i have started looking for jobs and found an advert that gave me stitches. it's for a wash officer in liberia. in this case, wash is a short for Water, Sanitation & Hygiene and Bong County is a district named after mount bong in central-northern Liberia, west africa, BUT wash is also crack coccaine in another languange and we all know what a bong is.
so, yeah...
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Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
crashing
why is it so hard to keep your eyes open approaching exams? for someone who normally sleeps at 1 and wake up at 6.40 (yes, it's 6.40 on the dot) everyday, i have been sleeping twice maybe trice as much these days.
i guess my subconscious is stronger than my conscious.
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i guess my subconscious is stronger than my conscious.
All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.
food security
Yes, it's that time of the module again...EXAM!!!
wish me luck!
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wish me luck!
All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
the problem with aid in protracted crisis
in general, in spanking new crisis, food security has always been associated with food gap and the solution for that is seen as food aid. food aid does not solve the problem - it is not meant to be a long term solution. a short-term intervention, it is meant to keep people alive as they survive the crisis.
1 out of 4 (correct me if i am wrong) crisis turns out to be protracted. 90% of aid goes to these protracted crisis. and in many cases, food aid still continues, wrecking havoc with local market and production, dividing communities into eligible and uneligible thus breaking existing social networks, subduing local effort to survive and initiating the culture of dependence.
the problem is aid activities are mainly divided into two: humanitarian - relief and rescue, and development - rehabilitation. humanitarian comes in in a hurry with 1% of overall budget for analysis, while development comes in when there is a 'government' in place.
the question is, what about those protracted crisis where a government is not established or does not recover after, say, 3 weeks? in any case, many of these governments increase the transactional cost as more are diverted to fund corruption.
with not enough analysis are carried out to figure out local efforts to cope and survive, many international organisations 'assume' that the affected locals are totally dependant on them. with free aid, locals learn and adapt to be dependant, and as the crisis protract this 'adaptation' sometimes are non-reversible. international organisations should instead be supporting these local efforts. coordination between organisations are also low, and coordination with local organisations are even lower in fear of being seen as 'taking sides' in conflict areas.
the real situation is different from the assumption. affected locals are organised, they usually have some sort of network and efforts in place, although very much limited. and when there are local efforts that are innovative, these efforts are mostly not mainstreamed and extended.
the challenge is to figure out a way for international organisation to work in the situation between ideal humanitarian and development situation - beyond the immediate danger period, before the government is in place - supporting with deeper analysis that will allow them to support local efforts, with coordinated collaboration, supporting long-term livelihood and resilience pattern.
BUT the very first move is for all international organisation - FAO, WFP, IFAD, NGOs to name a few - to agree that this is the way to go, and that is a huge challenge in itself as we all know how 'easy' it is for these organisations to see eye to eye.
check out Beyond Relief: Food Security in Protracted Crisis, by the two lucas (with whom we had a discussion yesterday in class) and a gunter.
All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.
1 out of 4 (correct me if i am wrong) crisis turns out to be protracted. 90% of aid goes to these protracted crisis. and in many cases, food aid still continues, wrecking havoc with local market and production, dividing communities into eligible and uneligible thus breaking existing social networks, subduing local effort to survive and initiating the culture of dependence.
the problem is aid activities are mainly divided into two: humanitarian - relief and rescue, and development - rehabilitation. humanitarian comes in in a hurry with 1% of overall budget for analysis, while development comes in when there is a 'government' in place.
the question is, what about those protracted crisis where a government is not established or does not recover after, say, 3 weeks? in any case, many of these governments increase the transactional cost as more are diverted to fund corruption.
with not enough analysis are carried out to figure out local efforts to cope and survive, many international organisations 'assume' that the affected locals are totally dependant on them. with free aid, locals learn and adapt to be dependant, and as the crisis protract this 'adaptation' sometimes are non-reversible. international organisations should instead be supporting these local efforts. coordination between organisations are also low, and coordination with local organisations are even lower in fear of being seen as 'taking sides' in conflict areas.
the real situation is different from the assumption. affected locals are organised, they usually have some sort of network and efforts in place, although very much limited. and when there are local efforts that are innovative, these efforts are mostly not mainstreamed and extended.
the challenge is to figure out a way for international organisation to work in the situation between ideal humanitarian and development situation - beyond the immediate danger period, before the government is in place - supporting with deeper analysis that will allow them to support local efforts, with coordinated collaboration, supporting long-term livelihood and resilience pattern.
BUT the very first move is for all international organisation - FAO, WFP, IFAD, NGOs to name a few - to agree that this is the way to go, and that is a huge challenge in itself as we all know how 'easy' it is for these organisations to see eye to eye.
check out Beyond Relief: Food Security in Protracted Crisis, by the two lucas (with whom we had a discussion yesterday in class) and a gunter.
All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
of regrets and growth
~it was a beautiful day and i thought of regrets. this is a reproduction from td, edited and added of course~
what is the one thing you would do differently if given the chance to do it again?
i have lived for almost three decades before i learn to appreciate the meaning of regret. i was always proud to say that i have no regrets in life and i believed that lie. oh, the arrogance of youth!
i do have regrets. you know of my regret.
the thing is, to admit regret you must first admit to mistakes and that is a huge step in being human. the trick is to move on and use the regret as an impetus for change. there is nothing wrong in having regrets, it shows growth in your decision making and judgement skills.
speaking of growth, in class the other day, fede said something so unlike him - i have forgotten what it was but it was definitely in support of government and not the people. it was something i expect keith to say...but fede? changes denote growth and learning. in learning new things, we acquire new perspective, new data to build our opinions on.
i wonder if i have changed at all in the last 8 months i have been here.
All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.
what is the one thing you would do differently if given the chance to do it again?
i have lived for almost three decades before i learn to appreciate the meaning of regret. i was always proud to say that i have no regrets in life and i believed that lie. oh, the arrogance of youth!
i do have regrets. you know of my regret.
the thing is, to admit regret you must first admit to mistakes and that is a huge step in being human. the trick is to move on and use the regret as an impetus for change. there is nothing wrong in having regrets, it shows growth in your decision making and judgement skills.
speaking of growth, in class the other day, fede said something so unlike him - i have forgotten what it was but it was definitely in support of government and not the people. it was something i expect keith to say...but fede? changes denote growth and learning. in learning new things, we acquire new perspective, new data to build our opinions on.
i wonder if i have changed at all in the last 8 months i have been here.
All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
jost-ling for space
"no...no...you already answered yesterday. let's give someone else a chance"
ghee...
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ghee...
All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Fede's Memory Lane Dinner
Fede refused to be paid in cash for the translation work he did for me. Instead he said, "Cook for me one dinner and we are even. I heard nice stories about your fried chicken." Fede, who used to live in Singapore when he was a kid, said he remembers 'nasi goreng' with a fried egg mata-lembu style on top. And so, as much as I would love to try out 'nasi tomato', i decided to give him exactly what he wanted.
So, nasi goreng with telur mata lembu and fried chicken on the side it was for Fede, Elisa and I!
So, nasi goreng with telur mata lembu and fried chicken on the side it was for Fede, Elisa and I!
All photos published by The Treedweller. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use it, drop a line to thetreedweller@gmail.com.
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