I've been published! ...in a small-town monthly magazine...

Upon returning from Madagascar, I spent a month and a half in the resort town of Hilton Head, SC. While there, the editor of their area magazine asked me to write something about my Peace Corps experience. I put down some ideas, and it was published this month. I tried to scan the magazine below, but it would probably be easier to read it online (which you can do here). Warning: it is a bit cheesy and contains photos of smiling Malagasy children. In other words: cynics need not apply! Also, I did not suggest the title, nor cause the misprint below...

Rooney Rule for Premiership?

This is off-topic for this blog (actually, what is really ever on-topic here?) but I just heard some interesting news regarding one of my old employers. It seems England's Premier League (and other leagues) are looking at implementing something similar to the Rooney Rule. This is the rule that encouraged hiring of minority coaches in the NFL. In itself, this is a pretty interesting story as English football (soccer?) look for ways to better promote minority candidates for coaching jobs in leagues where minority stars are more and more common. What really caught my eye was that my former boss, Cyrus Mehri, is very involved with this. I worked for Mr. Mehri at the law firm Mehri & Skalet, PLLC. He was the driving force (along with Johnnie Cochran) in advocating for the original Rooney Rule, and manages the Fritz Pollard Alliance to monitor the hiring of minority coaches in the NFL. You can check him out on BBC giving an impassioned speech about the need for a similar rule in English football. Give it a watch, it's pretty cool!

Some readings: Telegraph, ESPN, Guardian...

Links for Weekend Thinks, and Tunes for Weekend Swoons

Ok, here are some links I thought were worth sharing. And then some tunes for the weekend...

Links with some commentary

-Public Health’s “benevolent” dictator? This article points out some of the dangers of the Gates Foundation’s influence in the realm of public health. Despite all the good it has done, some concerns have arisen. For instance, the Foundation’s over-reliance on technological answers often avoids long-term, systemic change:

“It’s easier to develop a diarrhoea vaccine than to get the faeces out of the water supply, but clean water provides benefits far beyond diarrhea prevention.” 

And the Gates Foundation funds nearly everyone in the field (“Gates funds so many players, a common joke runs that it’s easier to list the organizations that Gates doesn’t support.”)… so who is left to offer independent analysis and critique of its programs? Last blurb (check out the article for more context):

“Even the best-intentioned of dictators may find themselves insulated from the objective feedback they need to learn from their mistakes and make essential course corrections.”

I certainly do not agree with all of the gloom-and-doom, but former Aid Watch-er Laura Freschi raises some good points and concerns. (h/t @bill_easterly) 

-Community-managed forests better protected than official reserves? (h/t @ryan_arash) Clicking through to the article, we find a a study showing that the answer to the above question is yes. I only skimmed the article, but it seems like it does touch upon my feeling, which is that this result is due to poor infrastructure at Protected Areas, such as poor pay scales/late pay, corruption, supplies and training... (rather than an especially inherent connection between communities and their forests, which is what is sometimes implied).

-Food security! Tom Murphy links to CGIAR's public meeting on the Horn of Africa famine. To be honest, I scanned the video a bit, looking for Namanga Ngongi (because I am interested in AGRA's work). He had some nice comments about the need to produce better crops (not just research) and find a way for companies to profit from this production/sale and involve the private sector. By the way, Tom often does a nice job of capturing my thoughts, when merely commenting on a video or link. This is true here, in regards to food security/famine/agriculture:

Personally, I am keen on long term solutions. Immediate aid must happen, but discussions about prevention should not be shelved because of the crisis.

-Education but no Jobs? Mmm unintended consequences… Increasing education but not adequately increasing high-skilled jobs. This article is very interesting, particularly the part about students paying increased fees to gain an education but then not being able to recover those costs through higher-end employment. One thing I think the article missed is a corollary of this result:

“The shortage of higher-level jobs has forced many young people to take roles for which they are overqualified. This in turn can create resentment and other forms of alienation.”

I think it is important to remember the snowballing consequences of high-skilled graduates taking low-skilled jobs: it muscles lower-skilled workers out of the job market, often times putting those who could not afford a high-quality education back on the street. They in turn are losing out on any low-skilled job creation, amplifying their poverty.

Quick(...er) Hits
-I am fascinated by what is happening in South Africa. I cannot shake the feeling that something big is happening in the ANC and it will soon pour out into the whole country (at best, something very interesting, at worst, something very dangerous). Speaking of SA, can they implement a development state... and how does one implement a development state?
-I just signed up for a GIS (Geographical Information Systems) class, so this graphical representation of food security caught my eye.
-I linked to this in the blog roll, but if you are interested in any of the following: photography, Ghana, anthropology, writing, etc... then you will love this.
-Blattman links to (and writes a bit about) impact evaluation. I found this Blatt-line interesting:

The short answer: policymakers and donors — don’t do M&E, do R&D. It’s not about the method. Randomized trails are a means to an end. Use them, but wisely and strategically. And don’t outsource your learning agenda to academics.

and check out my classmate Holly's blog for much more detail on the above Blatt-link.

-Conservation and Poverty Traps. (h/t again @ryan_arash) I absolutely love this observation (jives perfectly with my thinking, especially in regards to the tired buzzword 'ecotourism') -

Few efforts to achieve “winwin” solutions (e.g., bioprospecting, ecotourism, integrated conservation and development projects, payments for ecosystem services) have fully delivered on their promises

Friday Music Video:
Mahaleo might be the most popular band in Madagascar... ever. I used to liken them to the Beatles, because people of all ages would listen to them, and you would almost always hear their songs (or one of their member's songs) on a bush taxi anywhere in the country. They started in the 70s as students with a social conscience, and have since gone on to all sorts of high-level professions (check out some details here). Even the band's name probably best translates as something like "to overcome." So, after the Health message of last week's video (I am still getting over how awesome the Tana Gospel Choir is in that video), here is an environmental message! This is one of Mahaleo's songs, as performed by bandmember Dama (and popular musician Olombelo Ricky) called "Tsy Miraharaha" which probably best translates to "I don't care" or "It's not my business." It is about the destruction of Madagascar's environment, and the sarcastic response from the average Malagasy that "it is not my problem."
A sampling of the lyrics:
Tanety dorana, tsy miraharaha
Arehitra ny ala, tsy miraharaha

(or, roughly translated)
The hills are burning, I don't care
The forests are aflame, I don't care...



Finally, it appears that this video clip was taken from a larger, very good documentary called Ny Dian'i Mananilatany. It does not appear to be online (after a brief search), and the only copy I have is in Malagasy... but, it is pretty sweet if you come across it...