Loosely defined as the transfer of funding and decision-making powers to local actors, localization is certainly not a new concept – phrases such as ‘locally-led development’, ‘community-led development’ and ‘doing development differently’ have been pretty commonplace for years.

But as an all-encompassing narrative, localization took centre stage a few years ago when US Agency for International Development administrator, Samantha Power, outlined it as the rhetoric at the centre of what her department does. it has gained further momentum through the movement to decolonise aid – itself a reaction to a number of external factors, not least the Black Lives Matter movement and the need for greater inclusivity around language used within the aid sector.

But what is local? How can we ‘localize’ in a meaningful way and what’s our role as development consultants in all this?

These are just some of the questions we tackle in this latest episode of our ‘International Development, Where Now?’ podcast.

We’re not afraid to face up to some of the thorny issues in the sector in this soul-searching discussion that sees us delve into what it really means to go beyond the ‘fly in, fly out’ nature of development consultancy, whether there’s still a role for global communities and how we do away with knowledge hierarchies.

We also cover some of the potential risks and barriers to localizing and try to offer some achievable, pragmatic solutions.

International Development: Where Now? What is local?

In this week's episode, Raj talks with Fatema Sumar, executive director at Harvard University's Center for International Development, to discuss her book, "The Development Diplomat: Working Across Borders, Boardrooms, and Bureaucracies to End Poverty." 

For more information on upcoming episodes and to sign up for our mailing list, visit the Devex Book Club here: https://pages.devex.com/devex-book-club.html

Book Club: #2: Fatema Sumar on "The Development Diplomat"

How can America regain its position as a global leader? According to Dan Runde, author of "The American Imperative" and a a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic International Studies, the answer lies in the strategic use of soft power. 

For more information on upcoming episodes and to sign up for our mailing list, visit the Devex Book Club here: https://pages.devex.com/devex-book-club.html

Book Club: #3: Dan Runde on "The American Imperative"

This Week in Global Development is back for its first episode of the New Year, and this week, we took a look ahead at what we can expect to come down the pike in 2024.

It’s an election year in the U.S., and bipartisanship is in short supply. Many of the legislative challenges of 2023—including those around foreign aid— are carrying into the new year, adding more pressure to a dam that’s already quite full. Republican presidential hopefuls are even going so far as to call for the defunding of the United Nations.

Luckily, not everything comes down to funding—we also discussed the U.S. Agency for International Development’s new Locally Led Programs indicator, which sets a standard for determining whether a given program can be considered, well, locally led.

Joining Devex’s President and Editor-in-Chief to break down these topics is Stefan Dercon, the former chief economist at the U.K. Department of International Development and current Professor of Economic Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, as well as Devex Managing Editor Anna Gawel.

Welcome to 2024, and thanks for tuning in!

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This Week in Global Dev: #29: What to expect from development in 2024

Like many of us, Rajiv Shah knew early on that he wanted to make an impact on the world, but he wasn’t quite sure how to do it. His book, "Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens," opens with some of that early uncertainty, like the summer he spent treating leprosy patients in India, and his time working on Al Gore’s ultimately doomed campaign.

But as Raj writes in his book, that uncertainty was all part of an important realization he’d eventually come to: that large-scale change doesn’t come from caution, but from what he calls a “big bets philosophy,” which says that it’s only by trying to fundamentally solve, not just improve, pressing problems that the world can truly be transformed.

For more information on upcoming episodes and to sign up for our mailing list, visit the Devex Book Club here: https://pages.devex.com/devex-book-club.html

The Devex Book Club

Book Club: #7: Rajiv Shah on "Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens"

The middle class is the most successful group in world history, but today, it’s facing a bit of an identity crisis. The realities of automation, climate change and other factors are straining the once ubiquitous middle class dream, and younger generations are questioning whether it’s really all it’s cracked up to be.

In his new book, "The Rise of the Global Middle Class: How the Search for the Good Life Can Change the World," economist and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Sustainable Development Homi Kharas traces the evolution of the middle class all the way from its roots in Victorian England, and ultimately offers a new policy agenda that could pave a way forward.

For more information on upcoming episodes and to sign up for our mailing list, visit the Devex Book Club here: https://pages.devex.com/devex-book-club.html

Book Club: #8: Homi Kharas on "The Rise of the Global Middle Class"

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