As of tomorrow,  I will be sleeping in these new quarters. Come for a visit!

Waiting at Logan Airport to catch a flight out. Wrapping up a fantastic weekend in Boston with fellow Insight Collaborative (IC) Finalists. IC has managed to make being a “finalist” great fun, regardless of the outcome.

After a pretty straightforward interview with David Seibel, Founder, and one of their consultants, Larissa McWhinney, I spent a lovely couple of hours walking through Boston Commons up to Beacon Hill and dining at the Paramount Cafe (delicious servings of waffles, spinach & feta omelettes and diner coffee). We were also put up at the Omni Hotel, which is both glamarous Old Boston and haunted. I also met up with Apolo Ndyabahika, fellow Project Diaspora team member, and his sister and uncle. We drove around rainy Boston while I drooled over MIT and Harvard.

Dinner at the Omni. A bit of a gruelling round table situation & a lot of running through CVs in three-minute soundbites while trying to remain interesting. Always good practice, regardless, for similar situations in the future. Followed by blueberry pints at the Bean-something Irish bar down the street. St. Patrick’s Day starts early here.

Today was definitely the highlight of the weekend. We did a three hour workshop with Seibel and two of his consultants. The focus was Alternative Dispute Resolution and we used a fun, yet slightly stressful, Harvard Mediation Program devised system. Human nature revealed in a hypothetical situation of WinBells, a mango-papaya-kiwi-tasting-fruit. The theory following this exercise was a little embarrassing in the sense of how it revealed our personal and cultural priorities.

Basically, we can look at two types of conflict resolution. One is the common form of haggling. In Uganda, this takes the clear shape of: “What’s your best price” – “(enter over priced mzungu cost”) – “No, I give you X. That’s ridiculously too expensive and that’s the best I can do.” – “You are my first customer, so I’ll give you a better price. Promote me. Enter slightly lower number.” – “What?! That’s insane! I’ve been living here for months. Come on, give me a local price. Enter lower number. And walk away if you get a no (bluff).” You get the point.

However, there appears to be a whole other format for conflict resolution. This doesn’t apply to haggling in Ugandan markets, but for high-level business interaction or even personal disputes, there is some serious wisdom in this model. The process, which is better described in Getting to Yes, is focused on discussing the other person’s interests (the why?), options (ways to meet the person’s interests), legitimacy (objective criteria to evaluate options. Like the going price for X or Y) – instead of the typical, “my choice or the highway.” Apparently it works in all regions – from Oslo to Baghdad to Boston.

I can’t do the workshop any justice from over here, but I strongly recommend applying for the fellowship next year simply for this portion.

Practicing what I preach (or trying to address what I complain about), I have recently joined an international team planning for the Global Youth Participation Week.

The Global Youth Participation Week (GYPW) is an opportunity to help bridge that gap. The GYPW will be a globally coordinated campaign shining the spotlight on youth participation. Imagine:

• a week where not only young people and youth organizations, but also media, policy-makers and civil society will align their attention and efforts for the cause of youth participation;
• a week that will act as a catalyst for funding, mobilization and capacity building;
• a week that will serve as a container for ideas and projects by the young people who want to address some of their existing needs with the opportunities provided by this initiative;
• a week of reflection and action on the context-specific critical challenges that can be addressed by global cooperation;
• a week where local activities are coupled with a global outreach campaign that relies on new and old forms of media;
• a week that practices what it preaches: all efforts will be led by youth, in equal partnership with older generations.

We’re still looking for a few more members to round-out the team. As an international effort, (all) we’re looking for is 8-10 hours a week for a year, as well as a somewhat functioning Internet connection for Skyping.

I posted a link to a book review on “You are Not a Gadget” a couple of weeks ago. There’s more. For once, I think the comment section of the Globe and Mail got it right. Jaron Lanier comes across as an alarmist. The overwhelming good of the Internet and technology in general far outweighs the wrongs (that can probably, with hard work, be righted or better controlled). Boston is rainy and windy.

@bill_easterly asked me to expand on my criticism of the Aid Watch blog.

I’m coming at this from the perspective of a student. While I work in the development industry, I have neither the responsibility nor knowledge to place myself as an expert or a well-placed critic.

As a student, I am always looking for information to build on my relative lack of experience. William Easterly, along with other top names in development, is a logical choice. He has explored alternatives to traditional development and, along with people like Dambisa Moyo, has injected some much-needed self-criticism into development overall.

