From the CEO

  • December 11, 2019

    The darker side of development: Addressing poverty and inequality in the United States

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    This year, we’ve been exploring the darker side of development, and we’ve examined examples of the paradoxes and unintended consequences of international development efforts. In the final episode this year, I sit down with David Dodson, President of MDC, to discuss parallels and shared lessons between U.S. and global development challenges and solutions, particularly with respect to addressing poverty and inequality.

    David and I explore the structural issues that lead to inequality, the importance of data-informed decisions in addressing poverty and the ebb and flow of progress within development. We discuss how promoting individual and group agency and localization is crucial to development efforts around the globe.

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  • November 19, 2019

    The darker side of development: The paradox of success

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    We have celebrated many successes in global development, thanks in part to advocacy efforts. The billions of dollars in resources and political will mobilized to tackle global development challenges have yielded historic results, such as reducing the number of cases of HIV, cutting malaria deaths in half and increasing life expectancy rapidly, even in the poorest countries. Does the promotion of the progress made lead to complacency that could ultimately reverse the gains we now celebrate?

    In this episode, I sit down with Tom Hart, North America Executive Director for the ONE Campaign. Tom shares ONE’s approach to advocacy. We discuss the paradoxes of sharing successes and talk about how the final stretch of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals may be the hardest part of the race. We also examine the role of advocacy in development, the continued need for bipartisan political support for development work and the coalition of strange bedfellows during a divisive time.

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  • October 9, 2019

    The darker side of development: #AidToo, Harassment, Abuse and Assault

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    The #AidToo movement, which stemmed from the #MeToo movement, has brought to light incidences of sexual harassment and abuse within development work.

    In this episode, I sit down with Carrie Hessler-Radelet, President and CEO of Project Concern International (PCI). Carrie describes her own personal experience with sexual assault and shares the important role that speaking out has had for her and can have for survivors. Carrie and I discuss best practices for preventing and responding to abuse and harassment in the global development workspace, both internally within organizations and within the communities where we work.

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  • August 7, 2019

    The darker side of development: The struggle with accountability

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    The way we design and carry out development programs and projects both contributes to and disrupts the social contract and political accountability.

    In this episode, I sit down with Alex Thier, former Director of the Overseas Development Institute, the U.K.’s leading think tank dealing with international and human development issues. We explore the fundamental dilemmas surrounding global development practice and the importance and difficulty of holding ourselves accountable.

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  • July 10, 2019

    The darker side of development: Shifting the paradigm for refugee aid

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    Today, most of the world’s refugees — and most internally displaced people — are uprooted from their homes for protracted periods. While estimates vary, the average length of displacement can be between 10 and 26 years. What does this mean for how we manage refugee assistance and what does promoting self-reliance look like under these conditions?

    In this episode, I sit down with Muzabel Welongo, Founder and Executive Director of Resilience Action International and a recent graduate of Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. A former refugee himself, Muzabel describes some of the systemic issues surrounding refugee aid, the negative consequences of well-intended aid efforts and the need to shift the paradigm from aid dependence to self-reliance.

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  • June 5, 2019

    The darker side of development: Addressing power dynamics within development

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    Does the development community effectively discuss and address power dynamics? In this episode, I sit down with Paul O’Brien, Vice President for Policy and Advocacy of Oxfam America, to discuss the uses of power within international development, policy and institutions.

    We explore the four types of power, discuss the currency of power within the world of development and talk about how even those programs and organizations that practice do no harm inevitably take risks that can be harmful.

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  • May 8, 2019

    The darker side of development: The trouble with innovation

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    The development community is in love with the idea of innovation as a way to accelerate positive change. But are innovation and disruption always positive? What are the unintended consequences from our drive to innovate?

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  • April 4, 2019

    The darker side of development: Consequences of development efforts on the environment

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    Are our growth-based models of modernization at odds with sustainable development? Does addressing environmental concerns need to take a back seat to economic growth in order to alleviate poverty? And is it reasonable to expect people who don’t know where their next meal is coming from to care about the environment?

    In this episode, I sit down with Heather Tallis, Global Managing Director and Lead Scientist for Strategy Innovation for the Nature Conservancy, who dispels the myths and assumptions around the interplay of conservation and safeguarding the environment with meeting human needs and raising living standards. Marshaling the evidence, Heather makes the case that there doesn’t have to be a tradeoff between economic growth and poverty alleviation and conservation and that development goals and environmental goals can go hand in hand.

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  • March 6, 2019

    The darker side of development: Ambitious goals or unrealistic objectives?

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    Do we set unrealistic expectations within the development community for what can be achieved in the time and with the resources available? What are the benefits and consequences of setting ambitious goals?

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  • February 11, 2019

    The darker side of development: Good intentions, negative consequences

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    This year, A Deeper Look is exploring the theme of the darker side of development, the paradoxes or unintended consequences that surround international development efforts.

    In this episode, I speak with Raj Kumar, founding President and Editor-in-Chief of Devex, the media platform for global development. We explore how good intentions can lead to negative consequences in development, the ways that development is shifting away from a top-down approach and how concepts drawn from commercial development, such as customer satisfaction and creative destruction, relate to human development.

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