Blog archive

The role of the UK in global poverty reduction

A new paper by Chatham House  written by Kevin Watkins looks at the role of the UK in global poverty reduction. Their research shows that whilst half of ‘opinion-formers' see increased aid as part of an ethical foreign policy for achieving influence in the world, only 29% of the public endorse the view that the government is right to protect aid from public spending cuts.

New DFID research on public attitudes to development

The Department for International Development (DFID) has recently released a report of its latest wave of research into public attitudes to international development, conducted in February 2010.

If I look at the mass, I will never act

I recently came across a compelling paper by Paul Slovic, which explores why the public finds it so hard to respond to genocides and other mass events. He reviews the research which shows that people find it very hard to get their minds around abstract large numbers.

For example, he talks about an experiment where people were given the opportunity

How to encourage greater compassion?

An interesting article in the Economist argues that the poor are more compassionate than the rich. What is particularly interesting is that the rich can be made to be more compassionate through helping them empathise:

New research on young people's interest in global issues

The results of a new survey from DEA member GLEAN (the Global Learning Network South West) offers an interesting picture of young people's interest in and knowledge about global issues.

The complexity of aid

In an interesting article in the Guardian, Madeleine Bunting outlines the backlash against aid. She says "Aid cynicism is on the rise, boosted by the work of people such as US economist Bill Easterly, with his influential Aidwatch blog, and Dambisa Moyo, whose book Dead Aid attracted much attention despite the inadequacies of its proposals.

From Hot Air to Happy Endings

An interesting report from Green Alliance considers how to inspire public support for a low carbon economy. There are some fascinating chapters in this book. George Lakoff shows how the very way we frame the environment means we think of it as 'other' to ourselves. Tom Crompton from WWF and his co-authors Tim Kasser and Joe Brewer note that ultimately the values that organisations appeal to are critical, and that organisations that appeal to narrow self interest may ultimately promote values which undermine a more sustainable society.

Big Global Society?

David Cameron has relaunched the Big Society idea this week. The concept of unlocking social action by the public is something that is dear to our hearts at DEA, and fits very much with the sentiment in our Global Learning Charter which had over 200 organisational signatories.

Sustainable schools report published

A new research report is available from the University of Bath's Centre for Research in Education and Environment (CREE). This research, funded by the Government Office South West (GOSW), and carried out by William Scott, is a response to a call from DCSF (now DfE) in 2009 for more research into the link between the work of sustainable schools and national Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) indicators.

Africa United

Last week I went to a special screening of a forthcoming film called Africa United. The film is from Pathe - the same stable as Slumdog Millionaire. It is a very watchable story - about a set of young people from different parts of Africa who wish to travel to South Africa to get to the World Cup.