A marketplace for aid

Here's a plug for a Thorsteinn Gestsson, an Icelandic ideas-man.

He's published an exciting proposal for a web-based 'aid market' which chimes with many of the themes of this blog. Although it's a bit rambling in parts (also like this blog?) it contains the seeds of some revolutionary ideas.


Oh, and his blog is here. It's almost as good as this one.

Skeptical swedes

Edelman has published its 2008 survey of opinion-leaders' trust in business, government, the media and NGOs. Ignoring the fact that one person's "opinion leader" may not be another's, this generates some interesting stats.
For example this is a list of surveyed countries in declining order of trust in NGOs (weighted by trust in institutions overall):

• France
• Italy
• Ireland
• Germany
• UK
• USA
• South Korea
• Poland
• Spain
• Netherlands
• India
• Japan
• China
• Russia
• Sweden

Fewer than a third of Swedes say they trust NGOs to do what is right!

Handy ideas

Did you see this interview with Percy Barnevik, adviser to Hand in Hand? This is the most profound section:

Do not call this a master strategy, however. Barnevik has no time for what he dismisses as "big plans" to eliminate global poverty. George Bush, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, the G8 countries, the UN, even rock grandees Bono and Bob Geldof are all derided for their big ideas. "When I hear about a new plan, it is like starting to watch an old film," he told European business leaders gathered in Helsinki, Finland, last summer. "You know from the start there is no happy ending. The best plan is no plan."