In my work with PRYDE, I’ve written a lot about the conflicts in the world, how the world seems to be getting more dangerous, and divisions deeper. When I do, I pivot to the people trying to make the world better and more peaceful, whose voices get drowned out. I hones...

I find it common in international development for those of us with sectoral expertise to view our sector as primary. Whether it’s health or nutrition colleagues arguing that if people aren’t healthy nothing else will be effective, or economists saying jobs give people...

The 20th century saw a wide range of peace activists. Whether you were calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons, protesting the Vietnam War, or trying to thaw the Cold War, peace was a hotly debated topic. Since then, the conversation has evolved, and in recent y...

How often do we read stories arguing about what we’re teaching our children in school? STEM vs the humanities. Evolution. Sex ed. Slavery. Parents, policymakers, and other community members alike tend to have very strong opinions about what belongs or not in a classroo...

I grew up in a family of educators. Service to my community was a key theme of my upbringing. For my undergrad studies, I went to American University’s SIS, the School of International Service. There was much pride instilled in us about the second S standing for “servi...

This week marked the International Day of Peace. I love this day. I spend many of my days talking about peace and social justice. But this day every year, I get really excited to see so many others joining the conversation. It reminds me that just because people have o...

Any good aid worker or development practitioner will tell you how much words matter. The only people who arguably know this better than they are government policymakers. The reason is that certain words are written into international law, and using them carries respons...

I’m dedicated to development. It’s my profession, it’s my passion. It’s also a word I and the people I work with use a lot in our day-to-day lives. So much so we often forget that people from other walks of life usually have no idea what we mean by it. When I tell peop...