By Keetie Roelen
“You need a new vacuum cleaner? Can you prove that your current one is really broken?”
This was the response Hanny received from the welfare office in the Dutch city of Tilburg when she asked them for support with replacing her broken appliance. More precisely, it was the response following her second request, after her first appeal was met with the suggestion that she could use a broom to sweep her floors.
Continue reading “Why We Need Empathy to Tackle Poverty”
By Luqman Muraina / part of our “Share your Decolonising Story” project
I completed my B.Sc. Sociology in Nigeria with little or no knowledge about alternative epistemologies, coloniality, and politics of knowledge. Like many young graduates fed by modernity’s shine, I was just determined to be successful and contribute positively to societal development and transformation.
Continue reading “Decolonial Journey: #RhodesMustFall and ‘Decolonising Development Studies’ in Ghana and Nigeria”
By Will LaFleur
What is the relationship between extractivism, agriculture, and a sustainable future? As I started the fieldwork for my doctoral studies, this question sat at the heart of my inquiry. Developing a critical response started with renewing an analytical and theoretical conception of extractivism before I even began the fieldwork. That meant, first of all, framing extractivism historically.
Continue reading “What Would it Take to Build a Post-Extractivist Agriculture?”
By Sara Vélez Zapata and Gonzalo A. Vargas
In early November, Indigenous communities in the Brazilian Amazon raised their voices, reminding us that without forests there is no future: “sem floresta, não há futuro”. During the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 30), global leaders discussed how to protect tropical forests as a collective effort. However, it ended without a binding agreement to stop deforestation. Given that tropical forests are often found in countries with fragile institutional contexts, what can we learn from communities’ achievements over the last few years?
Continue reading “Against all Odds: How Local Communities Achieve Forest Conservation in Colombia”
By José Antonio Alonso
The international aid system is undergoing one of the most acute crises in its history. Although it is often portrayed primarily as a budgetary crisis—intensified by decisions such as the Trump Administration’s cuts to foreign assistance—it in fact reflects a deeper and long-standing structural malaise. The crisis is rooted in fundamental questions about the system’s relevance, legitimacy, and capacity to adapt to the evolving global order.
Continue reading “Three Ideal Types for the Future of Development Cooperation”
