CDA Perspectives
The CDA Perspectives Blog is maintained by CDA colleagues, with guest authors welcome to share reflections, present information, and invite conversation on themes relevant to CDA’s areas of focus. On the blog, we share personal experiences of working towards improving impacts of interventions in contexts of conflict and fragility, and findings from collaborative learning projects. In most cases, we discuss issues related to CDA’s key practice areas. In addition to our staff contributors, we invite colleagues and partners to share their experiences and host blog series.
Download our guest post submission guidelines and blog policy. Email Hasi Edema to contribute.
Check out CDA’s other blog series, From Where I Stand, a virtual collaborative learning project prioritizing the lens of local leaders as experts in the global movement to shift power in aid policy and NGO practice.
What is required for a conducive space for local agency and power?
Share this article This article was originally published at www.stoppingassuccess.org, the dedicated website for the Stopping As Success research initiative. In this article, Isabella Jean from the “Stopping As Success” consortium,...
Capacity development in international transitions: Can it be used to shift the norm?
Share this article This article was originally published at www.stoppingassuccess.org, the dedicated website for the Stopping As Success research initiative. In this article, Grace Boone of CDA Collaborative Learning, part of the...
At Long Last, a Better Response to Confronting Violent Conflict: Reflection on the USIP Task Force on Extremism in Fragile States Report
Share this article On February 26, the U.S. Institute of Peace released the final report of its Task Force on Extremism in Fragile States. Commissioned by Congress, the report offers a significant policy contribution to how the...
Daily Nudges: Using Community Feedback for Problem Solving
Share this article This reflection about daily nudges in adaptive humanitarian programs was first presented at the ALNAP London Workshop “Making humanitarian response more flexible: Exploring new models and approaches” in September...
Do No Harm for Faith Groups – What is it?
Share this article This post was originally written by Dilshan Annaraj and Maya Assaf-Horstmeier for World Vision International and is reposted with permission. Why we developed the manual As a Christian, child focused,...
Participation in Decision-Making Would Truly be a Revolution
Share this article So how are we doing when it comes to participation of crisis-affected people in decision making processes that affect their lives? “Participation is a buzzword. If it doesn’t match the authentic philosophy of the...
Getting to Locally Led Development: What We Can Do to Move the Needle
Share this article This post was originally written by USAID LEARN and posted here on the USAID Learning Lab blog, on August 6th, 2018, and is reposted with permission. To watch the presentation about “Time to Listen: Five Years...
Do humanitarian agencies really NEED to be accountable to communities?
This post was originally written for and posted here on the CDAC Network blog, on June 11, 2018, and is reposted with permission. By Sharon Reader, Community Engagement and Accountability Senior Advisor with IFRC Africa...
“From Feedback to Action” Why so much talk and so little action?
Share this article Technological advances have compelled the humanitarian sector to become increasingly more digitally versed. Progressively, the use of mobile and digitally based tools provide humanitarian agencies with the...
The big shift that police and justice professionals need to make in fragile states
Share this article When operating in fragile states, donors and implementers working in the police, justice and corrections space need to incorporate a complexity lens if programs are to effectively respond to the realities of the...
Two Insights from an Experiment in Collective Corruption Resistance
Share this article With every experimental action, there needs to be feedback (informal and formal monitoring and evaluation), reflection and adaptation. Kuleta Haki, an experiment in collective corruption resistance in Democratic...
Third Party Monitoring in Volatile Environments – Do the Benefits Outweigh the Risks?
Share this article The use of third party monitoring as a risk management tool in volatile countries raises important quality, ethical, and technical issues. This post was originally written for and posted here on the World Bank...
What Worked: Fighting Corruption Through Collective Action
Share this article “The central contribution of the Network [for its members] is that members no longer feel alone in the fight against corruption during their individual actions of resistance.” - Kuleta Haki Transition Review,...
The Risky Business of De-Risking in Fragile and Conflict Affected States
Share this article The need for conflict sensitive policy for private sector development by Brian Ganson, Head, Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement Our two-year research project on the private sector as a peacebuilding actor allowed...
Towards a Corruption-Sensitive Conflict Analysis
Share this article In this blog post, Michelle Garred, conflict sensitivity practitioner for 15 years, challenges herself to rethink her hesitancy to approaching corruption as a driver of conflict, and looks back on a conflict...