Kids who live next door to us

As a teenager in 1984, I bought the record and sang the lyrics with a hairbrush microphone in front of a mirror in my bedroom.  I also 'ran the world' two years later, to help raise funds for famine victims.

24 years on, I'm in Ethiopia, working to support development progress, and less often dancing in front of my bedroom mirror!  Do Ethiopians know it's Christmas? In a literal sense, the answer is a resounding yes.  According to the Julian calendar, Christmas will be celebrated across Ethiopia on 7 January.  And some of us will warm-up for this by also celebrating on 25 December, according to the Gregorian calendar.

A woman as we drove off-road about 90 mins outside of Addis Ababa a couple of weeks ago

And in the sense that Bob Geldof meant in 1984?  Development progress in Ethiopia has accelerated in recent years, but there is still a lot to do.  As I write, around 6 million Ethiopians are relying on emergency food aid, following a humanitarian crisis sparked by failed harvests and the dramatic increases in oil and food prices earlier this year.

None of these drivers of the current crisis were caused by Ethiopia, but Ethiopians have suffered nonetheless.  In our interconnected world, it's right that we should provide emergency food aid to help those in crisis - this is a responsibility, not a Christmas present.

But the best 'gift' of all would be supporting progress towards sustainable development and livelihoods for all Ethiopians.  Which is what we will continue to work towards in 2009 and beyond.

Happy Christmas - and a peaceful New Year.

In Kebredihar, in the Somali Region of Ethiopia, Douglas visited a school, hospital and market.

Douglas meeting local officials to get a better feeling for the challenges faced in delivering basic services in the area (he's second from left in a blue shirt).

Me with a malnourished child being treated in Kebredihar hospital.

A shop in Kebredihar market.

Douglas, sitting in the market, doing a live interview for a UK radio station via satphone - it was important to explain to the UK public what he was doing and seeing in Ethiopia, and why.

From the plane on the way back to Addis Ababa - the much more fertile highlands, looking stunning from the air in the late afternoon sun.

More visit pictures to follow...

Douglas visited a school of 1,300 children and a hospital (where we saw a mother and a malnourished child being cared for - one of the lucky ones).

More to follow, including photos.  Now back in Addis, and off to a reception with development partners.  And another very early start tomorrow to see a bit more of Ethiopia, before meeting Prime Minster Meles on Friday afternoon.

I'm writing this as we mark World Food Day.  Living in Ethiopia - which has over 6 million people relying on emergency food aid - World Food Day feels particular relevant.  What are the causes of the current food crisis here?  A combination of the global spike in food and oil prices this year and a couple of consecutive failed harvests.   If you don't have much to start with, you and your family are vulnerable to being pushed into needing emergency assistance.

DFID has provided £42m this year to help respond to the food crisis in the Horn of Africa, which includes Ethiopia.  Saving lives like this seems like a good use of money to me.  But as Head of DFID's programme in Ethiopia, I'm conscious that emergency aid doesn't represent the best value for money.  It's far more cost-effective to stop people needing food aid in the first place.  This is exactly what the 'productive safety nets' programme aims to achieve in Ethiopia, providing cash and food for work and helping people stop having to sell off vital assets when times are particularly hard.

In the long-term, development assistance needs to prioritise agricultural growth and productivty, if we're to make sure that in years to come everyone, no matter where they live, has enough to eat.  In a nutshell, that's what World Food Day is all about.

We should aspire to a future where World Food Day isn't necessary.  But will there always be hungry people?

I had hoped to post in real time throughout his visit, but I'd need Wi-Fi which is not widely available in Ethiopia at the moment, so I'll try and squeeze in some late night/early morning reflections and perhaps a few photos while he's here.

He's coming to see for himself the humanitarian situation.  He'll also see the other 'face of Ethiopia' that delivers basic services, reduces maternal and child mortality, distributes bed nets to prevent malaria and gets children into school.

This is the face of Ethiopia that you're probably familiar with.

Another face of Ethiopia that you might know is the incredible success of Ethiopia's athletes, most recently at the Beijing Olympics where Ethiopia won 4 gold, a silver and 2 bronze medals on the athletics track. And in the recent Berlin Marathon, Haile Gebrselassie, who failed to win a medal in Beijing, broke his own world record and became the first person in history to break the 2 hours 4 minute barrier for the men's marathon.

But there is a third face of Ethiopia that doesn’t make the headlines, but does get me up in the morning.

Recent years have seen double-digit economic growth and rapid expansion of basic health and education services across Ethiopia. An incredible 20 million bed nets have been distributed which have slashed the number of children getting sick and dying from malaria. And nearly 25,000 Community Health Workers have been trained to deliver family planning, immunisation, and health education within their communities.

Last month I travelled south to see some of this inspiring progress for myself. Seeing the difference that these sorts of development interventions are having on the lives of real people - men, women and children - that's what gets me up in the morning.

Perhaps there's a fourth face of Ethiopia that I haven't yet discovered? Or even a fifth?

In development there are dozens of different jobs.  Even in my office in Ethiopia, where everyone works 'in development', we all spend our time differently.  At the moment, I'm spending a lot of time preparing for a visit this month by Douglas Alexander, UK Secretary of State for International Development.  Douglas will be able to see for himself the different aspects of Ethiopia and how DFID works to support development across the country.

Watch this space over the coming weeks, as I plan to blog about Douglas' visit.

Coincidentally, I have a coffee tree in my front garden in Addis Ababa.  Not much to look at, particularly since my four-year-old son climbed it and plucked all the coffee beans (you might be able to spot them on the desk next to my arm in the photo).  Dried, roasted and ground, I might be able to make about one cup of coffee every few months.

Why am I writing about coffee?  Because it is one of Ethiopia's most important exports.  Some sources claim that as many as 12 million Ethiopians depend on coffee for a living.  Whatever the precise number, coffee is unquestionably an important livelihood for many Ethiopians.  Perhaps you're reading this while you sip a cup of coffee made with Ethiopian coffee beans - I'm certainly sipping away on a tasty Americano as I write.  And more than just a livelihood for many Ethiopians, coffee is a way of life, with the traditional 'coffee ceremony' central to Ethiopian family life and culture.

Hard at work... fuelled by coffee

And roses?  Another important export from Ethiopia.  Some people worry about the environmental impact of buying flowers flown in from Ethiopia or elsewhere in the developing world - the so-called 'food miles' dilemma.  Should we buy African flowers to support poor farmers or boycott them because of the environmental damage that growing and exporting them might cause?  See a thought-provoking paper on food miles here. 

What's your view?

In August 2008 I moved to Addis Ababa with my wife and two small children to become Head of DFID Ethiopia. Many people think of Ethiopia as a dry and dusty country. Parts of it are. But here in Addis, the third highest capital city in the world, it’s actually lush and green. And the altitude – over 8,000 feet above sea level - means that it also gets pretty cold.

Prior to starting in Ethiopia, I ran the Secretary of State’s office in London for two and a half years. Before that I was based in India. All told, I’ve been with DFID since May 1997 when the department was created. In a little over 11 years I’ve done eight different jobs, culminating in my current challenge running DFID's largest programme in Africa.  More on that another time.

Coffee and roses?  You'll have to wait until my next post...