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Beyond Borders: A film critique of finding love against the backdrop of humanitarian Crises
"Beyond Borders relies on gendered and racialised tropes of passivity vs. activity, particularly in the field of politics and international aid." By Anna Younes “I often wonder, do we all know where we belong? And if we do, in our hearts, why do we so often know...
How unpaid internships are perpetuating inequality
"Unpaid internships reinforce existing social, racial and economic inequalities. Who can afford to spend several months working full-time without pay? Students from privileged backgrounds." By Clara Hagedorn Spending semester breaks with 40-hour work weeks, while...
Why Development Projects Fail – an Internal Perspective
"Internal issues within projects and project teams are often closely linked with broader issues underpinning the development and humanitarian sectors. For example, assumptions of Western superiority allow Western donors or elites to set development agendas where they...
Inequalities in humanitarian and development hiring
"Covert racism is built into the landscape of development and humanitarian aid. For industries so dedicated to equality, the humanitarian and development sectors have a long way to go in terms of improving equality within their ranks, particularly in relation to...
Simplifying indicators with machine learning
"Using our knowledge of machine learning, we wanted to create a tool to help development actors execute the complex, necessary and often time-consuming tasks of selecting appropriate indicators and managing logframes." Selecting indicators and managing...
Afghanistan a year on – what have we learned?
"Unfortunately, the issues in Afghanistan are not going away any time soon. Things may indeed get worse for those unable to leave the country. However, a year on from the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, there are things we in the humanitarian sector can learn from the...
Are photography consent forms enough? Why Arqaam doesn’t use photos of people
"Using images of people from the field may be a more effective fundraising strategy. It may also get you more ‘likes’ and engagement on social media. But is it worth it if you’re potentially invading the privacy of another human being? Is it worth it if you’re...
Top monitoring and evaluation software tools for NGOs
"There is a range of monitoring and evaluation software tools for NGOs to help streamline their M&E. From simplifying the data collection process to matching up project ideas with the most relevant metrics for tracking, discover Arqaam's favourite M&E...
Culture and its influence on NGO project design and implementation
"Project staff do not need to work against culture. In fact, project staff should consider culture a strategic element to drive change." By Eric Warui and Philipp Marbach An NGO project should generate change within a particular target community. However, cultural...
Digital data capture systems for NGO monitoring and evaluation
"NGO monitoring and evaluation should reveal where change is happening, how it is happening and to what degree... Without quality, timely data to inform decision-making, monitoring processes can easily turn into clerical tasks performed for compliance’s sake. This is...
Why participatory evaluation is crucial to accountability
"NGO monitoring and evaluation processes are not neutral. They can work to maintain or challenge traditional power hierarchies ... Project managers must consider how the evaluation methods they use could perpetuate unequal power dynamics." There are lots of buzzwords...
Indicators: What are they and how do you recognise a good one?
"In 2020, Arqaam poured through thousands of indicators in its efforts to develop the Logframe Lab tool, a web application that helps organisations build their project’s logframe. Logframe Lab’s algorithms match a project idea with the most relevant metrics, drawing...
Why Informed Consent Matters in International Cooperation
Questions can delve into sexual reproductive health and activity, income, family issues and other sensitive topics. Think to yourself, “Would I give this information to a stranger knocking at my door?" Nowadays, project organisers can easily collect large amounts of...
How NGOs Can Safely and Securely Collect and Store Data
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working in the development and humanitarian aid sectors want to be sure their projects are making an impact. In order to track these impacts, NGOs rely on data collected through a variety of methods. By ‘data’, we mean everything...
Logframes: Flawed, but Necessary Tools
“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms.”[1] Logical framework approaches (LFAs) – aka, logframes – are often an annoyance. A typical requirement of donors, they often serve as a tick-the-box exercise for managers in charge of...
What the Monitoring & Evaluation Industry Has Learned From COVID-19 So Far – TolaData Guest Post
"The pandemic’s social and economic impacts will be disproportionately felt by women and girls in the long-term. Women are already experiencing worse impacts from lay-offs, school closures, increased gender-based violence, increased caregiving expectations, and less...
What is the Gender Data Gap, and What Can We Do About It?
"When we don't have data, then we make assumptions. These assumptions typically revolve around a generic white man of 80kg. This can be dangerous in so many ways." The following blog post uses information from the work of Caroline Criado Perez and her book 'Invisible...
How Our Free Monitoring and Evaluation Training Helps Small NGOs
'Even though they often have the best contextual knowledge for their area of operations, grassroots and small local organisations frequently face several challenges that their bigger or international counterparts do not face when it comes to receiving outside...
Why is Monitoring and Evaluation Important for NGOs?
'it’s important to understand how...funds are being used, what outcomes are resulting from these programmes, and the impacts of the programmes for stakeholders.' According to the Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2019, published by Development Initiatives,...