Archive for 'aid effectiveness'
When I started at DFID in October 2010, I didn't expect to be getting on a plane a year later to move to Sudan. My first year at DFID was spent working in our Internal Audit Department, ensuring that the money DFID spends is well managed and delivering the best results. This role required visits to DFID country [...]
Did you know that Wikipedia had several predecessors? According to this article, there were plenty, but one of the main reasons they didn't become as well known was because they didn't explicitly relate themselves to a product that people already knew and understood - the encyclopaedia. They forgot that "content is king", and tried to create [...]
As I mentioned in my last blog post, I recently travelled to Bamyan and Uruzgan to see whether Strengthening Provincial Administration and Delivery (SPAD) – a UK/Denmark funded programme - can make a difference there. Bamyan is a province in the centre-west of the country and famous for the monumental Buddha statues that the Taliban [...]
No one would dare to suggest that every international development programme or policy has been a resounding success, yet finding the space to acknowledge and learn from instances of failure is still hard work. Happily though, there are signs that this is changing. Through this blog I'd welcome a conversation about how we can use these changes to increase [...]
About a year ago, I experienced one of the hardest working days of my life. It was the first day I chaired a meeting of a new 20-ish person taskforce on green growth and poverty reduction. It sounds odd and a little laughable now, especially now that a year has passed and that the group [...]
Over the past couple of weeks, two big changes have happened in my life. First, one of my sisters has moved to Glasgow from London with her little baby girl. So I've become a very busy auntie! Second, I've got a new job in DFID. I'll be supporting our Secretary of State to co-chair a [...]
At a time of national austerity and global alarm, sources of pride and international affection for Britain are particularly valuable. Earlier this month ordinary British people took pride in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and this was matched by a global outpouring of affection and enthusiasm. Next month we will host the Olympics, thanks to the [...]
Hi, I am Alex, and I have recently joined DFID to work as the regional statistics and results adviser for DFID's programmes in Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Regional Asia programmes. I am based in London as part of the Western Asia team. I've worked for various Whitehall departments for a number of years on issues like [...]
This Sunday, 1 April 2012, our tiny, Kenyan, DFID-funded media project is going to be on the red carpet in Cannes, France. The reason: Shujaaz has been nominated for the children and young people's category of the International Digital Emmy® Awards. Let me give you the inside track on our project: Shujaaz means 'hero' in [...]
My plane touched down in the UK at around 5.30 on the 5th March and I happily ate my first steak and chips in three months three hours later in a pub. The excitement of being home prevented me from sleeping that night, excluding two hours in the car on the six-hour journey back to [...]
