Comments for James Shepherd-Barron

Comment on Smokin’ fruit by Sevandor

Sevandor — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 06:17:40 +0000

Just finished “Everything that Follows is Based on Recent, Real-Life Experience That Has Been Proven to Work”, and out of curiosity throught the magic of google, I ended here. This is probably the coolest smoking article I have found, no judgment, just fact.

-Sevandor

P.S. James Shepherd-Barron, you have a fun easy to read writing style…I enjoy!

Comment on Coordination Architecture by james.s-b

james.s-b — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:54:16 +0000

Glad you like it. You will see from every (real time) evaluation done over the past five years i.e since the cluster approach was invoked that language constitutes a major barrier to effective coordination, and frequently programme too. This was my experience in Pakistan, Indonesia and, most recently Haiti where many of the people who know best how to recover from the earthquake were simply unable to communicate their ideas because none of us spoke Creole. Probably half of the first responders didn’t speak French either. One ‘trick’ I use is to project what is being said during a coordination meeting onto a separate screen as an interpreter types in whatever language is not being spoken. While not entirely accurate, it is better than sequential translation which more than doubles the length of a meeting. It also helps with doing the meeting notes afterwards … hope this helps. And I hope you are enjoying your MA as much as I enjoyed my MPH in Copenhagen.

Comment on Coordination Architecture by Saskia Homoet

Saskia Homoet — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:50:30 +0000

Dear James, I really like your website. The information is transparant and in plain English. I have a question: I am desk researching the degree of inclusion of local and national organisations in the cluster process for my Master’s on Humanitarian Action, a programme offered by University of Groningen(NL). What is your opinion on that and do you think the way of communicating between international organisations and the local/national ones play a role ? If so , what kind of communication mechanisms play a role and have you experienced this yourself during your work? Looking forward to your reply. Thanks! best regards, Saskia

Comment on 100 Things Cluster Coordinators need to know before they die by Stephen Tomlin

Stephen Tomlin — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 23:45:58 +0000

Dear James,

I downloaded the attachment. “Testing” My question is, Did I pass?

Seriously, great website. ClusterWise2 is a great read. I’m going to try and get it into our ERT mobile library, as well as distribute it to senior managers “on call”.

Thank you to you and your colleagues for pulling all the materials together and sharing.

Best wishes,
-Stephen Tomlin

Comment on Haiti: All The King’s Men by BDV

BDV — Fri, 13 May 2011 13:15:35 +0000

Great article and so true. I am always amazed by all the ” terms” used in the humanitarian world”..
In the 60′s …countries like Haiti were “Pays sous-developpés” after they named them..”Pays en voie de développement” “…when that did not happen, they tried “Pays emergents” , puis ” pays moins avancés” and today I guess we could say ” pays dependants de l’aide humanitaire”, what next? for sure, like you say, this will depend only us “pays sous-developés” (back to square one)!

Thank you!
Best
BDV

Comment on Unpronounceable Identity Crisis by dave

dave — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 02:40:11 +0000

James,
your ability to ramble never ceases to amaze me !
The only thing more amazing is how enjoyable it is to read.
Reading your work is like a pleasant afternoon in a pub with a mate
I can hear the fire crackling in the background as I read !

Comment on How to tell if you work for the UN by Fred Spielberg

Fred Spielberg — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:22:52 +0000

Brilliant, James. Sadly, it all rings too true… particularly the parts about the blackberry, the bottled water and the Business Class flight… You need to quit the UN and write a novel. cheers, FS