Seven weeks after the team started their experiments we are checking in on the Rumphi Social Lab to find out what they have learnt. Fifty participants from the five teams returned to share experiences, reflect on progress and report back on what they had learned while working on their micro actions to strengthen relationships between[…]
The main objective of the fourth and final day of the Rumphi Social Lab design workshop was the formation of micro-action teams to take forward seven ‘big ideas’ to improve development in Rumphi. The teams did indeed form (and merge down to five), and lists of ‘key assumptions that must be true if we are[…]
If day one was a burst of fire in the oven, and day two was doing our kitchen prep, then day three was a banquet table fully laden. No one wants to miss the feast and attendance at day three hovers around 90 percent from day one. You can feel the anticipation growing in the[…]
Usually if you want to get something done you set a goal. Run a marathon, lose a stone, reduce poverty – that kind of thing. This is certainly how traditional development projects work. Logframes are full of targets – 500 people attend training sessions, 1,000 families lifted out of poverty, or 3,000 jobs created. There[…]
We would all like our work to speak for itself, better still if someone else can vouch for us! One way that industries like to do this is to showcase their ratings and feedback from customers. Not only does this help improve their service, but also help build credibility and trust. In the development context,[…]
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Or so we are told. But is it true? Words are powerful and we use them carefully to evoke certain feelings and emotions. For example, the vast majority of international NGOs work in “partnerships”. What does this word partnerships evoke? Shared mutual benefits perhaps? Shared[…]
Keystone believes in the power of data and benchmarking to improve how we do development. However, it is not always easy to come by. The International Aid Transparency Initiative is supposed to make information about aid easier to access, use and understand. It is the first (and only) standard for how organizations and governments are[…]
International non-governmental organizations often ask a lot of partners in terms of reporting requirements – but how many provide reports in return? This simple innovation, introduced after receiving feedback from partners has changed the dynamic for INGO Peace Direct. Peace Direct, which supports local peace-building organizations, engaged Keystone to survey their partners about the state[…]