It’s been a great year at how-matters.org! I am invoking a “shut down” for the holidays as of today and will return on January 15^th. Why the big break?

Because there are ideas to be flushed out, plans to be finalized, proposals to be finished, reflections and connections to be had.

2011 has been a “shake-up” year. With the Arab awakening in North Africa and the Middle East and the emergence of the Occupy…

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Building on how-matters.org’s earlier posts, “How to build strong relationships with grassroots organizations” (part 1, part 2, part…

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Dalia Association, Palestine’s first and only community foundation, recently launched an advocacy campaign to address the issues facing grassroots civil society as recipients of international aid in Palestine. Nora Lester Murad, Dalia’s founder and former executive director, shares the organization’s progress and the questions they face going forward.

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We at Dalia Association in Palestine have an…

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Check out my post today on The Broker Online, "What’s missing from the aid effectiveness debate? Overlooking the capacity of local organizations", in which I argue that rather than being the lowest common denominator of international assistance, local indigenous organizations should be regarded as the fundamental unit of… Continue

After sharing some development practitioners’ honest remarks on aid, Africa, corruption and colonialism last week, I thought I would also share key points made in a session hosted by Oxfam that I attended at the World Bank/IMF annual meetings’ Civil Society Policy Forum on April 15^th. Entitled “The Road to Busan: Ensuring Citizens Drive Their Own…

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The World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings start this week. My colleague, Tom Grubisich and I have put together a panel during the Civil Society Policy Forum entitled, "Winds of Change: Will it bring a new development paradigm?" It will take place on Friday, April 15th at 2pm EST (6pm GMT). The session overview, webcast links, and bios of participants (an exciting group if I do say so!) are featured below.



A livestream… Continue