Development and Cooperation in the 21st Century

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78652022011-12-14T04:59:09.665+01:00Development and Cooperation in the 21st CenturyThe world is in a miserable state. Though many people and organizations are fighting for change, we yet have to achieve major results. In this Blog I look at different concepts, projects and results that show the way for development and cooperation in the 21st century. By <a href="http://www.hec.unil.ch/aosterwa"> Alex Osterwalder</a>Alex Osterwalderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12889603727310635566noreply@blogger.comBlogger101100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865202.post-1119717411149252912005-06-25T18:35:00.000+02:002005-06-25T18:36:51.156+02:00Analogies with the private industry: What can a nonprofit learn from eBay?

It is now almost three months that I have been working full time as a business manager for “The Constellation for AIDS Competence”. While I have always been convinced of our societal vision of working towards an AIDS competent society I must admit that I didn’t really know how an organization that wants to contribute to such a goal should concretely look like. When I started working for the

Alex Osterwalderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12889603727310635566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865202.post-1117120895815409842005-05-26T17:21:00.000+02:002005-05-26T17:21:35.820+02:00NGO Business Models

I have just started working on business models for NGOs. It is actually quite interesting to see that not-for-profit organisations have similar needs in terms of business modelling than the business sector. Although not many organisations want to admit it, some early adopters (or change agents) in the NGO world are realizing that there is no way around applying modern management practices to

Alex Osterwalderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12889603727310635566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865202.post-1108387698391486552005-02-14T11:14:00.000+01:002005-02-14T14:28:18.413+01:00Grameen Phone's Business Model

A while ago I have conceptually represented the successful business model of GrameenPhone (GP), a telecom operator in Bangladesh. I see conceptual modelling as an elegant way to share successful experiences in development. The mini-case presented below focuses particularly on the Village Phone Program of GP and is structured and presented through the nine business model building blocks described

Alex Osterwalderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12889603727310635566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865202.post-1105522152137572002005-01-12T10:20:00.000+01:002005-01-12T10:29:12.136+01:00World Bank President Election Site

I stumbled across this webiste this morning, which shows the growing influence of Civil Society in questions of international development politics. It's about the election process & candidates for the position of the World Bank President (because James Wolfensohn has definitively announced he is going by June 2005). If Civil Society may not yet have sufficient power to influence the decision

Alex Osterwalderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12889603727310635566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865202.post-1105216148783619752005-01-08T21:21:00.000+01:002005-01-08T21:35:46.023+01:00Donor funding is often undesirable

Lately I had a discussion on the bytesforall mailing list about the dangers of donor funding, particularly in Information and Communication Technology for development projects (ICT4D). I tried to show why entrepreneur-based approaches in offering ICT services in financially poor areas are in many (of course not all) instances better: If I am an entrepreneur or company I will offer my customers a

Alex Osterwalderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12889603727310635566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865202.post-1104832871881774952005-01-04T11:00:00.000+01:002005-01-08T21:30:30.510+01:00Why not learn from modern management theory?

The efforts of the international community when it comes to development are respectable but not impressive. However, the results are largely disappointing. William Easterly, for example, documents this failure in his book "The Elusive Quest for Growth". I believe this non-performance of development work is mainly due to the focus of development institutions on macro-economics and a bird's eye

Alex Osterwalderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12889603727310635566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865202.post-1094801159681327492004-09-10T09:24:00.000+02:002004-09-10T09:25:59.683+02:00Development and Globalization: Facts and Figures

Nice overview of facts & figures on development and globalization: http://www.unctad.org/en/docs//gdscsir20041_en.pdf This document relased by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) provides analyses supported by detailed statistical documentation. The report is aimed at a broad audience, including readers with little or no background in economics. It provides an

Alex Osterwalderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12889603727310635566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865202.post-1092731950967754382004-08-17T10:39:00.000+02:002004-08-17T10:41:56.846+02:00ICT for Development

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have long been praised as a panacea for development. Of course, we all know that ICTs didn't change the rules of the game. In some aspects technology even has a bad impact on development projects. Technologist often have the bad habit of wanting to find solutions to problems and neglecting the (social) environment in the process. In that aspect

Alex Osterwalderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12889603727310635566noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865202.post-1092646992399995332004-08-16T10:52:00.000+02:002004-08-16T11:03:12.400+02:00Missing out on the grassroots

This interview with Dr Jean-Louis Lamboray, one of the founders of UNAIDS, the joint United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS, shows that the big organizations still are missing out the grassroots level. After years of meagre results or even failure we still aren't learning that we must value people's lives and work, their experience and knowledge in order to make progress in development and

Alex Osterwalderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12889603727310635566noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7865202.post-1091710023375167452004-08-05T14:44:00.000+02:002004-08-05T14:47:03.376+02:00Millennium Development Goals

Currently, I can see now real commitment of the international community to the development goals defined at the turning point of centuries... "The Millennium Development Goals commit the international community to an expanded vision of development, one that vigorously promotes human development as the key to sustaining social and economic progress in all countries, and recognizes the importance

Alex Osterwalderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12889603727310635566noreply@blogger.com0