“In a conflict like Sudan where women’s bodies are the battleground (GBV, lack of SRHR, acute malnutrition), how are we supposed to work when ‘gender’ has been erased from our vocabulary.” Powerful remarks by MSF at @humconberlin.bsky.social SRHR session.
“I don’t know how we can save lives, now and here, if we don’t operate in the context of history and politics.” @tammam.bsky.social @newhumanitarian.bsky.social at @humconberlin.bsky.social, speaking about humanitarian work (but I‘d agree applies also to globalhealth, or national social policies).
Some thoughts as budgets fall for many of us - and as I reflect on my own responsibility
katribertram.wordpress.com/2026/04/20/d...
Welcome to Berlin, dear colleagues and partners traveling to this week’s @humconberlin.bsky.social! The weather decided to be attuned to our current times… ☔️ 🥶
I consider myself a systems change person - transformative, large scale change is what’s needed in these times.
Yet the most meaningful moments for me are being 100% focused and present for one, single person when if counts.
Both coexist and are needed.
True - although that may say more about party positions (as all from
one) than Germany overall. Telling your now largest donor to scoot off is not going to end well, though 🤦♀️
“social movements of the past (&) ongoing movements such as anti-war protests, climate justice activism…shifts young people’s passion away from “saving” other people and instead encourages students to think about how to engage in pro-democracy movements.” #mustread (for all)
Game on…but for Germany… “Germany risks being edged out of both the WHO Executive Board and the broader WHO leadership conversation, critics say.“
So upbeat! 🙃
See you at #WHA79!
A lot to think about after today’s Sudan conference in Berlin. A country of 50 mn, over half of whom are acutely malnourished, and where (sexual) violence against women and girls is systematic. 11mn living in refugee camps in Sudan, 4.5mn in neighboring countries. Mindblowing violence and numbers.
I also really miss conference threads and hashtag. Fine here but no-one uses Bluesky for conferences. And technic a nightmare and doesn’t work on LinkedIn 😞
Conference breaks during Twitter days = “Oh, we know each other from Twitter!”
Post-Twitter = back to 1990s introducing each other using business cards 🤦♀️
In the worst case, with historic ODA cuts just announced (including Germany, the now largest OECD DAC donor), there will just be lipservice. I’ll attend and let’s hope there’s more positive news tomorrow.
Tomorrow Sudan’s conflict has been running for 3 years - the first of which it was difficult to even get people to utter the word Sudan. Now it’s a known but unfortunately just as neglected conflict. The German government is hosting to 3rd international conference on Sudan. 1/2
Post-Twitter, social isn’t really *working for* many of us anymore (it is *extracting from* us, profitably, though). Going back to some old school messaging tactics.👚
😵💫
We need more of this: Democracy wins. Autocrat loses.
My feed is heavy on Hungary’s election (today, and critically important for the whole of Europe).
But this post struck me most, I read it several times 💔
Vote for leaders who believe in peace, all humans and humanity.
We’ve been blinded by the “bling” of might is right.
It’s high time we open our eyes to the cost of this “success”, the other side of the coin, and its enabler: the suffering of others. Next (personal) blog:
katribertram.wordpress.com/2026/04/11/t...
"The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must" - Thucydides.
#mustlisten on human value, rule of law, values and morals, extractive (geo)politics 👇 www.nytimes.com/2026/04/10/o...
Populist rhetoric and policies only strengthen right-wing populists further. 👇
Now daily reminders by LinkedIn that I should pay to make my posts visible - to my network.
I understand businesses need to have a business plan. But pay-to-play on nearly all social sites creates a hugely uneven - and uninteresting - playing field. I’m providing content and data, I refuse to pay
Wir danken @diplo.de für die Unterstützung! 🙏
Germany is now the largest OECD DAC donor (foreign aid) in absolute terms - although it also significantly cut its aid budget (to 0.56% GNI). What a sad race to the bottom www.oecd.org/en/topics/of...
The prize and win: You save someone’s day, and one day, someone returns the favour. And maybe, just maybe, German infrastructure joins the 21st century…!
The game: Load your powerbank(s) fully before travel, and offer these to despai strangers. You’re likely to be sitting, waiting around for an hour or many, together anyway.
The Bahn, which has sockets at each seat, but 99% don’t work, results in your next player set. A 9-hour trip, with your digital train ticket. Watch people cry as they realize the sockets are decorative…
BER (new) airport doesn’t have sockets or USB portals, other than next to a toilet on the floor. Your players: The number of people desperately squatting near the toilet entrance…hoping their 1% lasts for digital check-in…