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Death and blessings in the Bekaa

Last Sunday, African diva and feminist mastermind Angélique Kidjo sang in the Baalbek International Festival, at the old Roman ruins at the heart of the restive Lebanese valley of the Bekaa. Kidjo is a fantastic singer and a master of the stage. At the beginning of the concert, it was taking a while for the crowd, with the usual share of sophisticated, urban Beirutis and expatriates, to warm up to the African and Latin rhythms. However, after three or four songs her velvety voice, frenetic dancing and off-kilter jokes had the whole public dancing and singing along. Continue reading “Death and blessings in the Bekaa”

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Humanitarian protection: are we doing a good job?

A few days ago I tried on myself a quick and dirty test to evaluate how effectively we humanitarians use our time. It made a big difference. Here it is:

1.           Measure the time you invest in talking to other humanitarians – e.g. coordination meetings, training, mainstreaming, etc. Humanitarians are here assumed to be people who know their jobs, i.e. you shouldn’t need to invest a lot of time in persuading them to do anything or to stop doing anything.

2.           Measure the time you invest in talking with people you work for: refugees, IDPs, war or disaster affected, etc., or people you really need to persuade to do things or stop doing things: Government officials, insurgent leaders, army commanders.

3.           Compare both times.

4.           Ask yourself if you’re doing a good job.

Good luck!