The Baines Report
Some of the most devastating wars in history have been fought in the name of religion. It is undeniable that differences in belief systems and ways of worship can cause irreconcilable disputes. Though religion plays a role in causing many conflicts, it also has the unique power to resolve them. In part one, I examined […]
Aung San Suu Kyi’s Complicity in the Persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar In 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights.” She was given the award for her involvement in the 1988 pro-democracy uprisings in Myanmar, in which she helped found the […]
Photo: USAID. This op-ed was first published on The Hill on March 8, 2017. Authors: Catherine Weaver (ceweaver@austin.utexas.edu), Mary Vo (mary.vo@utexas.edu), Lina Nabulsi (lina.nabulsi@utexas.edu), and Cassie Gianni (cassie.gianni@utexas.edu) On International Women’s Day on March 8, U.S. Congress can celebrate women by signaling their intent to fully fund the new Global Food Security Act (GFSA). In June […]
Sanitation work is often hard to define. It is not clear whether you should specifically be working on providing access to a formal sewage system, building a municipal sewage system, building individual toilets, educating users, cleaning toilets, promoting use, or providing security. It is unclear how one activity should be prioritized over another or how […]
During my internship with the Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact (CII) in the Global Health Bureau at USAID, I attended a training that the GeoCenter conducted. They are a team of geospatial analysts who work to integrate a geographic approach into USAID’s development programs. Participants learned how to make and use maps to answer […]
From the barren Sahel desert of northern Senegal to the lush forests of Kedougou in the south, about 250 Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) are integrating into villages and working on health, economic, and agricultural development projects. One of the largest branches globally, Peace Corps Senegal is a model program in Africa. Throughout the past year, […]
Last week, the Net Impact chapter at UT’s McCombs School of Business hosted a summit on “Business for Good,” with one panel devoted to social impact investing. Social impact investing is any form of investment that has positive effects for the broader community. It is hard to state a more precise definition, because “impact investing” […]
The McCombs School of Business Net Impact Chapter is hosting its 6th annual summit on business and social impact. Formerly called the Sustainable Business Summit, The Business for Good Summit has broadened its scope to address some of the more meaningful questions about how business can be used as a platform to affect social and […]
Stay in policy school long enough and you’ll notice the growing tendency to treat every problem as a four-dimensional Rubik’s cube just waiting for the right solution. Development studies, in particular, can often fall into the trap of trying to solve a macro phenomenon before fully understanding local economic and political conditions. This is a […]
Recently (October, 2013), InfoDev, a program of the World Bank, commissioned a study on crowdfunding’s potential for the developing world. This is an important report because, to the best of my knowledge, it’s the first on crowdfunding as a tool for development commissioned by the World Bank or any entity of similar international authority. While this […]