Archive for 'DFID'
Tanzania's founding father Mwalimu (Swahili teacher) Julius Nyerere was certainly both erudite and multi-lingual; as he guided his country to independence in the 1960s he translated Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice and Julius Caesar into Swahili in his spare time. He was also a passionate believer that all Tanzanians should speak and be literate in Swahili, [...]
In the UK, Pakistan is regularly in the news, and most of it is bad. So you may find it hard to believe that anyone would work here by choice. But I do - and I really enjoy it! Pakistan is a fascinating country with great people, stunning landscapes, and real potential for a brighter [...]
With a day job dedicated to preaching the virtues of education - and how it should improve, I recently felt obliged to get my hands 'dirty' once more and enrolled on a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to see what all the fuss was about. If Khadijaah Niazi, an 11 year old girl from Lahore could [...]
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 [...]
After 18 months my time in Ghana is up. In the frantic rush to pack up, leave and say goodbye I thought I would write down some final thoughts. Warmth – of the humid tropical sun, of stifling evenings – yes, but of people as well. The richly infectious sound of Ghanaian laughter, humour in [...]
I attended the launch of the Uganda UK Health Alliance on 12th February, which was held near the Houses of Parliament in the very grand council chamber of One Great George Street. I had met many of the speakers at the meeting the previous evening, at a reception in the Houses of Parliament hosted by [...]
I attended the local launch of the UNESCO Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report (GMR) 2012 on a sultry Friday morning at Tanzania's National Museum. This year the thematic focus was on 'Youth and Skills: Putting Education to Work'. It included a well crafted discourse on the importance of giving all young people access [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
It's Climate Week in the UK, and I've been busy working with several enthusiastic colleagues to organise photo exhibits, seminars and leaflets for DFID staff to better understand climate change and their impacts. It's been great working in a team – we've done so much more than we would have if we'd tried to set these [...]
