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Aid & development links: $137 billion in 2014, power of philanthropists, refugees and more

Aid & development links: $137 billion in 2014, power of philanthropists, refugees and more
Published 18 Jan 2016   Follow @jonathan_pryke

  • The OECD has released full details of official aid flows for 2014. Foreign aid from OECD members totalled US$137.2 billion, a 1.2% increase in real terms over 2013. Less of that aid, however, appears to be going to the poorest countries. 
  • Annie Duflo, the Director of Innovations for Poverty Action, provides some tips to keep in mind when deciding to give to charity (h/t Devpolicy). 
  • A new report looking into philanthropic power and development, unsurprisingly, suggests that major private sector philanthropists are gaining increased influence on decision making and setting the global health and agriculture agenda. The Guardian has a summary here
  • The World Bank provides a review of Martin Ravallion’s new textbook The Economics of Poverty: History, Measurement, and Policy.  
  • This new publication on The Development Set looks critically at the development sector, the 'reductive seduction of other people’s problems' and the West’s naivety in thinking that it can fix many complex and often politically intractable problems in poor nations. 
  • Check out the distribution of humanity across the world (h/t Chris Blattman):

  • Michael Kent, founder and CEO of remittance firm Azimo, offers some bold predictions of how the cost of sending remittances is set to plummet. 
  • Vox discusses the stunning scope of the world’s refugee crisis, showing that one in every 122 people worldwide is a refugee, internally displaced or seeking asylum.
  • Lastly, the University of Western Sydney’s recent aid campaign, showcasing the amazing story of refugee turned graduate Deng Thiak, is going viral across the internet (or at least the part of the internet occupied by development wonks). Watch it below for some Monday inspiration:



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