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Listen to This #016: Heather Leson & Brian Chick of Crisis Commons

Graham F. Scott

In this edition of Listen to This — the premiere of our second season of original interviews with Canada’s most fascinating activists, politicos, and artists! — we talk with Heather Leson and Brian Chick, two of the more senior Canadian coordinators of Crisis Commons, an international online community of people who use their technology skills to […] More »

Body Politic #12: Why are Conservative female politicians silent on women's health?

lyndsie bourgon

The more things change, the more they stay the same. This certainly rings true in the world of health policy: there’s a lot of talk, and the idea of change or reform is nice to think about, regardless of whether it ever happens. Recently, it seems that absolutely nothing is changing at all. Because for […] More »

Interview: Glen Pearson, Liberal party critic for International Cooperation

Graham F. Scott

With today’s edition of Verbatim, we’ve got This Magazine associate editor Nick Taylor-Vaisey in conversation with Liberal Party critic for International Cooperation Glen Pearson. You can hear the original podcast of this conversation, as always, on the podcast blog. Nick and Glen discuss Canada’s humanitarian commitments past, present, and future, ranging from Darfur to Afghanistan […] More »

Tips for young journalists who want to work in international development

Siena AnstisWebsite

[Editor’s Note: Siena Anstis, who has served as our Africa correspondent on the blog over the past few months, is moving on to new projects. She’ll continue to contribute to the blog, but wanted to pass on some of the things she’s learned during her time working and reporting in Uganda, Kenya, and elsewhere for […] More »
January-February 2010

Postcard from London: tech geeks are hacking African development

Siena AnstisWebsite

The Hub King’s Cross café in London is buzzing today with a new breed of tech geek: consumed not by robots or video games, but African development. This group, about 100-strong, are meeting at the tri-annual Africa Gathering event. And together, through what they call Information and Communication Technologies for Development, or the unwieldy acronym […] More »

Listen to This #006: Glen Pearson, Liberal party critic for International Cooperation

Graham F. Scott

In this edition of Listen to This, Nick Taylor-Vaisey talks with Glen Pearson, Liberal party critic on International Cooperation and MP for London North Centre. In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, and with the deadline for withdrawing Canadian troops from Afghanistan approaching, Pearson discusses the successes and failures of Canada’s international assistance efforts in […] More »
January-February 2010

Booming trade in “slum tourism” dispels some myths, creates others

Mariellen WardWebsite

It can be an eye-opening experience that helps everyone involved move towards greater understanding…. It’s been happening in Rio’s famous favelas for some time. Now slum tourism—which turns a real-life ghetto into a “hot” tourist destination—has spread to Johannesburg, Manila, Cairo, and, in the wake of the blistering success of Slumdog Millionaire, Mumbai. But it’s […] More »

Followup: Scott Gilmore on Peace Dividend Trust's work in post-quake Haiti

nick taylor-vaisey

As soon as we tore our eyes and ears away from the news on Jan. 12, those of us who could donate to Haiti quickly did so. Indeed, the aftermath of the Haitian quake has been marked by one of the fastest and largest fundraising campaigns in modern history. But as world leaders meet in […] More »

Interview with Peace Dividend Trust's Scott Gilmore

Graham F. Scott

[Editor’s note: today we launch “Verbatim,” which will be a regular feature where we provide a transcript of our new podcast series, Listen to This. We’ll put these up on the blog shortly after each podcast goes online.] In the first installation of our new, relaunched podcast series (Oh! And we’re now on iTunes!) Nick […] More »

Four tech startups that are transforming African development

Siena AnstisWebsite

This coming week I will be covering the 6th UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris. In preparation for the event, youth delegates have been participating in an online forum and discussing a variety of issues which affect youth during this global economic (and social) crisis. Naturally, one of my preferred topics is along the lines of […] More »

In Uganda, Twitter and Facebook challenge Western media hegemony

Siena AnstisWebsite

A friend recently sent me an email commenting on the Twitter craze provoked by the recent riots in Kampala, Uganda. Within the first few minutes of the first sign of rioting, Twitter was chock-full of witness reports on the events. Just like Tehran earlier this year, Twitter delivered an instant “news” source. While Twitter provides largely […] More »