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 email Hasangani 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.
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...
The Point of Listening
Paring the Edges of Information and Communication Technologies
Share this article Data can be intimidating. In today’s world, information and communication technologies (ICTs) represent the tools to amass information in multiple forms – from numerical, to narrative, to visual. In...
A Story of Giving
Share this article On June 12, 2013, The Listening Program participated in a discussion as a Thought Partner for the emerging initiative known as the Global Partnership for Community Philanthropy. During the discussion, Mirza Jahani,...
Best Practices
Share this article CDA has supported thousands of people in their pursuit of better aid practice. From CDA we have learned the importance of carefully analyzing our actions and behaviors in every context. We’ve learned that “doing no...
Listening Leads to Better Outcomes
Share this article A recent article in the Spring 2013 edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review on Listening to Those Who Matter Most, the Beneficiaries captures many of the same challenges and opportunities we highlight in...
Evidence – Is it in the Eye of the Beholder?
Share this article In the last week, the Listening Program has been immersed in discussions about what is evidence and how it is used in decision-making. In the current push for better evidence, including the use of randomized...
Old Whines
Share this article I have heard several people praise Time to Listen for its thoroughness and depth, yet also state that there is nothing new in it. “We’ve heard it all before,” they say. Of course they are wrong. There is much that...
The B-Word
Share this article “There are words that shape how we see reality, how we behave, and how we serve or help.” “Jargon has always been with us and will always be with us.” These are some of the comments we heard from people who...
We Are Committed to Listen to You
Share this article “We Are Committed to Listen to You” says the sign on a feedback box installed outside a temporary school building in Otash camp for the internally displaced people in South Darfur. The box is maintained by World...
An Uncomfortable Read
Share this article Duncan Green of Oxfam GB writes that Time to Listen was "an uncomfortable read" and had him "squirming on multiple levels." To this we say, "Good!" His review on his blog, From Poverty to Power, tells us that that...
Reactions from Book Launches
Share this article Time to Listen is on tour in Europe! Dayna has just returned from London and Germany where she made presentations to ALNAP members and others in London and joined Mary B. Anderson for presentations to BMZ staff and...
Another Look Inside the Aid “Industry”
Share this article Those in the UK may have heard a recent radio program on BBC 4 called "Inside the Aid Industry" aired on Sunday January 6. In this episode, they visited the slums of Kibera in Nairobi and refer to some of the...
When Was the Last Time You Just Sat and Listened?
Share this article 20 years ago this week, I officially became a US Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya. One of the things I remember most about my time there was sitting and listening for hours on end to women who gathered to socialize...
