Guest post: How travelling helped me reflect on my career and decide what to do next

Rosie Coleman explains why she took time off to travel and how it helped her career. Make sure you check out the video about her first three weeks in southern Africa too. I’d never taken a gap year. My travels had been holidays rather than extended periods spent overseas. After graduating from LSE in 2013, […]

How to get in to the charity sector

I was recently asked to make a small contribution to Child.org‘s excellent Charity Apprentice programme by writing an article about how to get in to the charity sector. This course teaches young people both how charities work and how to do effective charity work. Applications for the January 2017 intake are now open so if you’re interested […]

Universities have a duty to stop promoting orphanage volunteering

This post was originally written by myself for the London School of Economics, who have full copyright. See the original post. At LSE we’re incredibly passionate about volunteering and the role that students play in changing the world for the better. Our most recent research shows that almost 50% of our undergraduates volunteer during their time […]

An interview with Ashish Thakkar

When invited to review Ashish Thakkar’s book, The Lion Awakes, I was also asked to do a Q&A with him about some of the topics that he explores in the book. Thank you to Ashish for taking the time to answer my questions so fully! How do you view the importance of aid versus trade (or […]

Review: ‘The Lion Awakes’, by Ashish Thakkar

Africa is home to six of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Collective GDP has now reached $2 trillion, up from $587 billion in 2000. 400,000 new companies were registered in 2014 and by 2040 Africa will have a larger workforce than China. These statistics, impressive as they are, only tell a small part of […]

Moving beyond giving

How are we going to create real change by 2030? How will we eradicate poverty, end gender inequality, stop climate change and achieve the other 14 Sustainable Development Goals when it’s expected to cost 5-10 trillion dollars a year to do so? These are the questions that Thomas Muirhead, Managing Director of Child.org, approaches in his TEDx Talk […]

Say it quietly, but things are getting better

It’s not easy living in a world with Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and the Daily Mail. Stick to those three and it would be easy to believe that life is getting worse every passing day and there is little hope for any of us. Look at the facts, however, and we’re told a different story. […]

The Orphan Myth: Keeping Families Together

A new documentary from PBS has, once again, highlighted the problem with the institutionalisation of children across the world. The film explores why children, often with living parents, are put in to care centres. It also explains the psychological damage this often does to the children, why orphanages are expensive ways to raise children and how governments […]

Overseas volunteering: what’s the debate about?

This post was originally written by Livi Shaw for the London School of Economics, who have full copyright. See the original post. One of the biggest questions rippling through the voluntary sector currently, is whether or not overseas volunteering is a good thing; is it sustainable, is it needed; is it ethical? Maybe these are questions you’re familiar […]

5 steps to get the most out of international development volunteering

Getting experience in a particular field through volunteering can really make your CV and application stand out when applying for roles, and this is especially true in the international development sector. But how can you make sure that you pick the right opportunity for you and then make the most of it when you’ve started […]

The Rusty and Golden Radiator Awards are in

Each year the Norwegian based organisation Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund (SAIH) highlight the very best and worst of charity aid videos to try and change the way the aid industry approaches development and how poverty is represented. They look for those that are misrepresenting the people they claim to help, stereotype and possibly hinder […]

Documentary: The Voluntourist

“In a globalised world where information is so easily accessible young people are becoming more and more aware of the disparities that exist in the world and “voluntourism” is seen as a good way for them to help those who are less fortunate. But without any skills and over shorts period of time how much do you […]