Tagged: international development

  • 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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  • January 16, 2019

    The darker side of development: Networks of corruption

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    There is something about the promise of a new year – the idea that the new year can bring change for the better. Many of us working in global development choose this work because we believe we can make a positive difference in the world.

    For 2019, we have decided to take a deeper look at issues that global development actors often shy away from discussing – the paradoxes and unintended consequences of global development. We’re calling this year’s theme the “darker side” of development, but my hope is that this season will shed light on issues we need to be thinking about as a development community, so that we can make our work more relevant and effective.

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  • October 18, 2018

    Preventing and responding to infectious disease outbreaks

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    Are we prepared for the next infectious disease outbreak?

    In this episode of A Deeper Look, I speak with Dr. Jonathan Quick, Senior Fellow Emeritus at Management Sciences for Health and author of the new book, The End of Epidemics: The Looming Threat to Humanity and How to Stop It.

    A leader in epidemic prevention and control, Jonathan talks about the diseases we should worry about the most and why, the success stories and lessons learned in responding to epidemic and pandemic outbreaks, and what we need to do to be prepared for the next outbreak.

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  • July 25, 2018

    Pie in the sky: Does foreign assistance make a difference?

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    A full version of this article originally appeared in WorldView, a quarterly magazine published by the nonprofit National Peace Corps Association for the greater Peace Corps community. Reposted with permission. Read the entire article here.

    Patrick Fine

    Economic and social progress rarely comes fast, making it easy to question whether foreign assistance is effective. Many critiques of foreign aid expose poorly conceived and implemented programs and document bad governance, corruption, and persistent poverty. Some even argue that far from helping, foreign assistance is part of the problem. I suspect there are few self-conscious development workers who don’t ask themselves whether the treasure, sweat and tears really make a difference, especially those of us who have spent years struggling with the day-to-day management problems and frustrations that come with implementing programs in countries where progress has been slow and uneven.

    Recently, I visited the rural community in Swaziland where I worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer 30 years ago. Seeing the changes on the homestead where I lived from 1980 to 1983 helped me put into perspective our often-unsatisfactory efforts to describe and measure the value of development work and to answer the question about whether foreign aid makes a difference.

    Read the entire article here.

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  • November 15, 2017

    A behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the Sustainable Development Goals

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    This year, I’ve taken A Deeper Look at the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, in conversations with 10 international development leaders. What better way to conclude this series than by talking with Tony Pipa, who was the U.S. government’s lead representative, or “Sherpa,” in the negotiations of the goals at the United Nations. In this final episode of 2017, we take a behind-the-scenes look at the formation of the goals, progress to date toward meeting them and what the future trajectory looks like as we enter year three of the 15-year race to a more prosperous and equitable world. Are we on track? How universal are these goals in reality? Is ending poverty by 2030 possible?

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  • September 19, 2017

    Eight takeaways about the SDGs

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    Since January, through my monthly podcast, A Deeper Look, I have engaged in candid, in-depth conversations with leaders on the frontlines of social change to explore what it will take to ensure that the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) become a reality. We have examined specific sectors, such as health, education and gender, and have also tackled megatrends in development, such as technology and innovation.

    Each one of the development leaders I’ve talked with so far has provided me with distinct views and fresh ideas on how to understand some of the most complex human development challenges facing the world today. Delving into the SDGs has been stimulating and fun and has produced a boatload of valuable insights. I’ve summarized 8 key takeaways below. You can join in by listening to the entire series on SoundCloud or iTunes and leaving a comment or sharing your thoughts through social media.

    And there’s more to come! We’ll continue to take A Deeper Look at the SDGs through the end of this year.

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  • August 28, 2017

    R&E Search for Evidence: Highlights from the last quarter of FHI 360’s blog on research and evaluation

    Written by
    Annette N. Brown, Editor-in-Chief, R&E Search for Evidence blog, and Director, Research and Evaluation Strategic Initiative

    The Research and Evaluation Strategic Initiative team published 14 posts during the last quarter in our blog, R&E Search for Evidence. For those not familiar with our blog, it features FHI 360 thought leaders who write about research and evaluation methodology and practice, compelling evidence for development programming and new findings from recent journal publications. We have published 31 original posts to date.

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  • August 16, 2017

    A conservative perspective on the U.S. international leadership, foreign assistance and the SDGs

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    In many parts of the world, countries are aligning their national development plans around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In other nations, the global goals don’t have the same moral authority.

    In this podcast, I speak to Dan Runde, a prominent conservative voice in the development community. Dan is the director of the project on prosperity and development at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

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  • June 7, 2017

    The changing face of U.S. foreign aid

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    The proposed cuts to the U.S. development and diplomacy budget may signal a new era in international development. But what’s behind the numbers and what does it mean for U.S. global leadership and for the Sustainable Development Goals?

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