Both “participatory development” and “design thinking” theories advocate for project planning to start with the needs of the end-user. It’s interesting to me that both concepts illustrate pretty much the same intuitive process, yet the naming of both makes them seem less broadly applicable. I guess maybe that’s because “Successful impact-for-the-end-user-focused-planning” is a much less [...]
Steve Jobs reminding us to be “unreasonable”. “Here’s to the crazy ones.. the round pegs in the square holes… they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, [...]
Yesterday I started my journey from Cambodia to Oxford (via family home in NY) and I made a little video and goodbye note for the PEPY site. I thought I would re-post it here (as I sit in transit for a few more hours waiting for my final flight!) —- Today is my last day [...]
In many parts of Asia, it’s rude to brag about your kids. Actually, in Cambodia, you can’t even brag about other people’s kids, especially when they are small, as bad spirits might take them away for being too fabulous. But moms…. can you brag about your mom? I guess, with countries that respect age hierarchies, [...]
Sorry for the delay in getting this up! I spent last week on a camping training trip with one of our partner organizations and some of our PEPY staff and then the last few days feeling sick and trying to get better! So, better later than never we hope, we are some notes which were [...]
Guest Post By Allie Hoffman of The Pari Project The development sector is famous for acronyms and grand plans. William Easterly calls them ‘the Planners’ – those who have fixed, set ideas about what is going to work, and are slow to change course. But he points out that history has shown that it’s the [...]
NOTE: If you are going to be in San Francisco on June 11th and you are interested in discussing these topics further, join us! (Scroll to the bottom!) INVESTING TIME IN PEOPLE is the thing I think is missing from a lot of our development/philanthropy/voluntourism and overall GIVING plans. We can always make more money. [...]