Travis Warrington
Changing contexts toward
progressing the fluidity of
human societal development.
Conflict Posts:
Insights on Casamance
I just got done conversing with a high-ranking Senegalese working for a respected agency here in Casamance about the region’s conflict as well as how to approach peacebuilding here. A few tidbits from our conversation*. There is legitimatized fear that the turmoil and instability in Mali may carry over into Casamance. (And if this turns [...]
Why Pulaar?
People may wonder why I choose to learn Pulaar, as opposed to French, for my research and latest stint abroad. It is a good question. I also got the same question from Senegalese. So, I hope this post can address the question and any concerns. In Senegal, the official language is French. However, Senegal also [...]
Do No Harm, Peacebuilding, and Culture
Below is a pending piece of the literature review for my Master’s Paper. Any thoughts or comments are appreciated. DNH has identified five categories of ‘peace capacities’ or connectors Anderson (1999, p. 24). They use the term ‘peace capacities’ in the text but I feel this term could also be the same as ‘conflict management [...]
Senegal – Part 1
To Whom That Will Read This, I told a few people that I would be keeping current on my blog to update the rest of the world of my status in Senegal. Forgive me as I left Boston on May 26th and got into Dakar, Senegal on May 27th – thus I am past due [...]
Macky Sall and Casamance
The long awaited run-off election in Senegal happened on 25 March 2012. Senegalese, West Africans, and Africanists from around the world held their breathe. And then, Mightly Allah had spoken and Sall marked victory. But we still held our breathe, as we awaited Wade’s response. At last, Wade did respond, and positively, as reports came [...]
Does Guinea-Bissau’s President’s Death have Consequences in Casamance?
As many of you read from various sources, Guinea-Bissau’s President Malam Bacai Sanha died on January 9th in Paris. As of late, Bissau has been recognized as as a cocaine and marijuana hub as well as one of many unstable countries in the West African region. What happens now is unclear for Bissau with regard [...]
Advocacy toward the Global-North
This post’s idea stemmed from a mass email sent from a well-intentioned classmate I had last academic year regarding awareness of contemporary slavery, which was compounded by the recent discussion of the short film Unwatchable as ‘badvocacy’. I will explain the parallels of both below. The email (mentioned above) gave information about an online survey [...]
Casamance and U.S Citizens
Below is a reply from the U.S. Embassy in Dakar regarding the Casamance region: The U.S. Embassy recommends that U.S. citizens avoid non-essential travel to the Casamance region west of the city of Kolda, except direct air travel to the Cap Skirring resort area or to the city of Ziguinchor. If travel is deemed essential, [...]
Water Wars
This past week I had the opportunity to hear Lotika Paintal of Water Centric speak about why water is such a huge issue in development. As a future development and conflict management practitioner, I quickly understood that water is/can be a source of conflict as well. All living creatures require water in order to survive, [...]
If Religion Tears the US apart, it Can Tear the World Apart
From Guest Blogger Will God be involved in the next world war? Since 9/11, the heat has turned up on religious issues, constantly teetering on the brink of boiling over. With fundamental extremism a source of fear for people all around the world, America’s internal struggle will test our true mettle and dedication to a [...]
Non-Violent Uprising: Egypt
When media portrays a conflict, it is usually focused primarily on the violence. Conflict does not always mean violence. A prime example of this was at the beginning stages of what happen in Egypt. Here are some sources my colleague Jason Pollens had come across. Second source is a documentary on the behind the scenes [...]
Muammar Gaddafi..because it is funny
Post-Turmoil Solution for Libya
During class (Conflict Interventions) yesterday, my colleagues and I pondered and came up with what to do after Libya is ready to rebuild itself. The prompt given was if the country had a ‘blank slate and ample funding’, and either Qaddafi is in power or not. We are all aware of the chaos happening in [...]
Congress Does Not Care About Peace
UPDATED Feb. 25th, 2010. Straight from the Alliance for Peacebuilding Dear AfP Members and Friends, I hate to admit we’ve been caught off guard, but we’ve been caught off guard. The new House of Representatives voted yesterday to cut funding for the US Institute for Peace to zero! That’s right, zero. There was no advance [...]
Quote of the day
“Fear often negates hope” – Mari Fitzduff
U.S.’s New(est) Take on ‘Terrorism’
Chic, President & CEO of Alliance for Peacebuilding, recently posted this (I believe) on AfP’s website: Dear AfP Members, As you know, last summer the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional right of the government to prohibit and criminalize anything that could in any way be deemed “material support” for organizations on the State Department’s terrorist [...]
North Africa Overshadowing Rest of Continent
As I was mentioning to Tom Murphy (from A View From The Cave) a few days ago, all of the international community’s attention is on North Africa, including the AU. The AU is 30% controlled by Tunisia and Egypt (15% each). So when they themselves are under turmoil, monies and energies elsewhere are not available. [...]
Obama and Egypt
UPDATED: Feb. 12. 2011 I just got this forwarded email from a colleague of mine (see below), which is obviously from a listserv and thought I’d share it. On that note, I was talking with a classmate of mine just now about the same thing; what if Obama called Mubarak and told him to step-down [...]
Predictions on Domino Effect
UPDATED: Feb. 12, 2011 One could argue about which specific event triggered the North African-regional uneasiness, but here I wish to make educated and data-based predictions on who will follow suit . Earlier via Twitter, I disagreed with FP that Somalia and not Sudan would be the next to rise up. Then I was reminded [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
travis 
Beneficial info and excellent design you got here! I want to thank you for sharing your ideas and putting the time into the stuff you publish! Great work!
I appreciate your comment. I must say that all of the documents linked to the page are not of my own unless otherwise stated. Also, the website is not finished. May I asked how you stumbled upon my site?
Thanks for posting
Travis
You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be really something which I think I would never understand. It seems too complex and extremely broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!
@Derrick,
Do you have any specific questions you’d like me to answer/address to assist your understanding?
Thanks for reading
t
Hi I attempted to sign up to your RSS and also the link appears to be broken. How do i get around this? Regards!
http://www.google.com/ig/add?feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.traviswarrington.com%2Ffeed%2F