In April 2009 Aldo Panfichi, a professor at Peru’s Pontificia Universidad Católica and consultant for OSI’s Latin America Program (disclosure: my current employer), carried out a survey of 462 residents of Lima about their perceptions of NGO’s. He found that respondents generally have a favorable view of NGO’s, but have very little idea of what [...]

My feelings about the coverage of organized crime, drug trafficking, and violence in Mexico are many, and they are complicated. I am disappointed by the focus on violence — rather than the causes of that violence — by the Mexican media. But I am far more bothered by the portrayal of Mexico in the international [...]

“Arequipa (2006)” by Leo Prieto One of the most refreshing books I’ve read this year has been Khaled al-Khamissi’s Taxi. (A kind gift from Noha.) It’s nothing but a slim collection or three-page vignettes that recall conversations with taxi drivers around Cairo. In aggregate these vignettes afford outsiders a glimpse of life in Cairo from [...]

Over the past couple months I have met two people for the first time that – in some ways – might know me better than some of my closest friends and family. Adriana and Elena Mary. I can’t tell you much of what they’ve been up to over the past couple years, but back in [...]