Comments

This is a valuable piece. Thanks Robert! It's striking how little attention is given to learning from cases of long-term sustainable scaling. I think there is another connection worth mentioning - sustainable scaling involves low-cost, large-scale systems change which scales because collective action which is culturally congruent and inclusive (and therefore locally owned) produces sustained flows of benefits by enlarging the common good.

Thanks for the interesting post. One thing I found striking was the timeline: going to 1971, this covers the INPRES school building era, which was entirely funded with domestic funds from oil revenues, as far as I recall. And there is a lot of serious evidence on the impacts of that program at serious scale with respect to time, location, and spillovers. What changed since then? Was it just the nature of how the money was spent, and that the supply side was the lowest-hanging fruit? I was also surprised to not see any reference to John List's writing on this topic or the work that has been going on for many years at Yale (through their Y-RISE initiative). Prof Imran Rasul's recent piece in Science provides a good synthesis, in my view: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aef8482 Best, Ryan

This is a powerful and important connection that often gets overlooked. Framing violence against women as part of the climate crisis helps show how environmental stressors don’t just damage ecosystems—they also deepen existing social inequalities and risks. It’s a reminder that climate policy has to be human-centered, addressing safety and protection alongside environmental action.

Thank you Prof. Mola for continuing to raise these issues. It's easy to get demotivated and give up in the face of government inaction and cultural challenges. Many countries continue to show similar, sad situations with little hope in the medium term.

Thank you, Anura, for your thoughtful and compassionate reflection. I completely agree that the suffering of displaced children is a global tragedy that extends far beyond one community or one border. While this blog focuses on Afghan refugee children, it also speaks for millions of vulnerable children around the world whose education, dignity, and futures are threatened by conflict, poverty, and displacement. I truly hope these stories continue to raise awareness and inspire meaningful action for those too often forgotten.

So sad is this story, not only Afghan children but many others around this confused world. Regretful and painful stories are many among Rohingya. Turning to Pakistan, the country is going through a challenging task of schooling its own children. The school drop-outs count over several millions. Many girls in rural areas cannot go to school, not because there are no schools but women teachers are lacking. It’s a cultural issue where a girl is not allowed to walk to school is yet another challenge. Women literacy rate in former Tribal districts is near zero. With many girls unable to school at present, they would add to the illiterate population of women in the near future. We need a transformation to break this vicious cycle.

Greatest Leadership under PNGs darkest economic times. He proved that it can definitely be done!!!

Thanks Robin Is it time to resurrect an enhanced source of foreign aid coming from a Tobin Tax - originally intended to penalize short-term financial round-trip excursions into another currency. I am well aware it did not get much traction while wealthy countries did give increasing shares of their income as foreign aid. But now ?

In view of the growing climate emergency, it's great that these critical concerns for women have been brought to public attention. Hopefully the resources will be made available for Pacific governments to respond.

I have applied for opening new bank account,,but have denied due to have not having a birth certificate..

Dr Bezhan was my classmate in high school. His talent ist wonderful. I am proud to have such professors to bring us in brightness. Thanks also for bringing the new book to my attention, looks very relevant for us. Love you Dear Bezhan.

I believe he can only if he can realign and reconvert the previous policy to a more workable and implementation one.