Archive for October 2012
My name is Mac-Jordan Degadjor, a blogger from Ghana and a Technical Advisor on the Ghana Decides project. Ghana Decides is a non-partisan project, being funded by STAR Ghana, which is using social media tools (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc) to monitor the upcoming elections in Ghana for the first time. We're a group of [...]
Whilst I was still a young child, Tanzania's founding father and President Julius Nyerere, highlighted the benefits of mass education on accountability to the people: "An educated Ujamaa Village, for example, will neither allow nor tolerate dishonesty among its accountants or authoritarianism among its leaders. An educated population will challenge the actions of its elected representatives, [...]
I am writing this sitting in Johannesburg airport on my way back from a fascinating week in South Africa, where I have been conducting a review of a UK aid supported programme on maternal and child health. The programme supports the Government of South Africa’s strong commitment to bring down its high maternal, newborn and [...]
This is the last of my posts on Malawi, which did prompt me to think a lot about how the response to HIV will be managed and financed over the long term. Two key people I met in their respective offices whilst I was in Malawi were Dr.Charles Mwansambo, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry [...]
Economists have a reputation for being sceptical. So much so that there is a book called the Skeptical Economist, and a new book referring to economics as the dismal science. This has a lot to do with our teaching. For instance, we're taught to be sceptical of the idea that one thing (we call it [...]
The conflict in Syria shows no sign of abating, yet media interest is waning. The humanitarian needs of the children affected are hardly mentioned and it is hard to understand why. Within Syria alone, 2.5 million people are affected, 1.2 million of them have been forced to flee their homes, and half of them are [...]
There are many problems in the developing world that demand intricate, delicate and complex answers. Then there are issues - serious, life changing, even life taking issues - which require breathtakingly simple solutions and the money to make them happen. Sanitation is most definitely in the second category. Worldwide diarrhoea is responsible for the deaths [...]
"Out of seven children, I am the only one who went to school. I look and think differently from my siblings. I am able to make informed decisions and can never be cheated by any one. I am loved, respected and treated like a heroine in my family and my community. I couldn’t have done [...]
I am on a bit of a roll in terms of revisiting the past following my recent visit to Malawi. Today I had the huge pleasure of reconnecting with Professor John Ashton, who taught me on my Masters in Public Health, and was also the Regional Director of Public Health for the North West of [...]
#Egypt was the most popular Twitter hashtag in 2011, edging out other less revolutionary contenders like #JustinBeiber. ‘The power of we’ is the theme of today’s Blog Action Day, and although ‘beliebers’ might not necessarily agree, there could hardly be a more powerful example of the power of we than the thousands of people brought [...]
