Travis Warrington
Changing contexts toward
progressing the fluidity of
human societal development.

Development

Development Posts:

• Gambian Exodus from Libya

  Last night I witnessed 244 Gambian youths (ages 14-28) returning from Libya back to Ferefenni, The Gambia en route from Dakar via bus. The Red Cross/The Gambia were directly supporting the recently returned locals. After returning to Ferefenni, all 244 were stationed in the town’s radio station compound, of which was heavily guarded by armed […]

• Transportation and West Africa

  Since my days in Peace Corps I have been a big supporter to constructing and reconstructing roads as a mean for development in Africa (or anywhere, really). Roads mean access to hospitals, markets (to buy and sell goods), schools, etc. If the roads are horrid, like many in Africa, access to these important resources are […]

• My Research in Casamance

  As most of you know I served in Peace Corps/The Gambia between 2008-2010. The Gambia is surrounded by Senegal (I call Senegal the ‘pac man’) with ocean at the west. I lived just south of The Gambian River far upcountry in the country’s bush-area, and was never too far from The Senegalese border at any […]

• The ‘Angry’ Development Worker/ Conflict Management Professional

  I am taking time out from eating my lunch (peanut sauce with bits of chicken over rice) and from studying (how to negate commands in Pula Fuuta) to type this post. I hope it makes sense to those who know me, and for those who can relate to the context. E misaal (for example in […]

• Senegal’s Pre-Election Positives?

  Post was edited on 2/7. With the recent constitutional ruling that Wade can run for a third term, there has been turmoil, riots, injuries, and even deaths in Senegal. As West Africa’s most stable and democratic nation, it seems odd that we are hearing all of this negative attention from Senegal now. With the pending […]

• A Working Guide to the Expat Persona

  At the graduate school I attend, my classmates/colleagues and I are being training to be conflict management and/or development practitioners, or in other words program managers within conflict management and development. My American colleagues and I have a seemingly difficult time conveying what we are going to school for and what we hope to do […]

• ONE….What Does It Do?

  I will start this off by confirming that, yes, I am quite judgmental about any and all efforts of my fields – conflict management and development, including aid. I was chatting with a friend the other week about ONE; I’ll further admit that I know very little about ONE, but I know I should not […]

• Independence in Africa

  Information taken from This Is Africa Beginning on June 20th and continuing throughout the summer, 19 African nations will celebrate their independence (see below). Crazy how many of these suppressed nations came independent more-or-less at the same time. Also, funny how no presidential elections will coincide with their country’s date of independence. Mali – Monday, […]

• Quote of the Day, re: IMF

  After pulling out all of my hair from final’s week and a week’s worth of rest, I am happy to say I am back to the blogging world. With the new trend and news circa the IMF, I will add to it with a quote from a recent post by Flavia Dzodan of The Guardian, […]

• Combating Malaria May Not Need Funding

  Today is Malaria Day, or something like that. One more ‘holiday’ or reminder that thousands die annually by no fault of their own by petty reasons. It is depressing. It is days like today that big agencies and countries devote millions of dollars  ‘fight the cause’ (Canada just gave $1.1 billion to protect women and […]

• The Look

  After watching the video* from the recently decease Tim Hetherington, many emotions arose. The film captures, as Tom suggests and I quite agree with him, there is an interesting/odd mix of Western field practitioners living and working in developing areas and/or conflict environments. It is odd because we choose to be in that type of […]

• A New Take on Secondhand Clothing Sent Abroad

  Guest post by Ross Lohr Those of you who have traveled in the developing world or are from the developing world know that there is an incredible supply of amazing American secondhand clothing that gets shipped to massive secondhand markets in those countries (think of the controversy with World Vision and their acquire NFL t-shirts). […]

• Aid within Contextual Lens – Japan

  I blogged about Japan a few weeks ago as a backlash to the knee-jerk reaction the international community was undertaking; my school/university is no different. In the piece, I was critical of what my colleagues are doing to assist the Japanese who are in dire need, selling bracelets and the monies going to victims of […]

• Pan-African Leaders with Signs of Dementia

  I received this from a listserv I am a part from my university’s African Forum. I thought it was interesting. WHY AFRICA IS 25 YEARS BEHIND THE DEVELOPED WORLD….. ? ‘Anger is cured by Silence’ AFRICAN LEADERS Abdulai Wade (Senegal)……………age 83years Hosni Mubarak ( Egypt )…………….age 82 Robert Mugabe ( Zimbabwe )……..age 86 Hifikepunye Pohamba […]

• Knee-Jerk Reaction: Japan

  Picture credit I was very busy with final papers when the disaster in Japan occurred. Since then, the death toll has climbed, survivors are in need, radiation has leaked, and the international community has sprung into action to assist. As a young child, I was taught to never do anything unless one does it correctly; […]

• Revamped DFiD

  After a back-n-forth with @DFID_UK via Twitter regarding their newest model’s take on transparency, I got out of them their newly published document (pdf) stating how they will act differently in delivering their aid monies and (apparently) which countries will be cut out from their funding. Many writers from The Guardian are all flustered about […]

• UN Women Launches

  Oxfam guru Duncan Green from From Poverty to Power recently posted regarding UN Women, stating, After years of planning, fundraising and consultations, U.N. Women was officially launched by its Executive Director, former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet. Formally known as the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, U.N. Women combines four […]

• World Vision Not at Fault

  I was strongly urged by a fellow blogger to write my own piece on the recent happenings regarding World Vision. Before I do so, I just want to point out that when you type ‘world vision’ into Google, the WV slogan of “One Child Needs Your Help” is BAM in your face. This is followed […]

• ‘Evolving’ African traditional practices

  I should be writing a research proposal on managing ethnic conflict but I need to get this off my chest. A huge and ‘hot topic’ the last 40 years has been female genital mutilation, er…to be more politically correct and contemporary, female genital circumcision (or cutting) (FGC). Altering the last term of the phrase does […]

• Clinton and What she is doing for Women Globally

  UPDATED: Feb. 12, 2011. This a response to an article by Madeleine Bunting on Jan. 19, 2011 via The Guardian. Clinton vows that the administration of which she is a part focuses on “women’s rights [as an] ‘signature issue’”, and that improving women’s roles will produce “universal progress.” Okay, I’ll buy that (for now), what […]

• Faulty Development Practices

  UPDATED: Feb. 12, 2011 I flew from Boston to Philadelphia this last Friday to lecture at Rowan University on Jan. 29th. As mentioned before, I worked with Rowan’s Engineers Without Borders (EWB) team on two different projects while I was serving in Peace Corps. Rowan’s Engineering Department requested I come and speak to their students […]

• Why Development AND Conflict

  UPDATED: Feb. 12, 2011 1) Humanly are innately prone to conflict. 2a) Populations of sub-cultures, tribes, religions, etc. live side-by-side, thus more or less sharing a similar culture and environment. 2b) These populations therefore share common frictions. 3) Societies in war-torn environments (either inter- or intra-state conflict) put all of their energies, funds, and resources […]

• Culture Matters…Obviously

  William Easterly recently posted on AidWatch regarding the “effects of culture on development outcomes” by means of his colleague Raquel Fernandez’s recent paper. I usually roll my eyes at this sort of subject matter, but it was good that the likes of Easterly posted something about it…which prompted me to write this post to start […]

• My Vision

  UPDATED: Feb. 12, 2011 Below are excerpts of my statement of purpose from my admissions essay for The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. The piece illustrates my background, my opinions regarding both development and conflict, as well as how and why to conduct change (re: development approaches). I post this […]

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