Do we use obscure or fashionable words to impress our colleagues or win research proposals? Are many of our actions against poverty simple, direct and wrong? Provocations for Development is an entertaining and unsettling collection of writings that questions concepts, conventions and practices in development. It is made up of short and accessible writings by Robert Chambers reflecting on the evolution of concepts like participation and of organizations like the World Bank. Besides provocations, there is mischief, verse and serious fun. The book irreverently examines vocabularies of...

Cada vez mas, los profesionales y los donantes que responden a los desastres estan reconociendo la necesidad de proporcionar apoyo rapido y personalizado para los medios de vida, empresas y economias afectadas tras el paso de una crisis. Esto se hace frecuentemente en paralelo con los esfuerzos de emergencia para suplir las necesidades humanas basicas de alojamiento, agua, alimentacion y servicios de salud. En el pasado, la asistencia para la recuperacion economica habia sido vista como una actividad que debia realizarse en etapas posteriores. Sin embargo, la experiencia en respuesta a...

Savings Groups reach those rarely served by mainstream financial institutions.Maximum transparency, a profitable structure for saving, access to small loans and an annual lump sum of capital are the hallmarks of the savings group methodology. The outcome: empowered groups, made up mostly of women, who manage themselves as tiny financial institutions. Today there are savings groups in 60 countries with more than 6 million members, the result of initiatives carried out by dozens of international and local NGOs. What are the costs, required inputs, and anticipated outreach of these groups? How...