Notes from the Humanitarian Blogosphere

Published September 23, 2009 @ 10:07PM PT

Some of the more interesting recent blog posts from around the humanitarian blogosphere. Because, well, you know you want to procrastinate:

- Tales from the Hood is having something of an aid worker crisis of faith - which is a benefit for the rest of us, seeing as how it has resulted in a hilarious, thought-provoking post about some of the "pretentious more-ethical-than-thou jargon-laden pontifical snobbery" with which we like to cloak ourselves. Hard not to love a post which includes headings like Plumpynut THIS, and No, you're not "one with the poor".

- Tales from the Hood also has an interesting post on when not to innovate - "Too often we reinvent the wheel in the name of innovation. Too often we innovate simply for the sake of innovation, but not because innovation is needed necessarily." Amen. For more on the perils and pitfalls of innovation within the humanitarian sector, see also the Innovation Fallacy by Paul Currion at humanitarian.info.

- Speaking of Mr. Currion, he's just released a list of music to make war to in order to remedy what he sees as a serious failing in the field - "One of the lesser-known reasons why the aid industry fails to deliver is because aid workers have terrible music taste." (Exhibit A - Third Eye Blind in the eastern Congo.)

- For more on good music in bad places, see Daniel Gerstle's piece on crisis zone soundtracks in HELO magazine. And, humbly, my own list of traveling music.

- Also, an interesting piece by my genocide co-blogger Michelle on burning your bra. Michelle argues for a boycott of Gap and Victoria's Secret, given how a) many of their largest suppliers are in Sri Lanka, and b) Sri Lanka just happens to have a fairly atrocious human rights record at the moment.

- Finally, in case you were wondering, the situation in Somalia still sucks. And, if anything, is actually getting worse.

[Image from mastermaq's photostream on flickr - Creative Commons, Attribution]

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Comments (2)

Thanks for the link to Michelle's blog on bra burning

When in Sri Lanka, I found myself at a dinner which was mainly comprised of men passionately asking each other "Should we really keep bowing to the trend of bra hooks when women prefer sewn straps", "How 'seamless' should we go?", and "What's another solution to the problem of modeling crotchless panties?".

At one end of the table, we had aid workers talking about bunkers and shrapnel from cluster bombs. On the other end, some of the world's bra giants discussing the questions above. It's often surreal and sometimes sickening to find how connected the seemingly disconnected can be.

Posted by Bronwyn Walker on 09/25/2009 @ 03:58AM PT
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So, so very true. I can only imagine large amounts of alcohol were also involved. And, sadly, I sort of miss those dinners.

Posted by Michael Bear on 09/26/2009 @ 05:53PM PT
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Michael has worked for NGOs in Afghanistan, across east and central Africa, and Iraq. Prior to going overseas, he worked on a project providing assistance to the United Nations on the application of International Humanitarian Law to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.