End of Lent Term!

It is incredible how fast this year is going by! Lent term (aka spring term) ends in a few days. British academic calendar is quite different from the US in that all of the exams are at the end of year, even the classes you had in December. So come June I will be taking exams on EVERYTHING (will think about that later!)

In the meantime, I am sad that classes are coming to an end as I really loved my courses this term. I took a course on emerging health threats and although I am not a science/medical person at all, found the content so interesting. One of my biggest takeaways is the sheer disparity between those diseases that have the highest burden on developing countries and those diseases that get the most funding. Not surprisingly HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis get a disproportionate share of the funding partly because they are more complicated diseases but mostly because they pose the largest threat to developed countries. Kind of difficult to overlook the selfishness associated with funders' intentions.

The other elective course I took, titled Public Management of Development, covered a whole lot of issues related to the development industry (which it is). One of the lectures I found most interesting was about innovative business models whose products or services are targeted to the poor. For more information - look at some of the development blogs on the right.

Highlight of this past week was definitely having three of my best friends from Teach For America visit me. Here are just a few pictures :)

Castles Galore

One of the best parts of the United Kingdom is all of their castles! It is like a fairy tale in modern day. Here are some pictures from a Goodenough trip to Leeds Castle. A word about the castle:

"Leeds Castle passed into royal hands in 1278 and became part of the Queen of England’s dower - the settlement widowed queens received upon the death of their husbands. Over the course of 150 years it was held by six mediaeval queens: Eleanor of Castile; Margaret of France; Isabella of France, Joan of Navarre; Anne of Bohemia and Catherine de Valois. In Tudor times Henry VIII visited frequently, notably with his Queen, Catherine of Aragon, and their entire court on the way to the tournament of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, which took place in France in 1520. Henry’s son, King Edward VI, granted the castle to one of Henry’s courtiers for his services."

Not surprisingly, one of the facets of the castle that I found most interesting was that several of the Oslo Accord meetings between Palestinian and Israeli leadership were held here. Look at the picture with the blue meeting table.

Development Challenges Continued..

Hello loyal reader (the singular form was purposeful!).

Spring term, known as lent term here in England, is in full swing and keeping me busy. My studies continue to help me peel back the layers of complexities associated with the field of development. This term I am continuing with my core course on development as well as starting two new courses- one on emerging health threats and the other on public management of development. I am also auditing a class on basic education in developing countries. A nice combination to round out my education, although quite depressing at times.

One of the challenge we have been talking about in great deal is the sheer number of actors and their often diverging priorities- international agencies, local governments, external governments NGOs, media, donors, and list goes on and on.

For example- the United Nations created the Millenium Development Goals to unite agencies and countries around a set of priorities that will help eradicate poverty by 2015. It is quite clear by now that many countries will not meet a lot of these goals. Supporters of the goals suggest that regardless they create a common thread for which to rally the development community and hold everyone accountable for improvement. However, critics argue that this big picture approach dismisses historical evidence that the most successful programs are often locally initiated and not externally defined. Here is an entertaining quick video outlining the MDGs.

Critics of such wide-sweeping reforms are looking for alternative ways to provide funding for promising initiatives in developing countries. Global Giving is a marketplace bringing together donors and social entrepreneurs venturing to ameliorate social ills. This idea is challenging the old notions of how aid should be distributed and decreasing the number of steps between giver and receiver.

Even the business community is getting involved in development work. The Global Business Coalition recognizes that the corporate sector can leverage its assets - financial and human capital- to make headway on some of the leading infectious diseases that are taking millions of lives each year- HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Launched by Richard Holbrooke, the former US Ambassador to the UN, the network has over 200 participating companies from 6 continents. A recent article in the Guardian discussed the work that businesses such as Coca-Cola are having on communities around the globe.

Let us not forget the newcomers to the development industry. Hollywood stars are constantly in the news for raising money and awareness about their favorite causes. Some laude them for their humanitarianism and others criticize them for impacting policy while not being accountable to anyone but themselves. A group of musicians just re-created Michael Jackson's "We Are the World" to raise money for Haiti.

At the same time modern technology and ease of travel is enabling common folks to move from eye-witnesses to ireporters. As the line gets blurred, journalism as an industry is bleeding into development. CNN's Anderson Cooper recently rescued a young boy who was injured during looting in Port au Prince, sparking intense discussions about the objectivity of journalists in emergency settings.

It seems like development is no longer monopolized by young idealists... others are trying to elbow their way in to the industry.