His popular book, White Man’s Burden, as well as articles and public appearances have all helped inform the development debate. However, his blog does not do the same service.

Perhaps Aid Watch was meant as an outlet for shallow satire among the occasional interesting link and comment. There are probably many reasons why it took this form. Easterly is busy and there is no time to expand on the cloaked-criticism he makes; satire gets more hits and requires less thoughtful (time-consuming) writing; drawing on positive examples of development (or private sector, for that matter) as a way to showcase where development should be does not sell etc.

Whatever the reason, I personally (along with others and others) find this approach to critiquing the aid industry (which sometimes seems lazy) not terribly helpful and rather discouraging. Posts like this (a fictitious situation that highlights the oddness of poverty porn) and this only leave me wondering: What we could be doing better? What changes are necessary? What alternatives are there?

I get that a sense of humour is necessary and refreshing, but without combining humour and new information/suggestions/inspiration etc. I fail to see the value of the Aid Watch blog.

What frustrates me the most is that William Easterly undoubtedly has the knowledge, contacts and audience to make a regular impact in the development field by offering new ideas and well-argued criticism on Aid Watch that underline the basic structural and ideological problems of development in a mature fashion.

Others with equal time constraints (but unfortunately more limited audiences as they are not as widely published or read as Easterly) manage to do it. Take Alanna Shaikh, Texas in Africa (whose regular insight into Rwanda is fantastic), Aid Thoughts and Owen Barder as examples of what Aid Watch could be offering.

There’s a fine balance between retaining an audience that enjoys regular, limited commentary and those that want some new, in-depth information. To achieve this, I would suggest integrating some of the following in a 500-word + format:

1. Deconstructions of particular development projects. Tearing it apart and re-building an improved model or simply explaining how finances could be re-directed to have a more tangible impact;

2. Features on “positive” development/private sector initiatives or approaches that can be integrated into mainstream development.

3. Features on successful initiatives developed and run by those living in harsh conditions that have lifted communities out of poverty.

4. Highlights of private-sector projects that have impacted low-income communities (other than micro finance!).

5. More guest posts from inspiring development or private-sector individuals that are invested in changing the development status quo (or are simply well versed in being successful in any environment).

6. Better informed highlights of projects like this one that are truly revolutionary to communities. Giving these guys encouraging publicity is also important.

7. Maybe a bit too time-consuming (hire another co-author?) but regular weekly or monthly Q&A sessions via Twitter or other mediums about the aid industry and/or recent articles. This gets the audience engaged in some of that low-blow satire.

1. Alanna Shaikh introduces an interesting new blog, The Big Push. Recent posts include a well-versed criticism of William Easterly’s sometimes useless Aid Watch blog.

2. I am a bit behind on this one but, High-speed wireless in Afghanistan built from garbage.

3. A great post on another type of brain drain, the Internal Brain Drain.

4. And Aid Watch defends itself. However, Easterly forgets to acknowledge that his blog offers little useful or inspiring information between low shots. Hopefully this changes.

I am still on Salt Spring Island, so limited posting about anything exciting. Family-time is great, but the island is dead in the winter and there is absolutely not a thing to do. As a plus, my options for September are expanding. I have been accepted to McGill Law School (because law opens all doors, right?) and will be interviewing for the Chevening and the Insight Collaborative Fellowship this coming week. I will be at work full-time again by March 17th. Interesting things in the pipeline including a BOSCO contract with UNICEF and potentially something through World Bank in collaboration with Voices of Africa.

For those faithful readers interested in ICT in rural Africa, please start following the BOSCO team and I at BOSCOUganda on Twitter. There should be lots of interesting information coming up over the next few weeks.

Latest article on World Bank’s You Think:

My first reaction to AMREF’s, Why We Need A Fourth Year in Katine, was “of course you need a fourth year in Katine!” Development doesn’t happen in four years, let alone five or ten. Aid dollars spent over a short period of time with little follow-up support are often wasted.

Workers face difficult conditions in Uganda’s salt gardens. Men wear condoms and women wear pads to protect their reproductive organs. Too much exposure and their systems go array. At the Kireka Quarry, women suffer back and lung problems from crushing rocks while sitting on the ground and inhaling dust. Men suffer the fires and smog of the deep pits and the burning rocks.

Both have one thing in common: little protection and limited government involvement to provide regulations. How can we get these marginalized communities -  who will inevitably always exist in poor economies – the necessary protection to do their job with minimal harm? What segment of the government – for it should be a locally sustained solution – would be able to offer some advocacy and support? In what form?