I was reading and quietly reflecting on Unconditional versus Universal Basic Income last week while on vacation. It occurred to me that the implicit problems these two programs address are quite distinct — and that examining that distinction is critical to developing clarity about what we want to achieve and the tools to do so. […]
Category: Inclusion
Scott Santens has written a compelling case for universal basic income – subscribe to his Substack! – and I agree with the overarching goal of designing more effective and humane welfare systems. Unconditional cash transfers are central to the dignity and agency of poor households, and the operational case against means-testing — that it excludes […]
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Environmental Justice
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/05/25/heat-inequality-climate-change/ Another example of structural inequality and how the built environment can lead to adverse outcomes to disadvantaged (poor, colored) communities. I take structural as systemic and suspect that many of the traditional problem archetypes are at play.
Bottom Line Up Front: Development Professionals (myself included!) need to reconsider the role of arts and creative clusters in development. I have spent a good portion of my professional career in international economic development and much of what I have observed is a tendency for sector specialists to stay close to their domain. Engineers (yours […]
Bottom Line Up Front: Art and culture have an important role in economic development. I believe that we can, and we must, learn from across contexts and disciplines. Consider a recent evaluation produced by the Kresge Foundation on the Findings from a Multi-Year Evaluation of the National Fresh, Local, and Equitable (FreshLo) Initiative. This is […]
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Urban Water Affordability
An interesting article from Slate (Turn On the Water) that compares Detroit and Johannesburg’s shut off policies for non-payment. Of course the comparison of the a major US metropolitan area to a counterpart in sub-Saharan Africa is doubtless intentional – if jarring. The side by side analysis raises two key issues: what is fair and […]
Many years ago I discovered the International Institute for Public Participation’s spectrum and was taken by its clarity of articulation of roles and responsibilities around public participation. This week I ran across a similar piece from ODI on stakeholder engagement in an adaptive management framework. Both of these are worth a read. A key question […]