CDA Perspectives Blog
Promoting Humanitarian Accountability, Peacebuilding Effectiveness, and Business and Human RightsView posts by category: accountability and feedback loops | conflict sensitivity | peacebuilding effectiveness | responsible business operations | corruption in fragile states series
The CDA Perspectives Blog is maintained by CDA colleagues, with guest authors welcome to write in their personal capacity, sharing reflections, presenting information and provoking 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 practice areas. In addition to our staff contributors, we invite colleagues and partners to share their experiences, and host blog post series.
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.
Download our guest post submission guidelines and blog post policy.
Unconventional Learning at the American Friends Service Committee
Share this article It can be a struggle to intake powerpoint-driven training – even for grassroots change-makers skilled at popular education, non-violent action, and creative campaign development. Both the AFSC and CDA have been...
Meet the Needs of the Population
Share this article How can external providers of assistance insure that aid meets the needs of the population? 1. Make time to listen. Given the large number of people affected and the tremendous damage wrought by Typhoon Haiyan many...
How Can We Prevent Humanitarian Aid from Worsening Contexts?
Share this article Aid has impacts on the threats to peace and stability (Dividers) and on the supports to peace and stability (Connecters) in a society. We have learned that there are predictable Patterns of Impact that assistance...
Are We Caught Between Doing Harm or Doing Nothing in Syria?
Share this article Principles are guides for action, not excuses for inaction. The principle of Do No Harm (DNH) was never meant to prevent physicians from providing treatment or care, and it does not restrict humanitarians from...
Contribute to Long-Term Development
Share this article How can disaster response contribute to long-term development? 1. Even the most devastated communities retain capacities. Even if the physical/material infrastructure is destroyed, the communities still have strong...
How IDP Feedback Improved Programing
Share this article In order to ensure the effectiveness of international aid, agencies must systematically listen to and meaningfully engage people that they aim to support in decisions that affect their lives. Drawing from Time to...
Is there Proof that “People Talking to People” Yields Tangible Results?
Share this article “People talking to people is still how the world’s standards change” - claims a New-Yorker article Slow Ideas in answer to the question: How can you speed up innovations that aren’t spreading fast enough? The...
Do No Harm at your Fingertips
Share this article The Germans have a word for it: Fingerspitzengefühl - fingertip feel. The seemingly intuitive understanding of a changing context that allows for rapid, good decision making in the face of uncertainty. When we use...
Lens and Filter
Share this article In our field of humanitarianism and development, we often use the concept of a lens to discuss various themes we have determined are important. We refer to a gender lens or a human rights lens or a conflict lens. A...
Do No Harm is Three Things
Share this article Do No Harm is three things. It is a principle. It is a project. It is a practice.The principle is thousands of years old. Simply, it states that if you are trying to do good, you should make sure you do not cause...
Did You Hear Someone Say “Resolution” in Lebanon?
The CDA Perspectives Blog by CDA Collaborative Learning Projects Share this article I have been working in the field of peace and conflict in Lebanon for the past 7 years– teaching, training and listening. One of the main challenges...
