22 and don’t forget to add our events to your calendar!
Calendar of Events
Ahead of the World Bank Group - IMF Spring Meetings (http://bit.ly/2o7n0RS), April 21-23, 2017, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim addresses the need for a new approach to development finance to meet the aspirations of the world's seven billion people: