With the CPAID team spanning the globe, our spotlight series celebrates the researchers who make our work unique, seeking to understand a little more about their research, motivations and backstory.
In this CPAID spotlight, we speak to CPAID Investigator Professor Duncan Green about his research.
Please tell us a little about yourself
I am deeply 'middle of the road' British (first kid in my family to go to university), educated as a physicist but changed direction after a post-university spell in Latin America, living under the military regime in Argentina and learning about politics the hard way. I wrote several books on Latin American politics before joining the INGO scene and ended up (after a brief spell at DFID) at Oxfam, where I am Strategic Adviser. I then joined LSE as a 'professor in practice' in 2015.
Please tell us about your current work
At LSE I spend a day a week teaching in the International Development department (a module on the theory and practice of activism) based on my most recent book, How Change Happens (OUP 2016), and running a series of guest lectures on 'Cutting Edge Issues in Development Thinking and Practice'. At CPAID I am involved in a range of projects, including one on how INGOs perceive and work with public authority in South Sudan, and another looking at a specific MercyCorps project in the DRC. At Oxfam, my main activity is as a blogger and communicator, curating the From Poverty to Power blog.
Can you share any interesting results you’ve learned from your work?
What we are seeing is the gulf between what the aid sector says (even to itself) and what it does. Its public and private messaging is technocratic - all about systems, processes and toolkits, and is largely confined to the 'holy trinity' of state, civil society organisations and the private sector. But on the ground, successful aid requires an intimate knowledge of public authority, for example to ensure the security of staff and partners in conflict zones, or gain access for humanitarian aid.
What do you hope the impact of your work will be?
We hope it will make it easier for donors to acknowledge and accept that their work has a greater political sophistication in practice than in theory. This should help them plan better, and train new staff to more quickly pick up and apply the skills of 'thinking and working politically' in fragile and conflict-affected states. We believe this will lead to more effective aid programmes, and fewer failures.
Could you share a bit about the moment you realised being a scholar was the path for you?
I'm still waiting! But I do feel that trying to combine my past as a journalist with my present at the LSE has made me aware of the importance of communicating ideas and findings in a way that is enjoyable and accessible. Not always academics' forte...
Final question, do you have a memorable travelling story?
Being asked to preach a sermon to a large group of indigenous people in the Philippines? When I told the priest (an Italian) I was an atheist, he said he didn't care - he just wanted me to talk about injustice and revolution!