68. Thinking Loud – On Statistics*
*: This is partly plagiarized, but I regrettably lost the reference. Although it is nothing terribly new, I think it is still worth bringing to a higher level of consciousness…
67. On Morality, Freedom, Choices, Justice and the Need for People’s Power
Variations on a theme by South African Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer. Inspired, plagiarized and paraphrased from her novel “A Sport of Nature”, Penguin Books, N.Y. 1988. I am not…
66. Aid and Reform in Africa: Lessons from Ten Case Studies, Final Report (Book Review)
World Bank, Aid Effectiveness Research, Development Research Group (released March 27, 2001).* *: The individual country case studies are not reviewed here. Welcome to a post-mortem of and a critical…
65. Human Rights or the Importance of Being Earnest: A Personal Account
The vast majority of humanity just has the right to see, to hear…and to remain silent (Eduardo Galeano) I am a true convert. I do believe the Human Rights approach…
64. The WB’s World Development Report 2000/2001 or the Trivialization of the Concept of “Empowerment”
For readers of the WDR that may have been caught off guard, let me start by assuring you that empowering poor people is NOT about “making the state and social…
63. Health a Precious Asset, But Not ‘A New and Potentially Powerful Exit Route from Poverty’. *
*: Re: Health a Precious Asset – Accelerating Follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development – Proposals by the World Health Organization, WHO/HSD/HID/00.1, 2000. ( Dr G.H. Brundtland, referring…
62. What does the New UN Human Rights Approach Bring to the Struggle of the Poor?
We live in a new age of rights The Challenge: what changes? The Human Rights approach: Some Iron Laws The participation factor in Human Rights The use of indicators in…
61. On Health Sector Reform, Health, Poverty and Other Herbs
I have been re-reading some of the Health Sector Reform (HSR) and health and poverty literature. I have been amazed by the ambiguity, lack of clarity and of a sense…
60. Human Rights Based Planning: The New Approach
The Ecology of Food and Nutrition, Vol.42, No.1, Jan/Feb 2003. 1. All agencies of the UN regularly prepare long term plans of action for approval by their respective boards. To…
59. Letter to The Lancet – Draft 2 IMCI: An Initiative in Need of a New Name, a Greater Community-Centered Focus, and a Grassroots Mandate
Dear Editor, IMCI, the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness programme is slowly gaining some recognition in our everyday parlance. We applaud IMCI’s positive aspects, i.e. its attempt to integrate care…