Podcast: Highlights of Oxfam’s Impact Evaluation of Cash for Work activities in the Za’atari camp in Jordan

Franziska Mager Livelihoods, Real Geek, Refugees and IDPs

[buzzsprout episode=’2664862′ player=’true’] For people living in the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan there are few legally accessible work opportunities in and outside the camp. The Cash for Work activities currently being carried out in Za’atari provides income, increases household wealth, teaches skills and improves well-being. But how effective is the intervention? As part of our Real Geek Series, Franziska …

The good and the ‘not so good’ of our experiences with SenseMaker

Franziska Mager Methodology, Real Geek

When we purchased a license for the SenseMaker research method in early 2017 (a proprietary data collection and analysis software), the excitement in our more “geeky” teams was palpable. SenseMaker is a research method inspired by the Cynefin complexity framework, which is known for helping make sense of, and categorizing messy or ambiguous situations that require some sort of decision-making. …

We’re not testing drugs but Oxfam should randomize more

Franziska Mager Inequality, Research

Oxfam should expand its toolkit for understanding support for the problems we care about among the UK public, argues Franziska Mager. You might think that when it comes to research, Oxfam’s ways of working have near nothing in common with a pharmaceutical company. I argue that the one thing which our public facing teams should adopt from these companies is …

Would you care more about inequality, if you understood the scale of it?

Franziska Mager Inequality, Methodology

[buzzsprout episode=’2559235′ player=’true’] This podcast looks at people’s perceptions of inequality, what they care about and what they want done about it. Taken from research commissioned for Oxfam by Christopher Hoy at the Australia National University, we give an insight into how this data can be used for campaigning work. As part of Oxfam’s release of Reward Work, Not Wealth for …

Podcast: Book banter

Franziska Mager Book Banter, Inequality, Research

[buzzsprout episode=’2559250′ player=’true’] Franziska Mager and Deborah Hardoon take to the air waves to share their thoughts on two books that deal with the economy, wealth and inequality. The Great Escape, by Angus Deaton, and Africa: Why Economists Get It Wrong by Morten Jerven.

What the iPhone has got to do with inequality

Franziska Mager Book Banter, Inequality

What is the role of the state in fostering innovation and economic growth? Mariana Mazzucato’s book, The Entrepreneurial State, reveals the role of the public sector in risk taking and the development of new technology, and argues that the state should receive more of the rewards. Research Assistant Franziska Mager reviews the book for Oxfam. Why I read it This …

Agile research in the risky realities of the Central African Republic

Franziska Mager General, Humanitarian, Methodology, Real Geek, Research

Conducting research in volatile locations like the Central African Republic (CAR) requires the agility to constantly adapt. Irene Guijt and Franziska Mager report back from a recent trip with unexpected twists and turns. Conducting research in a country like the Central African Republic with chronic conflict – and around half a million internally displaced people (1/8th of the national population!) …