Development reads this week
Hi there, readers of The Development Set! Here are our favorite reads from this week:
Nepal’s Phony Orphans
By Eva Wieners in The Development Set
There is a worrisome connection between “voluntourism” and the rise of for-profit orphanages in Nepal. As volunteers arrive and seek out opportunities to work with children, they inadvertently create business opportunities that can break up poor, rural families. Eva Wieners documents the problem and introduces us to people who are intervening to solve it.
Flint is Family
By LaToya Ruby Frazier, Mattie Kahn, and Anna Clark in Elle
Macarthur “Genius Grant” Recipient Latoya Ruby Frazier’s photos and video, along with the reporting of Kahn and Clark, take an extended look at Flint’s past, present, and future through three generations of Flint women. To me, the project was a reminder to place persistent attention on Flint and the lessons it conveys about public health, poverty, and government neglect. Also included: a section on what you can do now to help.
When the U.S. Backs Gay and Lesbian Rights in Africa, Is There a Backlash?
By Gregory Warner in NPR
Last summer, President Obama visited Kenya and delivered, as expected, a vocal defense of gay and lesbian rights. The director of a community center and health clinic for young men with HIV/AIDS and STIs in Nairobi described the week before the speech as “the most tense [period] in our life,” as anti-gay backlash in response to Western interference had become rampant. Warner explores how visibility can sometimes mean vulnerability — and documents the consequences of well-intentioned, highly public forms of support.
“There’s Nothing Good in Cooking, But There Are No Other Options”
By Sandra Zhao in Eater
Last February, the UN announced that it would close the Yida refugee settlement in South Sudan by June. But according to Zhao’s latest count, over 60,000 people still live there. This piece is a look at entrepreneurial women in Yida who are running their own restaurants in this cash-strapped and uncertain environment.
Three Questions with Raj Chetty
By Michael Slind in Stanford Social Innovation Review
Raj Chetty, an economics professor at Stanford, has been the recipient of high praise for his work on social mobility and inequality. He talks about how he’s using big data, and why he believes we need a more localized approach to inequality. The video is only 4 minutes long, so check it out for yourself!
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We’re also accepting pitches for The Development Set again! You can email Sarika Bansal at sarika.bansal@gmail.com pitches about global health, social enterprise, and philanthropy. We’re open to feature-length stories, personal essays, thought pieces, and op-eds. Include the subject line “TDS Pitch.”
Reach out to us on Twitter (@thedevset, @jennygathright, and @sarika008) with any thoughts or questions! Otherwise, we’ll see you next week.