Cultural awareness

My travels to Spain and Portugal were fabulous and I thought I would walk away with all of these great cultural observations, which I did, but actually this post will be a reflection of a different type of cultural observations. During my time in Israel a good friend came to visit me, and seeing Israel through her eyes made me re-appreciate a few things unique to my country. Sometimes you need someone to hold up a mirror so that you can appreciate the finer naunces of your own culture. So here are just a few of them:

• There are these collective vans in Tel Aviv that are the alternative to buses. The process of getting on a sherut is quite unique- you literally flag the driver down while on his route, he stops mid-traffic and picks you up while others honk incessantly or drives right past you if his van is full (this is not the interesting part, although could easily confuse a visitor!) The thing that amazed my friend is that you don't actually pay when you board the van. Once you sit down you pass up your money via the other passengers. There will literally be several hand offs to get the money up to the driver and then an equal amount to get your change back to you. And this happens each time a new person gets on the sherut!
• There seems to be a general shortage of respect for the elderly in many western countries and Israel is no exception. However, without fail, whenever an older person gets on the sherut, the person sitting closest to the front will get up and move to the back so that s/he doesn't have as far to go. I have seen children, young moms, punk kids on cell phones, and adults all do this for their elderly. Kind of warms your heart knowing some things are still sacred.
• Israel shuts down on Saturdays, the Sabbath. No shops or museums are open and most restaurants are closed as well. So there are much fewer things to do on your Saturday. However this has probably helped foster an adventurous culture where families often go on day trips and picnics. My first Saturday in Israel my family packed up the entire refrigerator and we were off on our adventure. We ended up having a lovely picnic in this national forest between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I can't remember the last time I did something like that in the States and really appreciated the quality time that we had together; after all isn't that what the Sabbath is all about.

I could go on and on but I will keep this short and sweet. I am so used to these aspects of Israeli life that I don't even think twice about their peculiarities to oustiders. David Brook wrote a compelling piece from a more objective perspective about the finer elements of Israel! Feel free to add your favorite cultural oddity (for whichever culture) in the comments section.

P.S. Just for fun I am including a few pictures from Portugal and Spain:

Voyage (not really but it sounds more adventurous that way)

To celebrate the end-of-term (what?! How did that happen so fast!) I am heading on my first European extravaganza since having arrived in London. I am going to Portugal and the south of Spain for 10 days with three girlfriends. Then off to Israel to see my family. I will post pictures and funny cultural commentaries when I find cheap internet cafes. Happy holidays!

Falling in love

I may have fallen in love with London tonight. Anyone that knows me well knows that I get pure joy out of pedestrian-friendly cities that allow me to discover new crannies or just feel the pulse of the city. I had that "ah-ha" moment with London tonight. I finally saw in it some of the qualities that I love about two of my favorite cities. It has the spirit of Tel Aviv- where spaces are always boisterous and alive and people spill into the street at all hours. Yet it also has that importance and centrality that Washington DC experiences, where big ideas are always formulating (that's why I love TED so much!). The feeling that one can do impactful work during the day and have endless opportunities at night just vibed with me as I walked home with a friend from the Rotary Fish & Chips event in the misty rain. Something clicked in me and it made me wonder if this is the beginning of feeling less like a visitor in someone else's city...


(A picture of the London night sky- courtesy of Google search)

The Giving Difference

A Jew, a pastor and a Catholic are sitting at a restaurant... sounds like the beginning of a joke, right? Nope- it was our table at a Rotary lunch meeting with the St. Pancras Club. It seems that wherever Rotary is located, beyond just doing good, diversity converges and conversation flows freely. The three of us got into a really interesting conversation about charitable giving- obviously an interest of mine from my work with NGOs and my desire to work in the third sector in the future. The Pastor argued that one of the disadvantages of a welfare state, such as England, is that there is significantly less charitable giving. People are less likely to contribute to prevailing social ills because they believe that the state should and will take care of the issue. This conclusion is quite rational since people pay relatively high taxes and the state finances most basic needs. I thought about this as I walked home- Do Americans give more on average than other nations? Would this decrease if the US instituted national health care or nationalized other programs? What are other repercussions of such a policy shift that are currently not being discussed in the media?

Of course I had to check the facts for myself. Turns out the Pastor was right; According to Philanthropy UK, in 2006 Americans contributed £145 billion (or 2.2% of the GDP) to charities as compared to Brits giving £15 billion (or 1.1% of the GDP). So the previous question stands- what are the hidden consequences- good or bad- of nationalizing health care in the US? Readers (all two of you) feel free to post your thoughts in the comments space.